This part of the year is always busy with the aftermath of CES hit rolling into the news from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Out of those comes an announcement from HP about a new Compaq-branded smartbook called the Airlife 100.

Smartbooks are basically the same form factor as netbooks but use the ARM processor architecture rather than Intel's x86 architecture.

The Airlife, other than the anticipated ARM processor that is part of Qualcomm's Snap Dragon platform runs a fairly typical set of specs althoug the use of Android OS sets it aside to some degree. 

The Specs

• 10.1" touchscreen display
• 92% size keyboard
• 16GB SSD and SD card slot
• Android OS (instant on)
• Wi-Fi and 3G modem
• VGA webcam
• 12 hour battery life

Expected later this year, the Airlife is part of an important movement in the netbook game. With the competition that's likely to come from the iPad and a bunch of inevitable tablet computer followers the netbook market will need to innovate and evolve.

By Anthony Caruana