ASUS has showed us that high end Android powered tablets are capable of competing with the iPad with a bit of clever marketing. Their debut Honeycomb powered device, the Eee Pad Transformer, came equipped with a keyboard dock that essentially allows you to turn the tablet into a laptop. Following up on the success of the Transformer, ASUS debuted the Transformer Prime complete with NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor.
While things seem to be chugging along nicely for the Transformer Prime, some users have reported the fun has come to an abrupt halt. As you’re sure to know, the Android ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ 4.0 roll out for the Transformer Prime is well under way with many happy consumers reporting great results.
Unfortunately for a select few it seems the be the exact opposite. Reports have begun rolling in that say some users are plagued with an issue regarding the device’s serial number that prevents it from being installed. While we haven’t heard anything from ASUS just yet that’s sure to change quite soon and we’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
Source:Mobilewhack.com
Charbax is in China and he’s come across a Rockchip Netbook with the RockChip RK2918 processor running at 1.2 GHz on a ARM Cortex-A8 processor which supports Adobe Flash.
The netbook looks like a Nokia Booklet knock off but the OS is a tweak version of Android. Its by no means polished as when you try to enter text an on screen keyboard pop up but there is no touch screen supported on the 10.1 inch device. They’ve also added a mouse pointer to help you navigate this touch interface with out touch. You’ll notice that the device has 2 USB 2.0 ports, audio ports and speakers.
When will this device make it to the US, my thoughts are most likely never! But if it does Charbax imagines that you’ll be mobile computing for a ridiculously long time thanks to the ARM processor. Would be nice to see some battery life testing and some 3rd party performance benchmarks on Rockchip’s latest processor.
Acer has introduced a new netbook dubbed the Aspire E100 and the E stands for Education… or maybe Europe. Notebook Italia reports that Acer is working with the European Schoolnet on the project.
For the most part the E100 looks like a standard Acer netbook. The key differences are that schools can customize the mini-laptop with their logos, and there’s a pocket for students or teachers to put a label with their names. Acer also preloads some education oriented software including the Acer Classroom Manager which lets teachers monitor and interact with students using the laptops.
The Acer Aspire E100 features a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, a 6 cell battery, a 250GB a hard drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and Ethernet. There’s an Intel Atom processor inside the netbook, although Notebook Italia doesn’t specify which Atom chip. I’m guessing N455, N475, or N550 since the computer uses 1GB of DDR memory.
Like some versions of the Acer Aspire D255 and D260 netbooks, the E100 can dual boot Windows 7 and Google Android.
There’s no word on whether the netbook will be launched in the US or other markets outside of Europe.
The Acer Aspire One Happy has been making the rounds in Europe for a little while, showing up at Spanish and Hungarian retail sites last month. Now the mini-laptop is also heading to the UK, where it will sell for about £250, or just under $400 US.
What’s more, the UK version will apparently dual boot Windows 7 and Google Android 2.1. It’s not clear whether the version of the Aspire One Happy on sale in other countries will also feature the dual booting operating systems, although word on the street is that Acer plans to offer Android on all of its upcoming notebooks that have dual core processors. The Aspire One Happy will be available with either a single core Atom N450 processor or a dual core Atom N550 chip.
The netbook features a 10.1 inch display, WiFi, Bluetooth, and optional 3G. The Acer Aspire One Happy supports up to 2GB of memory and will be available with up to 250GB of hard drive space. The computer will be available with pink, purple, lime green, or light blue lids. Aside from the Android option, the colorful lids are probably the most distinctive feature on this laptop.
Notebook Italia reports that the Happy will be available in Italy in November with a starting price of 349 Euros. Like the UK model, the version shipping in Italy will run both Windows 7 Starter and Google Android.
What goes better with a dual core processor than dual operating systems? Don’t see the connection? Yeah, me either. But DigiTimes is reporting that Acer plans to load both Windows 7 and Google Android on all future laptops with dual core chips.
This isn’t completely out of character for Acer. The company has already released a couple of netbook models running both Windows and Android, but they’ve been the exception and not the rule. But since Google doesn’t charge a licensing fee for Android it doesn’t cost much to throw Android on a separate partition and call it a valued added proposition.
I also suspect that DigiTimes may simply not have all the facts right. Most of Acer’s previous dual boot netbooks were only made available in a limited set of countries. It’s possible the new dual boot Windows and Android laptops could be limited editions which are only sold in certain parts of the globe.
Oh yeah, and no. I have no idea why Acer is reportedly tying the dual boot operating systems to machines with dual core processors. Single core chips handle dual boot systems just as well as multi-core chips, since you’re typically only actually running one operating system at a time. You simply choose which Acer laptop you want at startup.
The Acer Aspire One D250 Android netbook has now been officially announced by Acer.
Looking at all the initial hands-on and video (LaptopMag, Pocket-lint, Register Hardware) Android looks very unfinished to me and at best would replace one of those instant-on OSes you get on some netbooks.
Interestingly, there is no dual-boot. Windows 7 is launched from Android (which takes about 30 seconds to boot up), because Acer says they expect you to be using Android most of the time.
Specs wise, the only thing I see different is 2GB RAM as default, you’ve still got the same 10.1” 1024×600 display, 160GB HDD. Full specs, price and launch date have yet to be announced.
