Why are we all so interested in Android on netbooks? Personally I think its the possibility that a major Linux distributor with a big ecosystem and a strong following and brand power could finally push through a useable alternative to XP on the low-end netbooks, UMPCs and MIDs. Intel are working on the same with Moblin and arguably have more resources working on it but it doesn’t have a single brand, it doesn’t have a distro-wide app store, hasn’t received the same media attention and it hasn’t passed into the hands of hundreds of thousands of, mostly very happy, owners yet.
Here’s another look at Android on an X86 platform. It’s a VIA-based HP 2133 mini note. We’ll all ask ourselves ‘why’ again but I think if Android carries on getting this much attention, it won’t be long before we say ‘when?’
The video comes from Newsandroids in Canada but there’s no further info from them at the moment.
In related news, Kevin Tofel and Om Malick had a chat about this yesterday.
January 5th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Android is great! I have the G1 Android OS Cell Phone, so I could attest to that.
The future looks bright for Android.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
*crosses his fingers that it’ll get ported to a convertible/tablet netbook that has an available PCI-Express-Mini card slot with included antenna wire*
John Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Unfortunately, I think the Gateway convertible/tablet netbooks are slightly too big for my gadget bag, the Q1 Ultra barely fits, so the extra 1 – 1.5 cm might make enough of a difference to not fit. If the Fujitsu U820 had a PCI-Express-Mini slot, that’d probably be ideal … though expensive.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I think it’s interesting because it has the potential to speed the merging of MIDs and phones.