The Viliv S7 Premium – a traveler’s dream?

It has an above average battery life and good connectivity options to back it.

After receiving some positive response towards two of its products the S5 MID and X70 UMPC, Viliv has come out with a new UMPC called the S7. The S5 and S70 were good, but the major difference we find in the S7 is the presence of a physical keyboard. The S7 is powered by an Intel Atom Z520 processor with a pretty sloppy clocking of 1.33GHz, and comes with a 1GB DDR2 RAM, 32GB SSD, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, 3G, and a 7” screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.

Folks at Pocketables.net got their hold on a sample, and although they are quite impressed by the battery life and connectivity options, the keyboard is a letdown. On the outside, the S7 looks quite sleek, less than an inch thick. There are lots of switches and curves around. The battery slot also looks sturdy, and holds the tiny SIM card slot for 3G data access and voice calling.

The display panel is touch-enabled. It is connected to the keyboard by a rather strong hinge. The bezel around the screen is also rather large, making the 7” screen to look like a 10” one. It houses a speaker on the left and right, a webcam on the upper left, and two buttons on the lower right. The S7 is extremely light and thus very portable to carry around.

The S7’s touchscreen looks nice and crisp, and although the resolution of 1024 x 600 looks just about ok in an average 10” netbook, it provides a very sharp read in the small 7” screen. The reviewer says you’ll probably want to install the oft-praised Grab and Drag Firefox addon for use with the touchscreen of S7. It’s a bit glossy though which might attract fingerprints. One important thing for a tablet (or a can-be-made tablet) is to have the crucial and a few shortcut keys around the bezel – and fortunately the S7 has them. 

As the reviewer points out, it hurts to talk about the keyboard and trackpad. The trackpad is small and difficult to operate with. The keyboard is even more. It is really cramped and difficult to type – as the reviewer points out. Also I have observed the keyboards are not stresses out to the sides towards both left and right side. With such a small form factor, you need to utilize every available space. If the touchscreen was not there, it would’ve been really difficult to survive with this baby.

Let now talk about the good parts now – connectivity and battery life. The S7 comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, DVB, and 3G/voice connectivity options, although DVB cannot be accessed in US. It also voice calling and text messaging as well. The benchmarking tests are mentioned at the reviewer’s site. The battery life is incredible; let me tell you without having to go there. With full brightness, WiFi+Bluetooth on it gave an incredible near 6 hrs of juice. If you want to stress it, it can take you upwards of 10 hrs to finally settle down.

Overall, the technology is pretty good, with an exceptional battery life and plethora of connectivity options it is a very good portable computer. Just that you’ll have to understand that it is afterall portable and make up your mind for the difficulties a 7” tiny form-factor brings.

You can start by visiting Dynamism where the S7 is retailing at $629.