Lenovo lifts lid on ARM-based mobile device

Skylight device offers always-on access to web with claimed 10-hour battery life

The Skylight has a custom user interface with links to social networks

Lenovo has followed yesterday's ThinkPad announcements with a wave of consumer-focused systems, including an ARM-based clamshell device designed for mobile access to social networks and the web, plus new all-in-one PCs, netbooks and laptops.

The most intriguing announcement is the Skylight, which has integrated 3G and Wi-Fi and is claimed to deliver all-day battery life for mobile use. It is expected to be on show during CES in Las Vegas later this week.

Skylight is dubbed by Lenovo as a 'smartbook', but this name is trademarked in Europe by German laptop vendor Smartbook AG and so cannot be used in this context. But whether it is called a mobile internet device (MID) or a webbook instead, the idea is that it represents a new device format that fits somewhere between a smartphone and a netbook.

"Consumers want innovative devices they can take with them that let them connect to the internet and carry all their media, and smartphones just don't give a great experience of the web," said Ninis Samuel, Lenovo's director of mobile internet products.

The Skylight is based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon ARM processor and runs a version of Linux, but this is hidden from users beneath a custom environment featuring live 'web gadgets' - mini applications linked directly to services such as Facebook, Google Mail and Twitter.

"There is no exposure of Linux to the customer," said Samuel.

The Skylight weighs less than 1Kg and is said to offer a battery life of over 10 hours even while constantly connected to the web. It has a 10in display and an integrated USB storage stick "because people keep on losing these things", Samuel said.

The device will be available in the US from March for $499 (£310), coming to Europe and China shortly afterwards, according to Samuel. It is also expected to be sold with 3G data plans, but Lenovo did not disclose details of any networks that have signed up to carry the Skylight.

Another hot new product is the Ideapad S10-3t, a netbook that features a convertible swivelling touch-sensitive screen similar to that of some tablet PCs.

Lenovo Ideapad group marketing director Nick Reynolds described it as the " first multi-touch convertible netbook tablet", and said it "redefines what a netbook should be".

The S10-3t has a 10.1in widescreen display and the latest Intel Atom processors, according to Reynolds.

Other new Ideapads include the Y560 and Y460 multimedia laptops, plus the G560 and G460 aimed at consumers.

Lenovo is also expanding its Ideacentre all-in-one desktops with a new A300 model that ships with a 21.5in high-definition display and the system hardware in the base, slimming down the display itself.

This is joined by the C310, which has a 20in screen and is "compact and cool for the cost-conscious consumer", said Reynolds.