While Eastern Europe is not exactly well known as the residence of some top-level technology manufacturers, the truth of the matter is that the interest for the latest developments in the field of portable computing is at some pretty high levels on this market as well. For this reason, it's always nice to see a local company tackle a market segment where the likes of Asus, MSI and Acer reign supreme, namely that of netbooks.

That's exactly the case with Romania-based Evolio, which began as a PND manufacturer and since then extended its range of activities, now rolling out its first ever netbook, the Smartpad S21.

Available in two color versions (Blue Wave and Red Spice), the device from Evolio is in fact a pretty standard 10.2-inch netbook (1024 x 600 pixel display resolution), powered by an Intel Atom N270 CPU running at 1.6GHz and accompanied by 1GB of DDR memory, a 160GB HDD, as well as an Intel GMA 950 graphics chipset.

Additional features include, as expected, a WiFi LAN 802.11b/g module, LAN Ethernet 10/100 Mbps port, 1.3 MP camera, as well as a 3400 mAh detachable battery. Moreover, the device sports 2 x 1W speakers, plus a wide array of connectivity interfaces, including here 2 x USB ports, audio jacks, one microphone input, as well as an SD/MS/MMC card reader. Notably, there's no HDMI, which many people might see as a minus, and no Bluetooth module, which is certainly a must-have for any modern netbook.

Pricing for the tiny portable computer (both color versions) is set at 476 US dollars, which is more or less within the common netbook price range, although this sum is a tad high for the Eastern Europe area, where the economic crisis has hit pretty hard, maybe even harder than in other areas of the world.


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