Invasion of the Android Snatchers

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Article Source Linux Journal
June 2, 2009, 3:50 pm

Android — the mobile phone platform, not the AI-bearing robots — is the buzzword of the moment for netbook developers. Though the majority of the ultra-light devices are said to be utilizing a massively scaled down version of Windows XP — despite favoring Linux initially — the über-portable boxen are poised to be Googlified.

Taipei ‚Äî or more accurately, Computex Taipei ‚Äî is the hot place to be this week, at least if you’re an Android-based netbook. The devices have been popping up like prairie dogs at the show, with Asus, Acer, and ECS, among others, debuting devices with the Google-born mobile OS. Acer is poised to be the first to market with an Android-based netbook ‚Äî although Chinese firm Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies describes their own Android-powered box as being in “final testing” ‚Äî promising its Aspire One with Android in the third quarter of this year. The Acer machine, which features the same processor used in all Aspire One systems ‚Äî the Intel Atom ‚Äî boasts specs the appear to be fairly close to those offered by the existing Windows-based Aspires…