Bangalore: Wireless technology giant Qualcomm has announced to come up with its first smartbook on November 12, during the company's annual analyst meeting in New York.

Like smartphones, smartbooks are designed to be constantly connected to high-speed (3G) wireless data networks as well as being energy-efficient, with perhaps eight hours of battery life, reports Forbes. They will also incorporate typical smart phone features, such as GPS technology and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, and weigh less than two pounds. Also, like netbooks, smartbooks can be used for surfing the Web, watching video and checking e-mail. But, while netbooks generally run on Intel chips and feature Windows software, smartbooks are based on a Qualcomm processor called Snapdragon and run on Linux software

Dan Novak, Qualcomm's Vice President of Global Marketing, said that 40 Snapdragon-based devices (including smartbooks and smartphones) are in the works, from 15 different manufacturers. Most of these smartbooks will debut in early 2010. However, the company declined to reveal details about the device that will be announced later this week.

PC vendor ASUS, which exhibited a smartbook prototype in June at an industry show, is likely to be on board. Novak said that early smartbooks will look like thinner, lighter versions of netbooks, but the category will expand to include computer tablets and touch-screen devices.