Well thanks to the man, the myth- Chippy, from UMPCPORTAL.COM- we have the first ever MID on pre-order.  Tegatech, the Australian distributor of the Compal manufactured MID (same device as the Gigabyte M528 and the Aigo MID) is now listing this mobile internet device for pre-order.  So what’s the damage you ask?  Get ready for this…. $1199.  WHOA!  That is BRUTAL!  It should be about half that price!  Nevertheless, it’s good to see some of these devices coming to market soon.  Peep the product page here.

UPDATE- It looks like there is a non-3G version for $999.  The 3G model is currently priced at $1199.  Remember- these are AUD prices (Australian)- so prices in the U.S. could be significantly lower.  Let’s hope so.

Don’t front- this old haggard of a device (as far as specs are concerned) is actually pretty dope.  It’s form factor and size is un-matched- (why? I don’t know because it’s almost the perfect form factor)- even by today’s modern UMPC’s and mobile device standards.  News has it that Ubuntu has been ported to the old PDA device (not to mention Android) recently.  But does that make it a MID?  Probably not.  But still– I wish some manufacturers would take notice of the Zaurus’ design and structure– it’s a pretty nifty hardware design and now with Ubuntu being ported to the device, it should make it a fun little piece of kit to play with.

The big boys all got together and decided to play nice! And that means WiMax is headed stateside! Whoohoo! So apparently Sprint’s broadband enterprise is merging with Clearwire. Intel, Time-Warner, Google, and Comcast will also be partners in the deal. Lovely stuff I say! Lovely!

Nokia’s N810 will soon support Trolltech’s Qt. That means what? Third-party Qt developers can bring their applications to the N810! Read all about it here

via ArsTechnica.com

Well- if you really dig the Willcom D4 handheld-Vista machine, start saving your pennies.  According to Pocketables.net, you can order the thing for $1526.33.  If you lived in Japan maybe you could get it subsidized, but for the rest of us… ouch.  That’s quite a price to pay– especially with no 3G or WiMax connectivity!

Not sure if this is even news, but it looks like WiMax enabled devices shipping out of Taiwan are quite limited at the moment. According to DigiTimes “Monthly shipments of WiMAX devices from Taiwan makers currently range from only several thousand to tens of thousands of units, which are mostly shipped to telecom operators for regional testing rather than for commercial installation.” BUT manufacturers like Foxconn (who could possibly manufacture the Elektrobit MIMD MID) and USI are said to be focussing on wireless modules for notebooks (LET’S HOPE MIDs TOO!) and should be pumping out the WiMax/WiFi modules soon. Could this news be a sign that we aren’t going to see many WiMax enabled MIDs in the near future? This isn’t to say WiMax devices aren’t being produced in other countries (like China) at the moment– but still. Will we see WiMax enabled MIDs this summer?

Well– not yet.  But it certainly could be a possibility.  Nokia’s “Handheld Mojo” team has already ported several versions to the ARM architecture.  Soooo…. hopefully that means an Ubuntu Mobile is coming to ARM-based devices sooner rather than later!  Read all the gritty details at www.LinuxDevices.com

Well looky what we have here- seems as though we have some new info on BenQ’s upcoming MID device. It looks like the device will sport an 800 mhz Silverthorne processor, 512 MB RAM, a 4GB SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth, voice command, and optional GPS.  And you see that little circular thing in the top right corner?  That’s apparently BenQ’s G-sensor for navigating around the screen.  I’m really digging the multiple colors of this device!  I just wish it had a keyboard.  Wei Du is reporting that there is also a SIM slot next to the battery.   Cool!  More pics after the break….

(via iTechNews.net)