Asus' 9-inch EeePC: It's real!

Our friends at Engadget - who are reporting from CeBIT Hanover 2008 - have discovered that the rumoured Asus EeePC in 9" size is real and it's coming this year.

The 8.9" machine will come in 8GB and 12 GB sizes - with possibly more capacities - and will feature a 2.5 - 3 hour battery.

When it is released in Europe, the 12GB version will retail for 399 euros, just making it under that magical 400 euro mark.

Full specs can be expected at tomorrow's official press event.

[via Engadget]

Asus EeePC - 8 and 9 inch this year + Eee 801 pic

Asus, creator of the interesting EeePC - an ultraportable, ultra-affordable notebook computer aimed at students, has announced that it will be manufacturing these little wonders in 8, and 8.9 inch forms - so basically 8 and 9 inch screens.

At the same time, Asus also announced that the EeePC 701 could be configured to work in the US with Sprint Nextel's XOHM WiMAX service (standard wireless speed internet anywhere). Don't expect that for down under until Telstra introduces WiMAX on the Next G network, which we don't think will be soon.

Asus, however, didn't have the EeePC 801 or the Eee 901 on display - however, a Taiwanese blog called Pixnet has managed to get its hands on an 8" 801 model, compared next to a 7" 701.

They certainly look similar - same size and footprint, only the 801 uses more of the colossal space on the lid for a bigger screen. I certainly feel that the 801 looks 'cleaner' as gone is the black speaker grille around the screen - it's now white.

Whether these pictures represent the final product, we'll find out in Q2 2008 (April-June), when Asus is slated to officially release the new Eees.

[via Pixnet Blog (Taiwan), translated page]

Asus splitting into three companies

Asus today officially announced that it was splitting into three distinct companies - as specified in its business plan.

We'll have Asus, which will only make Asus-branded PCs;

Pegatron, which will be handling mobile operations, OEMs, and component manufacturing, and

Unihan which will be dealing with modules, casings, and other non-PC stuff.

Hmm... we're feeling a bit sheepish about the whole name-changing thing... Pegatron just sounds so much cheaper than Asus. Oh well, it will catch on, we suppose.

[via Engadget]

Asus M530W smartphone gets fiery

Not too often that business-focussed smartphones deviate away from the industry-standard black and grey colour schemes, but Asus has announced it will start producing its M530W Communicator smartphone in a white/orange colour combination as well as its standard grey model.

Specs include:

Full QWERTY keyboard
3G
390MHz ARM 11 CPU
Windows Mobile 6 Standard (non-touchscreen)
2.4" QVGA display
2 megapixel camera
mini-USB / Bluetooth
Push e-mail support
microSD card slot (up to 2GB)

Hopefully we'll get our hands on one of these colourful beauties soon.

[via UnwiredView]

Links: UnwiredView's info page
Sogi, original source + pictures (untranslated)