Acer launching Android powered netbooks in 2009

The Taiwanese computer maker, Acer is planning to launch a new version of Aspire One, which will be powered by Android, the smart phone operating system. This announcement was made last week at Computex held in Taipei, Taiwan. But it will not be the first Android netbook in the world as Chinese company Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies is planning to launch it very soon. There are many companies like Dell and HP who are interested in launching Android netbooks in the near future. Acer plans to launch the netbook in the third quarter of 2009, which could mean either July or even October.

Like all Aspire One netbooks, this one will have Intel microprocessor. It is the first company which has shown Android power netbook with Intel atom microprocessor. The netbook will sport a 10 inch screen, like all Aspire Ones. Currently, Aspire one netbooks come with Windows XP. The netbooks which will go on sale later this year will have Dual boot system, and they will have Android and Linux OS instead of Windows XP. Though Acer will keep manufacturing netbooks with Microsoft’s OS, but many netbooks from Acer will also have Android. The users will have an option to choose the operating systems.

There is no confirmation on pricing yet, but it would be less expensive than the one with Windows XP. Normally netbooks have a battery life of 6 to 7 hours but it is assumed that Android powered netbooks will offer more battery life, of around 8 to 10 hours.

Since netbooks are designed to be carried anywhere comfortable, connecting to the internet quickly and being portable are the two most important aspects for it to be successful. Android will offer very fast wireless connection to the internet; which means more convenience to the users. They will have a very fast start up time of about 18 seconds and shut down time of 1 second.

Android is a smart phone operating system developed by Google. It was designed for mobile phones which makes communication and web browsing easy. It is a Linux based operating system and has been executed on HTC Magic and HTC Dream. Being free and open source, Android could be modified to be used on netbook with an Atom microprocessor.

Many companies have admitted that they are working on android netbooks; which should put rival Microsoft on alert. While Microsoft charges $20 per computer for Windows XP and around$40 for Windows Vista, Google does not charge for Android. So, costing could be a factor for this move.