Snapdragon: Empowering smartbooks and robot overlords

Unlike the Toshiba TG01, which sports Windows Mobile like a disfiguring goitre, the PBook works a version of Linux, and works it good. The device we played with was an early prototype, so it's too soon to say whether it will live up to its promise of processor power, but the user interface looked attractive and straightforward. Since it doesn't run a familiar operating system like a Windows netbook does, the smartbook concept will live or die based on the quality of its user interface, just like any smartphone -- the iPhone proved that. So until we see what gets shipped, there's still a big questionmark hanging over smartbook designers' ability to pull it off.