What's the perfect ultra-portable? The only guy who is more gadget obsessed than me is my buddy Ben Riga over at Microsoft. We agree on many things, but not when it comes to the details of what’s needed in mobile devices. I admit, I am keyboard-obsessed and Ben is not. He’s just wrong.Still, his analysis of what’s needed in a mobile space is thorough, to say the least. Ben’s key take aways:If I’m going to carry this thing everywhere it needs to have the following: * Form Factor: Small, light, thin. This device should be no bigger than a 8.5 x 11 pad of paper. * Battery Life: Very Long. 🙂 This is the holy grail of mobile computing. This device needs to run a full work day on a charge (8-12 hours). * Price: Inexpensive. I’m thinking $300 or less. Wishful thinking maybe. $300 is the price point where you probably wouldn’t even think about buying one of these. Any higher and you’re in laptop price territory and then it’s “Hmm. I’ll just use my laptop for that.” I was pleased to see that Dell apparently gets this. Word is that they will release their upcoming E device at the $299 price point.What do you think? Is there a role in IT for another form factor distinct from the laptop and the smartphone? Are the so-called Netbooks like the Asus Eee, Dell E-Series or the HP Mini-Note making it onto your radar for the next year? Also, how wrong is Ben on the keyboard issue? Open Source