The Mobile Internet Device (or MID) is, in essence a stop-gap between a smartphone and a Netbook. Featuring a screen roughly four to five inches big although with a high resolution of 800X400 odd pixels and a Wi-fi as well as bluetooth connection allowing it to connect to the Internet. Generally these devices have used a non X86 processor (meaning an OS needs to be custom built for the processor) at speeds of around 400 Mhz. The screen is almost always touch sensitive and most newer devices have a smallish keyboard built in. Other extra’s include speakers, a camera and other useful extra’s such as a 3.5-inch audio jack.
My friend, colleague and fellow gadget lover extraordinaire Toby Kurien lent me his Nokia N800 Internet Tablet for a few days and I must say I loved it. Here’s the thing, I am Netbook obsessed and while I had a few misgivings, the MID is a great device.
Despite only being powered by a 400Mhz processor the N800 manages to run a version of Linux known as Maemo with relative ease. Not only does it run the operating system but manages to multitask better than my Macbook. As for the screen it’s a 4-inch 800X480 pixel touchscreen that is impressively bright and even more impressively high resolution.
The thing though, two years ago this type of device made a lot more sense before the Smartphone was becoming as ubiquitous as they are currently. My new Nokia N97 has a 3.5-inch screen with a screen that can be turned sideways and goes from 360X640 resolution to 640X360 sideways, not that far from the N800. Add in a built in keyboard, an HSDPA connection and I think it’s a much better device with little compromise on screen resolution. That said, I just heard some comments from Dell about seeing a future in 4 and 8-inch devices so I might be very wrong about the death of the MID.
In my mind the MID of today is going to evolve into the Smartbook of the future: neither a phone or a Netbook but something between and useful for different reasons. This is especially useful considering the wide range of mobile processors such as thr Atom, Snapdragon and Tegra chipsets from various processor manufacturers. Either way, this is a fascinating category to look at these days.
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I think you need to distinguish between when and where a MID is useful, as opposed to a netbook or smartphone. The MID is not trying to replace any of these devices.
To me, the MID is the perfect cellphone companion: it provides full internet browsing capability and is pocketable. This means I will have it with me in many situations where I won’t have my netbook (e.g. out shopping and decide to stop at a coffee shop).
Why not a smartphone? Battery life (both the phone’s and the MID’s). Use a smartphone for browsing (or GPS) and you’ll loose your phone when the battery runs out. MID’s have far better battery life and if they run out, you still have your phone. Current smartphones also compromise on the internet experience due to the lack of screen resolution (and other technologies like Flash).
Pair a MID up with your phone and you can use a much smaller phone with somewhat less features but better battery life. This is how I use my MID & phone combo. This obviously doesn’t appeal to most people, which is why the MID will always be a niche product.