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First Android-Based Netbook, Set-Top Box
Posted by
timothy
on Tue Apr 21, 2009 02:43 PM
from the every-glovebox-could-have-one dept.
from the every-glovebox-could-have-one dept.
An anonymous reader writes "China based Skytone famous for making skype headsets have brought out a $100 device, the Alpha-680 netbook running Google Android for its OS. The device has Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB ports and an SD card slot. After watching the video though, I get a feeling that the boot time is somewhat long. IMO good enough for browsing." Also on the Android front, ruphus13 points out what the maker claims is the first "fully realized" non-mobile Android device (though I think there were some other non-mobile gadgets on diplay at CES), a set-top box from Motorola based on Android. According to the linked post, it's "capable of playing DVDs and CDs, transferring music and video to a mobile device, and ripping and storing files" and "will have a full-featured Chrome-like browser."
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ericatcw writes "There was a flurry of excitement earlier this week when the first Google Android netbook, the Skytone Alpha 680, was spotted by Slashdotters. Now, Computerworld has scored an exclusive interview with Skytone's co-founder. Among many tidbits, he reveals that the Alpha 680 builds upon the success of last year's $180 Alpha 400, which shipped 100,000 units, mostly in Europe under names such as Elonex OneT; that the new Alpha 680 will weigh 1.5 pounds, 25% less than the first Eee 701 netbook; that its ARM11 chip (basically the same as the one used in the iPhone) can handle YouTube video; and that he hopes to have Chinese manufacturing partners producing the $250 Alpha 680 within 3 months."
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Anemic for 100 (Score:5, Insightful)
not anemic (Score:3, Interesting)
$100 isn't very much.
As low spec as that is, it's very good for $100.
I don't know why they were bashing it so much.
Agreed, the blogger makes some rather opinionated statements but misses the forest for the trees in this case.
It's a good trend that low cost hardware manufacturers are getting into the netbook game and featuring systems like Android. Backed by a mega corporation and open sourced, Android is bound to keep getting better. I think it's going to give the iPhone a run for its money eventually.
As for netbooks, it seems like a good idea for some purposes--a handy little sub laptop. If it works with Skype--and
Android Java (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd be much more impressed with android if there was a full JRE available.
Why? (Score:2)
It's not as if there's tons of legacy Java GUI apps that people want to run.
I'm a developer, (Score:3, Insightful)
so rather than having to go through the rigmarole of developing for this tiny set of Java classes, I'd much rather just develop for the Java SE and ME APIs with which I am already familiar.
One of my favorite features of Java is its cross-platform compatibility.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Please. Java SE may not be the Windows killer Sun used to claim it was, but there are still a lot of people running Java GUI apps, especially in enterprise applications. And not "legacy" apps either. It's a simple way to create simple client programs that you can deploy over the web. It will never replace native apps for most purposes, but it still has a big role.
The absence of a JRE would all seem to relate to the confusion over what kind of device Android is really meant for. Google seems to have targeted at cell phones and PDA-style devices. In that context, not supporting Java SE makes sense. But once you start deploying Android on netbooks....
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
JamVM [sourceforge.net] proved that interpreting java can be faster than JIT compiling it. JamVM is the fastest JavaSE-capable JVM for ARM based devices that isn't made by Sun.
It's still way slower than optimized C or assembly, but... GCC is pretty bad at optimizing for ARM, so the difference between C and interpreted java isn't that huge. (maybe 2-4x faster)
In other news... (Score:3, Funny)
not a netbook (Score:3, Insightful)
MacOS, Linux, and Windows have enough apps that they can be considered full-blown operating systems. Android is absolutely not in the same league. It's closer to phone firmware than to PC operating systems.
This is just a glorified phone, at least for now.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
MacOS, Linux, and Windows have enough apps that they can be considered full-blown operating systems.
So the iPhone is a full computer? It does run a version of MacOS, and it has tons of apps...
What about Windows Mobile devices?
I don't think either "number of apps" or "mac os/linux/windows" is the identifier for "computer" versus "appliance/phone/etc".
Also, the need to draw a line between the two is rapidly disappearing.
Welcome to the Great Convergance. AI controlled machines will take over the world and eliminate the human race in 3...2...
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Well if you want to have mobile phones and netbooks as separate categories, there must be a distinction. And my definition would be that netbooks have all the functionality one would expect from a desktop PC.
Windows mobile and iPhone do not have anywhere near that functionality. Have you ever tried using the spreadsheet app on WM6? A toy.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Indeed, using a spreadsheet app is mostly a futility on WM6. I can speak from experience on that. Why? Because putting a spreadsheet on a 3" screen is ridiculous. Not because of anything else. My phone has multiple TIMES the processing power and memory of the first computer I used a spreadsheet app on. If I had a VGA output and a mouse input on my phone, there is no reason it couldn't run a port of Excel 97.
Not disappointed at all! (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm actually wanting one if it's around $100. It would be perfect for showing simple stats or doing very basic quick commands. Could even write a custom application quickly.
I'm not anywhere close to disappointed by the specs as the author of the article is.
Re: (Score:2)
It's $100 bucks...! (Score:5, Insightful)
Geez... The reviewer was criticizing this netbook saying that this thing was "low-end" and a glorified cellphone. Well I have no idea what kinds of cellphone you can get with a QWERTY keyboard, an RJ45 Jack, USB, 3G, Wifi an SD card slot and an 800x600 screen for $100.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It's $100 bucks...! (Score:5, Insightful)
The "reviewer" was the usual ignorant and opinionated "technology columnist". Saying stupid things is practically part of his job description.
Parent
Motorola denied the android set top connection (Score:3, Informative)
Battery? (Score:2)
I guess Nick Negroponte wins, then. (Score:3, Interesting)
He drove the price of a basic laptop down to $100 just like he said he would.
What was it Ghandi said? First they mock you, then they fight you, then you win?
Looks like a potential Car PC (Score:4, Interesting)
I want a car PC. GPS/Nav, ~7" screen, music, bluetooth for my cell, rear-view cam, voice recognition, browser if possible (at least if near Wi-Fi, ideally with 3G if my phone supports it), more. For $100, this might serve as a good basis for it.
I'm not looking to compile code on it, play FPSes, etc., so the specs don't have to be impressive.
Compare to TiVo (Score:3, Insightful)
Given that android is a Linux kernel, that would mean that all of these devices are going to make their (kernel) source available right?
TiVo makes its kernel source code available, but is it useful?
Re: (Score:3)
It's probably just an XPish skin, like on the first Asus EEE. I hate that. They should just use the damn window manager's default skin instead of fooling potential buyers.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
A) The default skin is ugly for some WMs. While the default look of GNOME and KDE and even XFCE look good, other, lighter WMs look plain ugly when on their default themes.
B) Licensing issues with some custom themes. Some custom themes may be released under the GPL... But the artwork is proprietary or something so, while its no big deal for an individual, for a company looking to make a profit on them, this is a potential landmine.
C) People these days