Sharp has finally released a new device to compete in the netbook market. Or has it? The Netwalker is a super portable laptop that was introduced recently. It uses Ubuntu Linux as its operating system, which is a big plus (wish more netbook manufacturers paid attention to Linux). But that’s where all the positives stop. The device is almost too tiny. It comes with a 800Mhz CPU, 512MB of memory, 4GB of on-board flash storage (with microSDHC expansion for another 16GB), 802.11b/g WiFi, 2x USB, and 68% QWERTY keyboard. So it’s essentially one of those good old netbooks that we saw released in the early days of this market.

The device costs about $480 and is currently expected to hit Japan shortly. The device does look very portable and is certainly interesting, but it’s not clear where Sharp plans to go with this device. The device is certainly not a smart-phone, and it is not a netbook. It’s something in between. Let’s not forget that the Japanese market is much different from the U.S. market, and we may never see this device this side of the world. At the same time, I am not sure these devices have a future. Smart-phones are becoming more capable, and netbooks are becoming more powerful (and larger). It’s not clear why people should settle for this device when they can get a top smart-phone or a real netbook.