There has been a lot of discussion lately about the prospect of Android being employed full time as a netbook OS. It looks like Acer is taking one of the first big steps and officially stating that they will bring an Android running netbook to market in Q3 according to Acer’s head of IT products, Jim Wong. Acer has been showing an Acer Aspire One D250 [Portal page] around at Computex with Android as the OS. They are saying that this isn’t the actual product, but just a test platform. And that of course would leave one to believe that they won’t just be releasing one of their previous netbooks with Android as an OS option, but instead be developing a new netbook specifically for the inclusion of Android.

I still can’t quite see the major appeal to running Android on a netbook instead of a more mature computer OS. I’m sure costs factor into the equation; maybe Android is cheap and requires little configuration from the selling companies end, but then again, wasn’t that what they were trying for with Linux? Would you buy an Android powered netbook given the choice between Android and XP (or even Linux)? Let’s say that choosing Android saves $100….

[Register Hardware] [Engadget] (additional pics and video through the Engadget read link)

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but may still be interesting.

• 9 Cell Acer Aspire One battery good for nearly 9 hours – If you are looking for an ugly, but effective super-battery, one has become available for the Acer Aspire One. These are third party batteries, but could give you one hour of run-time per cell (that’s 9 hours, for the math challenged).

• Need help deciding what kind of device you have? – Engadget reports on a funny flow chart that will help you determine which exact category your preferred mobile computing device fits into.

• Eee PC 701 with a multitouch display – Video – A short video from eee-pc.de that shows an Asus Eee 701 with a capacitive multi-touch capable screen. Windows 7 is on the 701 in the video providing the software for the multi-touch demo.

• MSI Netbook Lasts 1.3 Days with Single Charge (On Saturn) – Kevin C. Tofel of JkOnTheRun jokes about the endurance of the MSI Wind U115 [Portal page], but it really does last quite long. Apparently eee-pc.de has tested the U115 and was able to run it for 13.25 hours on a single charge, which is extremely impressive.

• RoBe:Do netbook-powered autonomous robots – Click through for a cool video of an Eee PC powered robot making and delivering popcorn to its human owner, all initiated through twitter!

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but may still be interesting.

• Black Samsung NC10 now shipping, slightly cheaper — The slightly modified black Samsung NC10 [Portal page] with larger trackpad is now shipping and can be bought for less.

• Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Review — Laptop Mag reviews the Dell Mini 10 [Portal page]. “Dell’s first 10-inch netbook has a compact chassis, good keyboard, and a crisp 10-inch display, but we wish it offered better battery life for the price”.

• New Acer netbook hits the FCC web site — Looks like there might be a different new Aspire One 10″ netbook in the works. FCC docs give a few hints.

• HP Now Offers Extended Battery for the HP Mini 1000 — HP has released the extended battery for the HP Mini 1000 [Portal page][Review]. It will run you $119.

• First look at the Eee PC 1008HA’s Eee Dock app - Video — The upcoming Eee 1008HA has some Asus built software that gets demoed on video at CeBIT 09.

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but are still be interesting.

• Dell Mini 10 dissected — Dell support released a guide for disassembling the Dell Mini 10 [Portal page]. Looks like there are some PCI-e slots which will be good for modding, but RAM is soldered to the mobo which will make it very hard for users to do RAM upgrades.

• HP Promises a Fix for Mini 1000 Webcam Woes — HP acknowledges that there is an issue with the HP Mini 1000’s webcam and says that there will be a method to fix it. Apparently the film over the webcam has a lower reflectivity than it should.

• Gigabyte M1022 netbook has a cool dock — Jkk shows us a pretty slick looking dock for the Gigabyte M1022 which has VGA out, USB slots, and some other ports. It’s nice to see a dock for a netbook, but I hope the base is heavy so the netbook isn’t easily knocked over!

• Dell Mini 10 Netbook Officially Available: $399 — The Dell Mini 10 becomes officially available in the US for $399.

• How to fix the dark webcam on the HP Mini 1000 — Liliputing links us to a new video (after the one taken down) that will show you how to remove the film over the HP Mini 1000’s camera, improving brightness.

• First look at the new slim Acer Aspire One — It looks like Acer is planning yet another 10 inch Aspire One, despite the fact that their latest update has just recently been released.

With an even bigger WVGA screen than the HTC Touch Pro2 that we highlighted earlier today, the Acer M900 Tempo is going to be another high-end smartphone to consider if you need a consolidated device. Its got a similar high-capacity battery to the Pro2, GPS and a higher resolution camera. The processor is still an ARM11 device though so once again, the form factor is good but the CPU isn’t quite there. I can also hear the simultaneous cheers and boo’s for Windows Mobile!

Full specifications:

• Operating system: Genuine Windows Mobile® 6.1
• Processor: Samsung S3C 6410 mobile processor (533 MHz)
• System memory: 128 MB SDRAM for user applications and storage, 256 MB flash memory for operating system and embedded applications
• Display:3.8″ WVGA TFT LCD touch screen, 800 x 480 pixel resolution, 65536 colors
• Expansion: microSD™ Card
• Dimensions: 119 (L) x 62 (W) x 17.1 (H) mm
• Weight: 188 g
• Battery: Rechargeable lithium polymer battery, Capacity: 1530 mAh; Talk time: 3G: 5h depend on usage / 2G : 5h depend on usage; Standby: 160h depends on usage
• CMOS camera: 5M pixels Auto-Focus with flashlight, up to 2560 x 1920 resolution
• Audio: Built-in microphone, speaker
• Communications: HSDPA Category 8/ HSUPA Category 5 ( 2100/1900/850 Mhz); GSM/EDGE: Quad-band, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; GPRS/EGPRS: Class B, multi-slot class 11; WLAN: 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED® network connection; Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• GPS: SiRFstar III®
• I/O interface: 2.5mm stereo jack / AC adapter, microSD™ Card, SIM card slot
• Sensor: G-sensor
• User interface: Acer Shell v2.0
• Phone Tools: Phone settings, SIM toolkit, Speed dial, Call filter, Wireless modem, Communication manager
  Add ringtone, CSD type, Voice commander, Connection wizard, SMS sender, MMS composer
  SIM manager, Video Telephony
• Multimedia tools: Pictures & Videos, Camera /Camcorder, Album, Streaming player, Media player
• Utilities: Backup utility, Default Settings, Application recovery, Memory Optimization
• In-box accessories: Mini USB headset, Mini USB sync cable, Mini USB AC adaptor, Battery pack
• Optional accessories: Car mount kit

I’ll try and get the in the database ASAP so you can side-by-side it with the Touch Pro2, N97 and others. Right now though, I think that’s enough smartphone coverage on UMPCPortal for one day.

Acer product page with images is here.

Via PhoneScoop

Welcome back to another edition of the WRN roundup, here is some interesting items from this week:

• Sony VAIO P - HSDPA mod — Tnkgrl of tnkgrl Mobile, has managed to unlock the VAIO P’s EVDO only 3G to allow for HSDPA as well; all it took was a $1 part and a bit of hacking.

• Dell officially launches Inspiron Mini 10 in France — The Inspiron Mini 10 has been officially launched in France. Still looking forward to trying one of these out for the unique buttonless trackpad and the high resolution monitor.

• Acer Aspire One AOD150 now shipping in the US — Acer’s second generation netbook is now on sale in the US and for only $350! We liked the first one and are hoping that this one will live surpass the quality of the first.

• SSD Test: RunCore Mini PCI-e SATA SSD for Asus Eee PCs — Jkk does a video test of RunCore SSDs for Eee PCs and sees some pretty impressive speeds. Remember though, these aren’t blindingly fast and super-expensive, but rather have a good price:speed ratio.

• HP Mini 1000 accessories — Brad from Liliputing points us to an HP Mini 1000 [Portal page] site with accessories available for the Mini 1000. A few things are available to order today but the VGA adapter and Mobile Mini Drive still aren’t available yet. Check out our Mini 1000 MIE coverage here.

• Sony Vaio P battery life: Standard vs. Extended — Jenn of Pocketables.net continues here thorough coverage of the VAIO P with tests of the 2- and 4-cell batteries. Click through for a full chart featuring the length that the batteries lasted while running different tasks. While the 2-cell battery probably won’t satisfy your daily computing needs, the 4-cell managed to last just over 6 hours browsing the web (with one hour of that taken up by playing a flash video).

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Weekly Netbook Roundup. Lets see the interesting things that have gone on in the netbook space since we last spoke.

• Special edition Samsung NC10 with larger battery available for preorder — Looks like Amazon is selling a special version of the NC10 with a larger trackpad and battery (5900mAh 6-cell) which Samsung says will last for 9.4 hours. The screen on this version will be glossy unlike the original matte version. You can pick one up for $499.

• Sony Vaio P (VGN-P588E) performance and benchmarks — Jenn from Pocketables.net takes the VAIO P for a spin and shows us lots of good stats on how the computer performs. Some people don’t think the VAIO P is a netbook, but for some reason we included it here in the WNR. Controversy!

• Hands on with the Acer Aspire One D150 - Video — Sascha from netbooknews.de has a good hands on video of the Acer Aspire One D150. He doesn’t seem to be thrilled with the keyboard and says he is disappointed at the quality of the Aspire One D150 considering how successful the original Aspire One was, and that this is a second-gen netbook.

• Dell’s Mini 9 selling for just $249 — who needs a subsidy? — Looks like Dell has cut the price on its Inspiron Mini 9 [Portal page] netbook. You can pick up the lowest-speced Mini 9 which has 512MB of RAM, Ubuntu, and a 4GB SSD. Add $50 and you’ll get another 4GB of storage and Windows XP.

• Netbook growth leads to surge in Windows XP sales — Despite many netbook makers offering Linux flavors of their netbooks, XP is hugely popular, effecting OS sales charts on all PC sales, not just netbooks. “In December, 13.7% of all laptops sold, and 11.2% of all computers were running Windows XP.”.

• More rumored Dell Mini 10 details, colors surface — More information on Dells upcoming Mini 10 netbook. Apparently some leaked information (which isn’t confirmed to be true yet) has indicated that the Mini 10 will be available with two different display options, 1024 x 576 and 1366 x 768. Also contained in the leak is the option of 1.3GHz or 1.6GHz CPU, 3 or 6-cell battery, and something referred to as a “DVD slice” which sounds… interesting.

That’s all for this week. Tune in next time to the Weekly Netbook Roundup next monday!

It seems like we’ve known about the upcoming 10″ netbook from Acer for a while, but things just got a little bit more official. Netbook3G has found details about Acer’s second netbook at the FCC. Among the images are plenty of internal photos, and it seems like the FCC even has the manual hosted. Swing by Liliputing where Brad has pulled a bunch of the photos and put them in one place for your viewing pleasure.

It doesn’t seem like there are many differences between this Aspire One and the original [Portal page] [review], but of course the 10″ screen and some cosmetic changes and the inclusion of Bluetooth. I can’t say I like how the hinge accents have been changed from circles to teardrop shapes. The overall design seems a bit more noisy than the original as well. We’ll have to wait and see how this new 10″ version fares against their original which we thought was a pretty good jump into the netbook market. Acer claims that the first Aspire One is the worlds most popular netbook.

The good folks over at Dynamism have put up some nice Black Friday deals for those interested in a mobile computing. These will be good through Sunday or while supplies last.

If you are looking for a great deal on a netbook that will be able to handle your basic computing tasks, take a look at the Acer Aspire One [Portal page] [review] which can be bought for $249. The Black Friday Aspire One comes with Linpus Lite (Linux), 8GB SSD storage, and 512MB of RAM.

If you want some serious mobile computing power in a tiny package, Dynamism has the Raon Everun Note [Portal page] [review] for $599. The Black Friday Everun Note is configured with an AMD Sempron 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB SSD, and Ubuntu Linux.

Want something hand-held? You can pick up a well equipped OQO 02 [Portal page] [review] for $1599. The Black Friday Special OQO 02 comes with a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M CPU, 1GB of RAM, 120GB HDD, and Windows XP Pro.

And last but not least, there is an Asus Eee PC 900 [Portal page] for $299. The Black Friday configuration of this computer has the Intel Celeron 900MHz CPU, 12GB SSD, 1GB of RAM and Windows XP.

Check out the rest of the Black Friday Specials page for deals on other products as well. Again, these deals will only last until Sunday or possibly sooner if stock runs out, don’t let this one slip by.

According to Akihabaranews.com, Acer will sell an estimated 5.8 million (you read that right, 5,800,000) Aspire One netbooks [Portal page][review] by the end of the year. That is a pretty big number considering that the Aspire One wasn’t even released until Q2 of 2008. Akihabaranews says that Acer sent them some press info showing the sales for each quarter as well as the estimated number for the final quarter:

I was baffled during my review of the Acer Aspire One [Portal page] at the apparent lack of power management software that should have been included with the netbook. Aside from some hardware toggles, there were no settings beyond the default Windows power options to help get the most from your battery. I reported a while back on a nice utility that allowed users to control their Aspire One’s fan, but there wasn’t much more in the way of power management.

Luckily there are people out that who are passionate enough about their technology to spend time making good software for them. Take a look at a small freeware utility called a1ctl. For its tiny size, this utility has a lot of features:

(continue reading…)

Read the full story

One of the most popular netbooks here in the Portal can be bought from my favorite deal-a-day website, Woot.com for $289. I’ll cut right to the chase so that those of you who want the Aspire One can get the facts and go pick one up before they sell out!

Take a quick look at my Aspire One review to get a general feel for the hardware; software review can be disregarded as the Aspire One on Woot is running Linpus Lite (Linux) instead of XP like the one I reviewed (of course you could always put your own OS on it). So anyway, here is what you are going to get for $289 (+$5 shipping):

• 1.6 GHz Atom N270 CPU
• 512MB of RAM
• 8GB SSD
• 1024×600 8.9" screen
• Linpus Lite (Linux) OS
• All the other goodies that are common across every Aspire Ones

And there you have it, you can pick up a nice netbook for $289 if you are quick on the trigger, I feel certain that it will sell out quickly. Remember, the deal will only be available today and only until it sells out. Make haste!

Tnkgrl has been on a modding-spree with her new Acer Aspire One [Portal page]. I noted in my review of the Aspire One that some of the important connectivity options were lacking, such as Bluetooth and 3G. Luckily smart people like tnkgrl are here to show us how we can fix some of those important but neglected components.

Moving on to part three of her Aspire One modding-spree, she shows us how to put HSDPA into the Aspire One for 3G connectivity. Amateurs be warned: this is not a simple RAM upgrade, but if you still feel up to the task, tnkgrl has provided a helpful list of steps, images, and a video of making it all happen.

Also don’t miss part one and two where you can find out how to dissemble the Aspire One, add RAM, Bluetooth, and a 1.8" HDD.

This story made its rounds about our end of the blogosphere a few weeks ago, but after seeing someone mod a device so well, that I recently enjoyed reviewing, I couldn’t help but share it anyway.

Check out this very clean DIY project that turned an Acer Aspire One into a touch screen slate PC:

(click to see larger)

I only wish there were some videos of it in action, it looks very impressive from the images. Swing by the todoUMPC forums to see all of them.

[jkOnTheRun]

Allow me to introduce you to the recently released Acer Aspire One. The Aspire One is Acer’s first foray into the netbook space. It is nice to see lesser recognized laptop OEMs such as Acer have the ability to jump quickly into the netbook area with a quality product. I have been testing the Aspire One, provided by Dynamism, for the last few weeks and I have had a positive experience with the computer which is the first Atom based device I have used.

The Aspire One that I have been testing has a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, 120GB HDD, and Windows XP ($450 with that configuration). The whole unit can be bought starting at a very reasonable $399.

Hardware Tour

Check out the formal unboxing here.

Front: Nothing on the front but a spring loaded WLAN radio toggle.

Left Side (right to left): AC plug, VGA output, small vent, 10/100 ethernet, USB 2.0 port, SD slot (SD only).

Back: Nothing but battery. Under the battery is a faux SIM card slot, presumably for integrated 3G on later models.

Right Side: Mic input, audio output, USB 2.0 port x2, multi-card reader (MMC, SD, xD, Memory Sick), Kensington lock.

LED Indicators: Battery status, HDD use, Num-Lock, Caps-Lock.

Screen: 0.3 MP camera.

And a quick size comparison shot.

The good guys at Dynamism have sent me an Aspire One netbook for review; have a look at the unboxing shots (if that is your thing), and read my initial impressions below.

Aspire One Unboxing

Initial Impressions

As I opened the box to take a first look at the Aspire One I was immediately impressed with its design. They went with a very minimalistic approach and they did a really good job. Lots of curved edges make this netbook look really smooth, and it is apparent that they took their time making the device look nice. I don’t think the average person would realize that this is a only a $449 piece of hardware. The red/orange metallic looking highlights near the hinges provide a well balanced contrast between the otherwise minimal tone. For some reason it bothers me that the red/orange rings aren’t actually part of the hinge, even though they appear to be when the lid is closed. Well I suppose it doesn’t actually bother me, but it is perplexing.

The unit is really solid when it is closed and the screen hinge is just tight enough. There is a webcam and microphone in the top of the screen’s bezel. The screen does not wobble easily, and the battery also sits snug in its holder, leaving no wiggle room, which is always an indicator of good build quality. The mouse pad is a bit larger than the Kohjinsha SH8’s and is very usable… if you configure it correctly. The keyboard’s layout is pretty much standard, so there is no need to learn where keys might have been relocated to. Dark blue symbols on the keys are Fn functions; the blue symbols on white keys look good even if it is a very subtle effect.

I’ve been enjoying the device more than I had expected to for the last few days, keep your eyes peeled for the full review coming up in the next week or two. Drop a line in the comments if there is anything in particular you’d like to know about the Aspire One.

Golem.de have done an excellent detailed review of the Aspire One 110. Good pictures too. It’s in German so I’ve picked out a few key points here and summarised them below.

• Battery is 26.6wh and lasting 3.25 hours in Wifi-on, medium backlight tests. (Minimum 1hr and 46 minutes under a 3DMark test.)
• Fan noise is more than Medion Akoya Mini / MSI Wind but still less than most standard notebooks.
• Glossy screen is a problem outside.
• Smaller than MSI Wind. Larger than Eee PC 900.
• The first intuitive clicks on the mouse buttons will miss!
• Bright backlight
• 134 dpi on the screen is ok. [Up to 180 is usually OK for most people - Chippy]
• CPU steps down to 800Mhz under certain condition. [Same as other N270 devices - Chippy]
• 4.8Gb of the 8GB Phison SSD is free on the Linux version.
• SD card reader is SDHC capable
• Wifi module does not support Draft-n
• 19 second boot time
• Firefox version 2, not 3 installed. [Should be available by upgrade from the repositories I guess. Chippy]
• Included Media Mater software plays MPEG-2 (DVB-T, DVD) up to 8mbps. [Good enough - Chippy]
• Return from standby - 10 seconds.
• SSD Write speed. 7.7MBps [Very poor - Chippy]
• SSD Read speed - 26MBps [Acceptable, not impressive though - Chippy]
• Processor speed test results is 10% faster than a Celeron 900. [Exactly as expected - Chippy]

Highlight is that there doesn’t appear to be any show stoppers and that the battery life is over 3 hours. Lowlights are the glossy screen and a slow 7.7mbps write-rate on the SSD.

Source Golem.de. Thanks for the tip Hanno