We’re getting a clearer picture of the operating system strategy from Google today as PCMag reports on Eric Schmidt’s closing keynote at IFA in Berlin. Apart from talking about the future of search, location search, fast search, personal search and the growth in mobile web and smartphones, he confirmed in a Q&A that Chrome OS is targeted at netbooks.

The next question is ‘what is a netbook’ but at least the strategy for Chrome OS aligns with what Google said on day one. If we consider Chrome OS to be a very fast way to access Google search and web applications and add the web application layer/web app store then you have a basic framework for a web-based user interface and application layer for a simple Linux-based PC. Interestingly, that Linux-based core could come from the Android space, from Linaro, from MeeGo or any of the other mobile-focused Linux platforms and could even contain an Android environment as part of the user-layer but we get the impression that Google is going it alone on this as a separate project. It will be interesting to see what netbook manufacturers pick it up and work their drivers and customisations into it because at the moment, the Intel/Nokia-backed MeeGo appears to have the better position.

With Chrome OS targeted at netbooks it would be easy to summise now that Android 3.0 is for next-gen high-end smartphones, tablets and smart-books. We need to be a little careful though because Google is also putting a lot of effort into TV and Eric Schmidt confirmed in his keynote that Android is a part of Google TV. Could this be the target for Android 3.0? Whatever the strategy here, the key point is that Google will open Android up to new screen sizes. Its a clear signal for developers to start thinking about large-screen applications.

When will this happen? Chrome partnerships will be announced later this year but Android 3.0 timescales are less clear.

With companies like Samsung, Dell and Toshiba moving real products into this space now and with Samsung pushing for 10M sales of the Galaxy Tab [That seems way too high to me Chippy] there must be people at Google thinking about speeding up the Android 3.0 process. Major changes to Market and their app suite would be needed so this isn’t a minor task but with HP, Nokia, Intel and others breathing down their necks, it has to happen soon.

See also: Question Marks that Remain Over Q4 Tablets

Sidenote: Intel are working on an X86 port of Android for their ‘always-on’ capable platforms for 2011. These platforms are targeted at the 4-10 inch screen space and so clearly something has to happen with large screen support. With Intel and a key member of the Open Handset Alliance and a close Google partner (Google TV for example) we should also watch for clues from that side of the camp. Intel are likely to have X86-Android ready for mid-late 2011 and this, according to Intel, will be offered up as an official X86 Android. Some of this Intel/Android work is also likely to be part of Google TV.

The full and very interesting keynote is available here.

Via netbooknews.de

Meet:Mobility Podcast 55 is now available.

JKK, Sascha and Chippy live from IFA with a round-up of the mobile tech news. Tablet and Netbooks feature heavility in this episode. Galaxy Tab, Viewsonic, Samsung N350 and more…

Full show notes and listen/download/subscribe links over at MeetMobility.

No. I’m not talking about carrier ‘discounts’ I’m talking about retail discounts. Real, no-strings attached, cash on the (internet) counter deals. My favorite pricing search engine is coming up with some interesting prices across the EU.

Galaxy Tab Information page here.

In Germany we’re obviously starting at 799 Euros. Amazon set the bar and everyone else has followed suit so far. (Geizhals link)  My guess is that no-one has actually negotiated a price with Samsung Germany yet (Samsung won’t fix a price until after meeting all of their potential customers at IFA obviously) but have put the RRP up to catch out some early fans. Tip: I saw MediaMarkt (THE big electronic chain store in Germany) in the Samsung customer lounge at IFA. They were huddled with Samsung suits and a lot of spreadsheets. Wait until the MediaMarkt price is announced before making a move in Germany.

Update: Just a few hours after we posted this, a German mobile phone retailer is offering the Galaxy Tab for 649 Euros.  A 579 price was posted earlier but the sales page appears to have been removed.

In the UK things are different. They have already hit 599 pounds which is 726 Euros. That’s still expensive and above the early street price of 600 Euro we were talking about a few days ago but how does 630 Euros grab you? One retailer in Austria is offering it for that price today. The pre-tax price is just 525.03 Euro. (Link to latest pricing at Geizhals.at) Other Austrian retailers are also discounting heavily.

I’ll raise a little flag at this point and say ‘warning’ because retailers tend to play a lot of games on these price comparison engines but clearly the competition is already big on the Galaxy Tab and our predictions are looking spot on. We’ll re-visit this in a weeks time.

No affiliate links appear in this post.

It’s so good to be able to finally bring you some mobile computing news over here at UMPCPortal. The lions share went to our consumer-focused site, Carrypad [see all our consumer tablet news from IFA here] and to be honest, I didn’t see a single UMPC-style product at IFA. It’s telling.

There are a lot of positive points to pull out of IFA though. 1 Android products are getting better and all the major manufacturers are committed to getting some tablet and smart book products out there. Some will reach the market in the next month. 2 –  As we get nearer towards Android 3.0 the developers must be thinking about the opportunities and i’m 100% sure we’re going to see the productive end of the Android applicaton spectrum blossom during 2011. 3-  We also saw some progress from Moblin. The first Moblin-based product is about to launch [WeTab – Details] and the feedback from the product developers was very positive.  Again, we’re going to see some good developments in the AppUp market here so that’s good news for 2011.  [Sidenote: We’re participating in AppUp Elements next week so we’ll have the latest info for you then.] Finally, I was extremely happy to see the 1KG Samsung N350 at IFA. Having recently written a report on mobile netbooks, I’m confident in saying that the N350 is the best solution out there. Dual-core Atom is going to bring Windows 7 application fluidity and enable basic use of video and audio editing apps. It might also allow me to finally step up from VGA to 720p in my video process. I’ll be testing it as soon as I can.

Full gallery here.

Previous article on the Samsung N350 here.

When the details have been added to our database, they will be here.

The N350 offers 1024×768 (So say Samsung. More real estate at the expense of vertically-squashed pixels?) with a non-glossy finish. No digital a/v out is offered but VGA is there. You’ve also got an easy RAM upgrade slot and the promise of 3G / 4G (which means there’s a swappable module in there somewhere.) Battery life is said to in the region of 13 hours for the 6-cell battery. The 1KG version will have the 3-cell battery and offer, in real-terms, about 4-5hrs. The screen / price / power / battery life ratio there is unbeatable. Expect about 100-150gm extra weight for the 6-cell battery still an unbeatable combo in my opinion.

The N350 on the show-floor was only running an N450 so its not possible to tell you about the performance but even the N455 model I tested was smooth. There’s obviously a fast SATA drive in there which could easily be swapped out for an even faster / more rugged SSD if needed.

Base pricing (lets hope it’s not for the N450 model) is 400-450. If the pricing is for an entry-level single core version then you’re looking at 499 Euro for the dual-core version. Add about 80 Euro for the 3G version which might not be available immediately.

How about this: Samsung N350 with Dual-Core N55 and added 3G, SSD and Pixel-Qi screen for about 5-6 hours of 1KG of 10 inch  productivity. It sounds like a real possibility to me after IFA this week.

After our hands-on with the Galaxy Tab we couldn’t resist a few benchmark tests. In the video below you’ll see the Sunspider test which is a single-threaded test. For reference we’ve seen 9000ms on the iPad and just under that on Tegra 2 (with Android 2.1) A netbook comes in at about 2000ms. The Galaxy Tab? About 7500ms showing that the a single CPU core (we’re not 100% on the CPU details yet we suspect a single Cortex A9 core at the moment.)

Next up you’ll see the Quadrant test that we ran on the Tegra 2 platform this week. On the Toshiba AC100 we saw a very impressive score of 1911 which is one amazing score. Remember the Quadrant test is a CPU, 2D and 3D test so it tests more than just the CPU. On the Galaxy Tab we saw a score of 1064. That might sound a lot less than the Tegra2 platform but it’s more than the impressive Samsung Galaxy S!

All is revealed in the video below.

After our hands-on with the Galaxy Tab we couldn’t resist a few benchmark tests. In the video below you’ll see the Sunspider test which is a single-threaded test. For reference we’ve seen 9000ms on the iPad and just under that on Tegra 2 (with Android 2.1) A netbook comes in at about 2000ms. The Galaxy Tab? About 7500ms showing that the a single CPU core (we’re not 100% on the CPU details yet – we suspect a single Cortex A9 core at the moment.)

Next up you’ll see the Quadrant test that we ran on the Tegra 2 platform this week. On the Toshiba AC100 we saw a very impressive score of 1911 which is one amazing score. Remember the Quadrant test is a CPU, 2D and 3D test so it tests more than just the CPU. On the Galaxy Tab we saw a score of 1064. That might sound a lot less than the Tegra2 platform but it’s more than the impressive Samsung Galaxy S!

All is revealed in the video below.

We’ve managed to get some time with the Galaxy Tab at IFA and we’ve got pics, a video and some benchmarks following in the next post. It’s quite the looker, performer and a very good all-round tablet package.

Click to to see gallery

Fist impressions: Slick, fast, great weight/size ratio and Samsung have managed to include the Google applications AND their own app creations. The screen is sharp and, as expected actually, great quality with a contrast, brightness and ‘pop’ that we grew fond of with the Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC. Web sites loaded quickly and cleanly over 3G and capacative touch was smooth. Stereo speakers are loud and of good quality for the size. Another trick that Samsung performed on the Q1 Ultra!

We got an iPad and Dell Streak in for size comparisons and as you can see, it’s less than half the size of the iPad.

As for iPad and Dell Streak comparisons, I’m going to spend a few days thinking about it before I put any thoughts forward. We’ll get some more hands-on over the next few days and test out the Samsung apps and some applications from the Market. Stay tuned.

On to the hands-on video. [Uploading NOW!  Update: Benchmark details to follow in next post.]

Benchmark video also available.

We’ve managed to get some time with the Galaxy Tab at IFA and we’ve got pics, a video and some benchmarks following in the next post. It’s quite the looker, performer and a very good all-round tablet package.

Click to to see gallery

Fist impressions: Slick, fast, great weight/size ratio and Samsung have managed to include the Google applications AND their own app creations. The screen is sharp and, as expected actually, great quality with a contrast, brightness and ‘pop’ that we grew fond of with the Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC. Web sites loaded quickly and cleanly over 3G and capacative touch was smooth. Stereo speakers are loud and of good quality for the size. Another trick that Samsung performed on the Q1 Ultra!

We got an iPad and Dell Streak in for size comparisons and as you can see, it’s less than half the size of the iPad.

As for iPad and Dell Streak comparisons, I’m going to spend a few days thinking about it before I put any thoughts forward. We’ll get some more hands-on over the next few days and test out the Samsung apps and some applications from the Market. Stay tuned.

On to the hands-on video. [Uploading NOW!  Update: Benchmark details to follow in next post.]

Benchmark video also available.