Netbook Evangelist | The blog with information for netbooks & tablets

Just over a week after a Chinese web site posted some hands-on impressions of a pre-release version of Acer’s upcoming netbook loaded with the Google Android operating system, Gizmodo is reporting that Acer’s Android netbook will be available to the general public by November.

The laptop will likely retail for around $300 to $350, which is about what Acer charges for its current 10 inch netbooks. The reason is because while Google Android is available to Acer and other computer makers without a licensing fee, Windows isn’t. And this computer is going to dual boot Android and Windows. Acer wasn’t ready to take the risk of launching an Android-only netbook that may not appeal to consumers.

The move kind of makes me wonder what the point of installing Android at all is… especially considering it’s an operating system designed for cellphones. Google’s Chrome Operating System which is designed for netbooks is expected to be available early next year.

If ASUS is hoping to stick with that “mid-October” launch date here in North America, we’d say it better get whatever units it has laying around loaded up with an English-speaking version of Windows and onto a large vessel destined for a US port. Still, it’s good to see some “proof” that the roadmapped Eee PC 1201n — a 12-inch netbook with NVIDIA’s Ion technology — is actually on schedule for an autumn release, even if said “proof” is a product listing on an Asian e-tailer’s website. Unfortunately, the machine is still humming along on Intel’s near-ancient Atom N270 processor, though the 2GB of RAM, high(er) resolution panel, real man’s GPU and Windows 7 operating system should help move things along. Per usual, we don’t expect ASUS to confirm or deny the legitimacy of this slip, but if you’re in the market for an Eee, this may be all you needed to hold off just a bit.

It’s no secret that Intel is on track to launch its next generation Intel Atom processors later this year. What’s a bit less clear is exactly when we’ll start to see these chips show up in netbooks and other products. Because word on the street is that while the new chips will be more energy efficient, they won’t be much faster, and they could cost more than today’s Atom chips. And that could be enough to give PC makers pause. If the performance isn’t noticeably different, why use the newer chips if all they’ll do is drive up the cost of netbooks and make your products less competitive?

Still, someone has to be first, right? And today DigiTimes is quoting mysterious “industry sources” that claim MSI will be the first company to launch a netbook using the upcoming Intel Atom Pine Trail-M platform.

The MSI machine will most likely also run Windows 7 and include a touch screen, which implies that it would run Windows 7 Home Premium rather than Windows 7 Starter, which won’t be quite as touch-friendly as the pricier versions of the operating system.

I’d take the DigiTimes article with a grain of salt though, since it suggests that Intel is pushing back the launch of Pine Trail until January, and that MSI is simply jumping the gun here. But last I’d heard, Intel was denying any delays, and promising to deliver Pine Trail in October.

LG’s no stranger to the netbook space. The company has already introduced two netbook models over the past year. But someone in the company’s phone division is apparently thinking of new approaches to netbooks. An Engadget Mobile tipster sent in some photos from an LG survey which detail a possible upcoming product called “Synergy” which could be a codename for a netbook that would work closely with your cellphone.

Her’s the idea. You’d be able to respond to text messages sent to your phone using your netbook. Thanks to its closer-to-full-sized-keyboard-than-anything-you’ll-find-on-a-phone, this could be a killer feature. You’d also be able to see caller ID on your phone and browse photos on your phone.

At the same time, the Synergy netbook would be a standalone computer running Windows XP or Windows 7. It’s not clear if you’d be able to tether the netbook to your phone and surf the web over your phone’s data plan. But it seems clear that there will have to be some sort of connection between the two devices.

The netbook, if it ever comes into being, could apparently be sold for about $149 to customers that sign up for a two year wireless service contract. You know, if LG finds a wireless carrier to partner with.

Rumors have it Apple is a month away from announcing a tablet computer. Another tablet, the Crunchpad, is also due for imminent release. These and other fine keyboardless computers get great play on gadget blogs (including our own Crave), but in the real world, I believe this whole category is a nonstarter. Why we keep waiting for the killer tablet computer is beyond me. Few people really want one, especially at the prices that they will have to sell for.

Tablet computers–elegant slates that you operate with a touch screen–are attractive if you’re a sci-fi fan. There’s something functionally beautiful about a computer that’s all screen and nothing else, and where your interaction is directly through that screen, not an intermediary like a keyboard or mouse. And the concept works great on smartphones.

Not really the Apple tablet.

But what you can do with a screen-only computer gets really limited when you expand the device beyond pocket size. There are two big limitations. First, you need a keyboard for doing real work. At least most people do. Perhaps a generation of kids will grow up that are as speedy on a virtual keyboard as they are on a real one, but until then anyone who does more than write quick e-mails and Twitter messages on a computer will want to take a keyboard with them. And typing on the screen, even if you can do it, is an ergo disaster. Either you have to keep your hands up in the air (if the computer is mounted vertically in front of you) or you have to hunch over your screen to see it. Maybe it’s the national chiropractors association that’s pushing this form factor. See also: Jeremy Toeman at Live Digitally.

While a tablet may be great for browsing the Web and viewing media, it’s too big to replace a phone and too limited to carry around as a work computer. People will need their keyboarded Netbooks and notebooks for real work. Tablets, like other tweener devices, ultramobile PCs and Netbooks, are accessories to real computers. You can’t do enough on them to justify the price, although they’re sure nice to have if you have extra money for a gizmo that sits between your big computer and your phone, both in size and function.

So as an accessory, tablets are too expensive. If Apple releases a tablet in the rumored $700 to $800 price range, it will die. Not because people won’t love it and lust for it, but because they won’t be able to justify it.

I actually have higher hopes for the Crunchpad due to its Web focus and its lower price. But even then, at the rumored $400 price point, I still believe it’s too dear for real human beings on a real budget, and it will reportedly lack local resources (storage) to make it a workable solution in a world of spotty connectivity (see also: Silicon Alley Insider). Geeks might like it, and buy them as living room couch Web-surfing computers, but for families looking to address real technology needs, a Netbook like a $200 Acer Aspire One offers a better bet: it has a real keyboard, its own storage, and you can take it on the road and do real work on it, like a notebook computer or a Netbook.

Of course, you’ll probably be able to plug a keyboard into any of these yet-to-be-released tablets (see the Always Innovating tablet Netbook), but you’ll pay extra for the hardware and it’ll mean more gear to keep track of and prop up on your desk.

For specialized applications, tablet computers can and do work. The Aeryon spybot uses a tablet computer to control it. And in the consumer space, Amazon’s Kindle, a tablet by form factor even though it has a vestigial keyboard, works because it but does things no other device can do at all: it can buy books instantly, almost anywhere, and display them on a screen nearly as easy to read as a printed page.

I love beautiful and elegant tech toys as much as any other geek, but geek love isn’t enough to make a real market. Tablets need to cost a lot less and do a lot more before they establish a foothold in the consumer market.

According to various rumors and reports, Apple’s got a new slate-style Netbook in the works that may be announced as soon as next month. While we have no confirmation from Apple–or anybody else–that such a product really exists, that doesn’t mean we can’t do a little market survey and ask you what the thing should be called.

If the rumors are at all on target, the final product will look something like a jumbo iPod Touch. However, what’s interesting is that such a PC would most likely be a crossover product for Apple and straddle several product families, includes iPods, MacBooks, and maybe even Apple TV. So, is it part of one of those families or a whole new category unto itself?

Only time will tell. Case your vote here

We started seeing prototype photos of the CrunchPad back in April. Back then we described it as, “a mobile computing device as envisioned by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington…The project’s goal was to design and build a thin, light touch-screen PC without a physical keyboard or onboard hard drive. Instead, the system and its custom operating system would be entirely focused on Web browsing and using Web-based apps.”

Since then we’ve seen precious little official news about the project, so it’s small wonder that online tongues were wagging today about an article published by The Straits Times purporting to offer additional details about the device. Under the breathlessly hyperbolic headline “World’s first tablet PC,” The Straits Times describes a hands-on demo given by Fusion Garage, a company that claims to be developing the device:

The fully working model, called a Crunchpad, has a 12-inch screen and weighs 1.2kg. It allows users to watch YouTube videos, listen to music and edit documents, among other things. Its operating system, or OS, was also developed in-house. The device will not have storage space–which some analysts have pegged as a big drawback – and will instead run programs hosted on servers: so-called cloud computing.

An early look at the CrunchPad prototype.

(Credit: TechCrunch)

We’ve previously reported that the Crunchpad would have an Intel Atom CPU, with 1GB of RAM, and Wi-Fi and mobile broadband options. That would make it similar to a Netbook, albeit one that added a touch screen and removed the hard drive and keyboard. An interesting comparison might be the recent Asus Eee PC T91, which added a touch screen to a standard 9-inch Netbook.

At a rumored $400, the CrunchPad is now more expensive than Michael Arrington’s original estimates, and may price it out of range for value-seeking Netbook buyers, who can get a 10-inch system for less than $299.

TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington has not confirmed these new details, and posted the following via Twitter early Friday morning: “re crunchpad, obviously i’m completely ripshit mad about all this unauthorized bs press: http://bit.ly/2dVjBQ wtf.”

The timing could not be more interesting, coming on the heels of yet another round of Apple tablet rumors and general interest in the touch-screen capabilities of Windows 7. But, as the Silicon Alley Insider points out, any head-to-head competition between an Apple tablet and a CrunchPad tablet is likely to be a one-sided battle, thanks to Apple’s superior marketing muscle and the CrunchPad’s potentially limited appeal outside of dedicated touch-screen/cloud computing fans.

The Apple tablet has been rumored for years, but bits of information leaking here and there over the last few months indicate it could be for real. A new report from AppleInsider now says the device is on track to be introduced early next year.

The report on Friday said that the last few important hurdles in bringing the tablet to fruition have been cleared. As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year, AppleInsider says CEO Steve Jobs has personally been overseeing the project, and is on schedule for a launch sometime between January and March 2010. AppleInsider says its source is well respected “for their striking accuracy in Apple’s internal affairs.”

It follows a VentureBeat report last week that PA Semi, the chip company Apple purchased last year, had been working in two teams: one on chips for iPhones and iPods, and the other on a tablet device.

There are now multiple rumors/reports/speculation that an Apple tablet would be essentially an oversize iPod Touch, and will cost somewhere between a $299 iPhone/iPod Touch and the $999 MacBook.

Regarding timing, we’ve heard the 2010 time frame before–back before the Worldwide Developers Conference when Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said he’d heard “early next year” from Asian suppliers for the device.