Freescale shows off 'smartbook' prototypes

At the end of May, Freescale rival Qualcomm presented its own images of what it is calling smartbooks. Qualcomm's devices resemble standard netbooks more closely than Freescale's prototypes.

Qualcomm is pushing for smartbooks to use its Snapdragon chipset. The 1GHz version of Snapdragon has already been put into smartphones such as Toshiba's Windows Mobile-based TG01. On Monday, Qualcomm announced a new, 1.3GHz version that should provide more horsepower for smartbooks.

Freescale, by contrast, is offering its 1GHz i.MX515 processor for the emerging smartbook market. Freescale and ARM first announced a reference design based on the i.MX515 in early January, saying that the resulting devices will retail at around £140.