It looks like Intel is not the only UMPC game in town. Today, VIA launched its own Ultra Mobile Device(UMD) in a joint effort with First International Computers(FIC). The NanoBook, as Via likes to call it, is a reference design that resembles a UMPC and costs only $600, which is cheap relative to other UMPC designs. It has a USB slot next to the screen that looks a lot like a physical version of Vista's Sidebar. Aside from popping in the World time Clock module, you can outfit the USB slot with either a GPS, VOIP, or WWAN module.

The system weighs a little under 2-pounds, measuring just 230mm x 171mm x 29.4mm. If it's not obvious already, VIA will be using its own processing technology, similar to the stuff found in the OQO model 02. It'll be powered by a VIA 1.2Ghz processor, but RAM is only upgreadable to 1GB. Keyboard is roughly two thirds the size of a full size keyboard, but the concerning part is the size of the touchpad and where it lies. The touchpad is pratically the same size as its adjacent mouse buttons and sits in between them, which makes navigating a tad unorthodox. According to VIA, the Nanobook will appear in the U.S later year under a different brand name. No word yet on who the partner is.