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At shanzhai.com we have been talking about smartbooks for months already. We predicated that real models would hit the market by the end of the year. Here’s one called ‘Spiga’ which was launched in October. Actually, it’s called a PocketBook – but it fits in with the smartbook crowd – to a certain extent. Or to look at it another way we can ask, does it fit in with the smartbook crowd enough?

Sagemcom is a new identity of the French company Sagem which was known for defence electronics, consumer electronics and communication systems. Interesting that they’ve decide to dip their toes into the smartbook segment.

Like other smartbook manufacturers, Sagemcom has combined the advantages of popular netbooks and smartphones. The Spiga seems to tick all of the smartbook boxes: it’s compact, light, power efficient, has a full keyboard (AZERTY 56 buttons), and various connectivity options.

Like most of the smartbooks we have seen so far the Spiga resemblance a tiny laptop. It measures just 158 x 94.1 x 18.6 mm and weighs only 315 grams. Sagemcom says Spiga is the smallest laptop in the world.

Guess what connectivity options you get in this device? Take this: WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G and 3G+. Wondering what 3G+ is? 3G+ is an innate evolution of the current 3G network which reputedly provides much faster data speeds than 3G. This connectivity type is also known as HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) or 3.5G.

The screen is a high resolution touch screen TFT 4.5 inch display with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution. Such a high resolution means that you’re not going to find an annoying horizontal scroll bar while surfing the web; so good job there.

But this is where things get interesting. Sagemcom’s Spiga is either a lesson for anyone who thinks that smartbooks can only be based on ARM processors – or an example of a new device segment. Unlike most smartbooks we have seen so far, the Spiga is powered with an Intel Atom processor, the Z510 model. The processor is clocked to run at 1.1GHz.

Windows Mobile hasn’t got a good wrap as a smartbook OS and Sagemcom have steered clear of it, but not in favour of Linux as you might expect, instead choosing Windows XP. This again diverges from what we’d expect of a smartbook.

On the storage front, Spiga comes with a 24GB SSD and a Micro SD card reader. It comes with a replaceable 2400 mAh Lithium-Ion battery – but I have no details on battery life to report.

The Spiga is available now, in parts of Europe, at a price tag of EUR 499 (around USD 750). That makes it EUR 200 cheaper than Nokia’s Booklet 3G.

The smartbook segment is still new and although a large number of manufacturers have indicated that they’ll be releasing models, we’ve only seen a handful of real products so far. It’s interesting to see an early model like the Spiga veer away from the specs we were already assuming smartbooks would have, to choose an Intel Atom processor and Windows XP. Is this a once off or the start of a trend? Can we even really call the Spiga a smartbook or should we just call it a MID?

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