Fujitsu unveils world's first MeeGo netbook

Fujitsu has announced the debut of the Lifebook MH330, the company's first MeeGo netbook based on the Intel Atom processor. The company also appears to be the first vendor to offer a netbook preinstalled with MeeGo; although MeeGo for Netbooks is already available for any Pine Trail Netbook, Fujitsu says this version is specially customized for the MH330 (to take advantage of the hardware buttons). The company is also exploring offering MeeGo for current machines.

The netbook is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. It features a 10.1-inch LED-backlit screen (1024 x 600 resolution). The device is priced at S$488 in Singapore, which means it would go for some $400 in the US.

The MH330 features MeeGo's rich interface, which allows users to have seamless access to a full suite of applications, including social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook and multimedia capabilities via a media panel with an organized view of the videos and music files stored in the media library. The biggest advantage of using MeeGo, however, is the significant reduction in boot time.

"For our valued users, the MeeGo-based netbook's human-centric nature not only transcends the boundaries of netbooks but also serves as the new standard for tomorrow's computing experience," Mr. Lim Teck Sin, Vice President of Engineering and Product Marketing at Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific, said in a statement. "The netbook crystallizes these two best-of-breed products and MeeGo is part of Fujitsu and Intel's combined efforts to take the industry a big step forward. For multimedia natives who long for enhanced interactivity and immediate multimedia access, the refreshed LIFEBOOK MH330 will definitely surpass their expectations."

Although Nokia has pretty much dropped MeeGo and Symbian for Windows Phone, we must remember that strategy only applies to smartphones. The company still plans to ship a MeeGo-related product later this year (we think it's their tablet). Furthermore, Intel is still pushing MeeGo despite Nokia's change in strategy.