Inventec KJS S32 UMPC awarded for connectivity

The Kohjinsha (KJS) S32 UMPC, developed by Inventec, has won a WinHEC 2008 award in the Internet category because of its connectivity integration. The 7-inch device supports 3.5G, digital TV broadcast, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
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KJS was a brand vendor established in Yokohma, Japan in 2004, focusing on mini notebooks. Now partially owned by Inventec, KJS is a leading UMPC brand in Japan. Since 2007, its market has expanded into Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Thailand.

KJS launched its 7-inch SC series, together with the 8.9-inch SX series in October this year to tap the fast growing market for netbooks. But the vendor differentiated its products from usually low-cost competition by adopting Intel's Menlow platform featuring the 45nm Atom Z520 processor and integrated Intel GMA 500 graphics. Both series feature 1GB memory, built-in 3G wireless modules and Windows Vista.

S32 keeps all the chief features of the SC series, which is 30% less in volume and 150g lighter than other KJS 7-inch series. S32 runs on either Window Vista Home Premium or XP.

But S32's connectivity capabilities have been enhanced. The concept behind the design of S32 is to tackle the outdoor connectivity issues of many other netbooks, which rarely come with built-in 3.5G network cards.

The S32's built-in 3.5G network card enables access to the Internet wherever there is 3G connection. S32 also gives users the option of adopting multiple-connectivity modules supporting digital TV broadcast or GPS, making the system a mobile device for both Internet access and multimedia entertainment.

A major challenge for the Inventec R&D engineers was how they could squeeze multiple connectivity standards in the small device without the different wireless signals – Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b/g, HSDPA, GPS, and digital TV – interfering with one another. But they managed it.

S32 features a rotatable 1024×600 touch panel, which can be turned to serve as a tablet. The adoption of Intel's low power-consumption Atom processor and its Menlow chipset enables a battery life of up to 3.2 hours on standard batteries, and 6.4 hours on long-life ones.

As for future UMPC development, Inventec, one of the major notebook ODMs in Taiwan, declined to reveal details. But it said it will continue focusing on mobile wireless broadband connectivity, as well as slimmer devices with higher resolution displays.

In October, KJS said it expected its total shipments to reach 350,000 units in 2008, of which 16,000-17,000 units would be shipped to Taiwan.

KJS S32 specifications
Item	Details
Hardware	CPU	Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz
	Chipset	Intel US15W
	Display	7-inch WSVGA 1024×600 touch screen
	Memory	1 SODIMM DDR2-533
	Storage	1.8-inch PATA HDD/ 60GB
Software	Operation system	Windows Vista Home Premium or XP
Connectivity	LAN	10/100Mbps
	WLAN	802.11b/g
	WWAN	HSDPA (DL 7.2Mbps/ UL 3.6Mbps)
	Bluetooth	BT 2.0
	GPS	Optional
	Digital TV	DVB-T or ISDB-T (optional)
I/O interface	ExpressCard	ExpressCard/34
	Camera	1.3m
	Card reader	SD/MMC/SDHC/Memory Stick
	USB	2 × USB 2.0
	MIC/speaker out	Yes
Mechanical	Dimension	189×155×25.4-33mm (W×D×H)
	Weight	789g (820g/ GPS model) with standard battery
	Battery	Standard: 2600mAh × 7.2V (3.2h) Optional: 5200mAh × 7.2V (6.4h)

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BY Chi Wei Tsao, Rodney Chan,
Source：DIGITIMES