VIA Labs releases new USB 3.0 controller for NAND flash drives

USB 3.0 portable drives are becoming pretty easy to get in Australia now and very reasonably priced. Those drives are mainly laptop size SATA drives with a USB 3.0 capable connection. USB 3.0 is much faster than SATA, so those designs are not full taking advantage of USB 3.0 speeds. This new controller from VIA is for NAND flash drives.

"The VIA Labs VL750’s four channel design dramatically improves data throughput over dual or single channel designs by offering more bandwidth and improved parallelization. “VIA Labs is ahead of the pack by some distance when it comes to offering a complete USB 3.0 eco-system that now includes host, hub and NAND flash controller products,” said David Hsu, Associate Vice President, VIA Labs, Inc. “The VIA Labs VL750 will pave the way for fast, affordable, and large capacity flash drives of 32GB or more. Large files will become infinitely more manageable with most transfers completing in just a few seconds.”"

In some ways USB 3.0 is ahead of the time and products like the VIA Labs VL750 bring the technology into partnership with forms of storage that really push the boundaires of what we're used to in portable storage.

VIA's StrongBox utility re-released

VIA's processor have in-built security tools in their core which allow them to process security encryption in hardware not software. VIA's approach to getting this excellent feature in use has been to release example software for their customers. Once such example is the VIA StrongBox. This nifty little tool allows any system with a VIA processor in it (be it a netbook, notebook, desktop or tablet) to create virtual drives on their system that are password protected.

VIA have just released new versions of the utility which support Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. There is a 32 bit version and a 64 bit version. You can grab free copies here.

VIA's own tablet design?

The coverage that I read from last week's Computex trade show seemed to have VIA carrying on about the tablet PC designs that their VP had taken around to US media the week before (see my earlier posts). Expert Reviews, however, have images and information about a VIA "tablet design".

VIA is no stranger to putting out prototypes of new device segments. They were the first out with a netbook platform, although it was called something else ... the OpenBook I think? Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that a VIA prototype ARM based 7" tablet is out there. Sadly, the one that Expert Reviews got to see didn't even power up.

"To make things more interesting, Via is also aiming for a bargain $199 price point too, but this is more than the $100-$150 that was hinted at just a few weeks ago.

Via also had some words on Intel's attempt at low power with its Moorestown hardware. It said that x86 won't cut it against ARM in the ultra mobile space."

Two mystery Android tablets

For the last couple of days I have shown you some of the cheap tablets that VIA has been busy promoting leading up to Computex - Android devices with WonderMedia chips inside. But there are two models on the list for which not much is known.

The G-Link A8 looks like it has a considerably small screen than the iPad - unless they are very large hands.

The FirstView PC707 (second picture) has that Appley look although the screen seems to be a bit more widescreen-ish.

But that's about all I can tell you. I'll keep my eye out on the Computex coverage.

Eken's 8" Android tablet

Pictured above is the Eken M003 tablet. It would be pretty hard not to concede that it's been inspired by the iPad ... but it's a different beast ... er, kitten ... large cat maybe.

The Eken M008 has an 8 inch screen which is slightly larger than the 7 inch norm for most tablets, but smaller than Apple's 10 inches. It's an LCD full color screen. It supports 32GB of storage via an SD card slot. Inside you'll find a WonderMedia chip. It run Android (of course!). It's said that it will cost about USD 230 and apparently you can get it in pink, black or white.


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Eken M001

When WonderMedia issued their Press Release about cheap Android based tablets, they also put a whole bunch of photos on VIA's Gallery site of examples. So I thought I'd take a look at a few.

The image above is of an Eken M001 tablet. Inside is a WonderMedia PRIZM MW8505 @ 600MHz. It has a 7 inch display, which seems to be more popular with almost all tablet manufacturers, other than Apple. It's only got Wi-Fi connectivity but it does support up to 32GB of SD storage and has 2GB built in flash. Here's a video with more info:

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WonderMedia brings diversity to the tablet market

As I reported several times last week, VIA's VP of marketing was doing a tour of US journos with some Android tablet PCs in his back pack. The official WonderMedia Technologies, Inc. version of the message has been issued as a Press Release now - with an invitation to view the tablets at the Computex trade show being held in Taipei this week. The booth and room numbers where you can catch WonderMedia are the same as VIA's, demonstrating how closely the two companies work together.

The message of the Press Release is the same as that of the media tour last week ... that the WonderMedia PRIZM and Android are a customizable and highly suitable platform for tablets that is not being lost on Chinese manufacturers.

"Dubbed SmartTouch, the combination of the multimedia-optimized, power-efficient WonderMedia PRIZM SoC and Google’s popular Android software stack offers the ideal platform for system designers to build innovative, affordable, and highly usable tablet devices around."