Now that the Acer Aspire One D250 with its dual booting Win7/Android feature, is already out in the open, we’ve got two separate posts coming from Pocket-Lint and Register Hardware writers who got their hands-on the said netbook during its launch.

Interestingly both coverages noticed one major flaw with the machine – it’s inability to actually directly boot to Windows 7. Instead, the boot-up process takes you directly to the Android platform and to get Windows 7 running you need to do some manual procedures.

The Android installation on the Aspire One D250 is your simple desktop OS  which could very well be an alternative to other system offerings such as Splashtop. It’s just a simple interface for quickly browsing the web. While the Android’s main menu do however give you all the apps and options that you can use.

Check out some more hi-rest photos from  Pocket-Lint.

We recently reported that the dual booting netbook from Acer should be available to purchase from November. At the time we had no price for the netbook but, the machine is now up for pre-order on Amazon, with a retail price. The Acer Aspire One D250 is available to pre-order for a price of $349.99. No specific release date is listed.

The netbook will dual boot Android and Windows XP. A Windows 7 model should also be available with the release of a Windows 7 model in Japan.

via

Last time we reported on the Skytone Alpha 680 was in April when the expected release date would be around 3 months later. Since then we haven’t heard anything else about the Android powered netbook but, live pictures of the netbook have now surfaced.

The netbook, when it is released will run Android OS, come with 1GB SSD, 128MB of RAM and 533 MHz CPU. The display will be a 7 inch touch screen. Unfortunately, the netbook is described as “not really stable” which means we still won’t be seeing the netbook for a while yet. Until it is released, the live pictures of the netbook can be seen after the jump.

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Acer’s dual booting netbook, the D250 is due to hit stores in November. Currently no price is known but, despite the fact that it will run Android doesn’t mean it will be cheaper than the current 10 inch netbook from Acer. For those unfamiliar with th D250, the netbook will ship with Android along with Windows XP largely due to the company not knowing how Android will be received amongst consumers. The D250 has already been previewed and the Windows OS worked as well as expected on a netbook but, the Android side of things could be improved, so hopefully it’ll be improved by release.

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One of the first reviews of the Acer Aspire One D250 has surfaced. The netbook dual boots with Android and Windows XP which is relatively easier. It’s noted that a twin power button would have been great but, none the less switching between operating systems is easy. A reboot dialogue allows users to switch between XP and Android. Shutting down was quick and loading into Android took around 20 seconds.

The netbook overall receives a verdict of disappointing and feels semi finished, most of which is attributed to Android. The Android Market has been removed from the OS along with the ability to block sideload software, making it a “closed OS”. On the other hand, Acer seem to have also reworked the OS so that it fits the larger screen on the D250, which is a 10 inch display. Windows XP however works as well as expected on the netbook.

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Earlier this week, there have been some reports that Acer’s Android netbook will no longer see the light of day. But fortunately, an Acer representative quickly denied the report and quickly reaffirms that Acer will still push their Android netbook to production.

In fact, the said netbook is scheduled to beat the 3rd quarter deadline for its release, said the Acer representative.

If you may have forgotten already, Acer first demoed its Android netbook during the Computex earlier this year. That time, it was able to capture the interest of on-lookers and has since then anticipated the release of the said netbook.

The Acer Android netbook will sport a 10-inch screen and will have specs that are similar to the Aspire One netbook running Windows XP. Acer is currently working with a Taiwanese Linux company in porting the Android platform to their Aspire One machines.

So, now we wait.

Via PC World

During the recent Computext 2009 event, there were several Android-powered smartbooks which were put on display by various manufacturers. Although most of the smartbooks seems to work well, two Gartner analysts say that smartbooks running Google Android are not ready for primetime yet.

The Gartner Analysts were pleased with the netbooks and smartbooks using Google Android as OS during the Computext and noted that in time, these netbooks/smartbooks would be a good replacement to the traditional netbooks equipped with Intel’s microprocessors.

Among those netbooks/smartbooks using Google Android that were demoed during the Computex include:

• Eee PC based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor with ARM processing cores
• ECS Android smartbook powered by ARM-based chips
• Acer’s Android Aspire One running on Intel Atom processor

Via ComputerWorld

Craving for Android on a 7-inch tablet? That’s exactly what the folks from Kinpo are busy with these days–they are working on a 7-inch Freescale-powered Android tablet that’s tentatively called the Kinpo Thin Client, as demoed in the Freescale booth during Computex 2009. The 7-inch screen of the Kinpo Thin Client sports a WVGA 800×480 resolution and as you might have guessed, it is a touchscreen. It appears to run pretty smoothly in the video but it is obvious that Android hasn’t been optimized for the device itself yet. Perhaps, as Kinpo completes the work needed for the Thin Client, we’ll see it even more as a finished product than as a prototype. Watch the video of the Android-based Kinpo Thin Client after the break.
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When Acer announced its upcoming Android netbook many got excited and are now eagerly anticipating how this netbook would actually fare. But immediately thereafter, Acer’s chairman JT Wang clarified that the said netbook will actually be running the Android OS but also Windows XP under a dual-booting capability.

As for the reason for such strategy, Mr. Wang said that launching the said Acer netbook with dual-OS capability would be a safer choice for Acer since it is not yet clear whether netbook users would fully accept netbooks loaded with the Android OS.

Still, Acer is not ruling out the possibility of shipping an Acer netbook running only the Android platform. But this will depend still on the demand of telecom providers which Acer will be working with.

While some may take this announcement on a positive note, some, especially open source supporters took it on a negative note.

So, would you be willing to purchase an Acer netbook dual-booting with Android and Windows XP?

Via Digitimes

An Eee PC running Android was showcased earlier today for Computex 2009, not by Google nor Asus, but by Qualcomm Technologies. The chip company is pushing for a new generation of mobile devices called “Smartbooks” that will be powered by their so far convincing 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. Asus itself has been rumored to be planning on launching Android-based Eee PCs soon, while other parties such as Freescale Semiconductor have also announced plans to introduce Android netbooks before the end of the year.

In a video recorded by TweakTown as a Qualcomm product manager demonstrated the Android-powered Eee PC to them, it can be seen that the open-source smartphone OS works fairly well on a netbook, although if it will actually be useful in real world situations (not to mention a worthy alternative to Windows and other popular netbook operating systems) is still in question. In any case, it is evident that many companies are working together to make Android on netbooks an attractive reality, so let’s just sit back and watch what happens. See a video of the Eee PC running Android with a Snapdragon CPU after the break.
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