Samsung's Bada Mobile OS to Launch in Early 2010

Samsung's non-smartphone OS, which is surprisingly named Bada (rather than "Why?"), has already been announced, but now we hear that the first Bada phone should arrive in the first half of 2010. Given Samsung's recent dalliance with Android skins, maybe this is a new attempt to create something people might actually want to use. Still, we're just not that excited about another dumbphone OS, which is why news about Bada winds up here in the dark, forgotten corner of Gizmodo we call Remainders. [Engadget]

Google Talk Knows When You're on Android, and Likes It

The thing about Android is that we all depend on Google for all kinds of things, whether or not we ever plan on using an Android phone. So if Google wants, they can exert some pressure, through sweet exclusive features (like the Droid's turn-by-turn Maps) or little cues like this one. Google Talk now adds teeny adorable icons for Android users in the GTalk buddy list—but only Android, not iPhone, WebOS or BlackBerry. I'm not concerned about the "Google creep," but Google haters may find this seemingly innocuous feature a sign of trouble to come. [TechCrunch]

California Passes New Efficiency Standard for TVs

California, in a decision that's the first of its kind, passed a law requiring new, stricter efficiency standards for all TVs sold in the state. By 2011, they'll have to reduce energy requirements by 33%, and by 2013, that number goes up to 49%. It's not a huge deal, nor something consumers are likely to notice—but higher energy efficiency standards are okay in my book. The law has passed only in California, and is seeing a fair bit of opposition, so don't hold your breath for nationwide adoption—hence its place in Remainders today. [Mercury News]

Acer Ferrari Netbook's Tackiness Burns My Eyes

Okay seriously you guys, who the hell buys Ferrari versions of gadgets? They pop up with pretty alarming frequency given their eye-searing tackiness, and the latest victim is this humble Acer netbook. The netbook packs expected specs, including an AMD Athlon Neo processor at 1.2GHz, up to 4GB memory, 160GB hard drive and snoooooore. But why ruin that solid, sleep-inducing mediocrity with such shockingly garish styling? It'll be available in Japan on November 27th. [Akihabara News]

Android on the Aspire One AOD250 functions like Splashtop or any instant-on operating system. It will boot into Android in 20 seconds (says Frandroid) and when you have had your fill, you can then enter Windows XP.

The model I saw demoed a few weeks back, had the standard Android home screen with the drawer of applications. Frandroid reports that there was no access to the Android Marketplace , but there were lots of pre-installed apps. The other good news is that there is full Flash support in the browser. But, as I have found with netbooks with instant-on operating systems I never end up staying in the pre-boot environment for too long. I end up wanting to run programs and save to the hard drive, etc. Maybe, this is why I am so excited for Google's Chrome OS; it will be a full, yet lightweight OS that, I presume, will boot quickly and have all the things I need.

Beyond Android, the 10.1-inch Aspire One AOD250 has a similar chassis to the other Aspire Ones (frankly, I have always thought the trackpad and keyboard were too cramped for a 10-incher). It has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. I know I have to wait until next year for some Chrome OS, so in the meantime I conclude that the Aspire One AOD250 is a good value if you want some Google operating system loving on a netbook. [Acer]

Acer Expands Popular Line of Aspire One Netbooks to Include Unique Dual-Boot Option with Android and Windows XP Operating Systems

Fast Android boot option allows "instant on" Internet access complimented by the full functionality of the Windows XP environment

SAN JOSE, Calif., October 15, 2009 – Acer America, the world's second largest notebook PC vendor and third largest PC vendor Source: Gartner data, FY 2008, today announced U.S. availability of the Aspire One AOD250 netbook featuring a dual-boot operating system including Android™ and Windows XP® Home. The innovative and open design of Android gives Aspire One users faster connections to the Internet and increased access to productivity and entertainment applications. Continuing to push the envelope on mobile computing solutions, Acer is offering the 10.1-inch Aspire One AOD250 with Android and Windows XP to U.S. customers with prices beginning at $349.99.

The Aspire One AOD250 netbook includes a dual-boot feature allowing users to switch between Android and Windows XP Home operating systems with just a click of a mouse. Designed specifically for mobile devices and applications, Android allows the Aspire One netbook to boot up and shut down quickly with "instant on" Internet connectivity, saving time and boosting productivity. Android is a free and open mobile platform, giving users access to leading-edge innovative applications that are user-friendly, affordable and often free. Aspire One users can download fun games, productivity titles, multimedia apps and cool widgets, created through an open source.

"The Android operating system and the Aspire One netbook is an ideal combination for end users that require a highly mobile device for data consumption," said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product management for Acer America. "The unique dual-boot OS on the new Aspire One ensures users fast connections, the familiarity of Windows, and the added convenience of open source mobile platforms and applications."

Combining ultra-portability and design
The Aspire One netbook is a simple and reliable mobile computing solution. Engineered for extreme mobility and weighing less than three pounds, the Aspire One utilizes the energy-efficient Intel® Atom™ Processor N280 to keep users connected while on-the-go. The Aspire One comes with a high-density, six-cell, 5800 mAh battery, 1GB of memory, integrated 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi network connectivity, and a generous 160GB internal hard drive to store plenty of digital albums, music and documents. The Aspire One utilizes a Multi-Gesture Touchpad, allowing users to pinch, flick and swirl their fingers across the touchpad for intuitive navigation. It also allows users to scroll, zoom in and out and flip through web pages, photos, spreadsheets and more.

The Aspire One has a 10.1-inch CrystalBrite™ LED-backlit display, offering a broader viewing area for Web page navigation and data input. For communication needs, the netbook is equipped with the Acer Crystal Eye webcam, delivering smooth video streaming and high quality images for online chats and business video conferences, even in low-light situations. A built-in digital microphone conveys superior voice quality, keeping background noise levels low and minimizing echoes. Bluetooth® 2.1 allows the Aspire One easy connectivity to enabled wireless devices, such as phones, printers and PDAs.

Acer Aspire One AOD250 with Android™ Specifications

* Intel® Atom™ Processor N280 (1.66GHz, 512KB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB)
* Dual-Boot Operating System, choose between Android™ and Windows® XP Home operating systems
* 10.1" WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite™ LED-backlit Display
* Mobile Intel® 945GSE Express Chipset
* Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
* 1024MB DDR2 667MHz Memory
* 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
* Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED®
* Bluetooth® 2.1
* Integrated Acer Crystal Eye Webcam
* Two Built-in Stereo Speakers
* Dolby® Headphone Technology
* Multi-Gesture Touchpad
* 3 - USB 2.0 Ports
* 6-cell Li-ion Battery (5800 mAh)
* 2.79 lbs. | 1.27 kg
* 10.2" (W) x 8.4" (D) x 1.0" (H)
* MSRP: $349.99
* Four stylish colors: Ruby Red, Diamond Black, Sapphire Blue and Seashell White

Pricing and Availability
The Aspire One AOD250 netbook is available now via Acer's authorized resellers and at major retailers nationwide, with prices beginning at $349.99. The Aspire One comes with a one-year limited warranty.

Other specs are unchanged from the current model, including 1GB memory, 160GB hard disk, and an on screen resolution of 1024 x 600 driven by Intel GMA graphics. No Nvidia Ion graphics, and no 3G…yet.

Meanwhile, Acer Japan has just confirmed an updated version of the D250. It runs Windows 7 Starter Edition, bumps the resolution up to 1280 by 720, and costs Y46,800 (about $553). It will be available there when Windows 7 arrives on October 22, but there's no word on when it will come to the U.S. [Netbooked and PC World]

I say that because so-called smartbooks with ARM-based processors (like Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip) don't support Windows. And there's Nokia with its own Linux-based OS. We've also heard plenty of rumors (since denied) about Nokia looking at Android. We'll have to wait and see. [DigiTimes]

Addressing questions about the device, Asustek's chairman said:

Frankly speaking, the first question, I would like to apologize that, if you look at Asus booth we've decided not to display this product... I think you may have seen the devices on Qualcomm's booth but actually, I think this is a company decision so far we would not like to show this device. That's what I can tell you so far. I would like to apologize for that.

This sounds like typical backpeddling, as if their hardware partner just let the cat out of the bag a bit early. Not so, apparently:

For the time being this project is not a priority because our engineering resources are limited.

Since we've seen the device already, I assume this means that the software challenge at hand isn't something that the company is ready to tackle. And really, that's fair—overhauling a smartphone interface so that it behaves naturally with a non-touch, keyboard-and-trackpad-based netbook is a huge undertaking. [PC World]

In human terms, that means it'll ship by October, but possibly as early as this month. Their announcement is fairly vague, more of a statement of intention than a product press release. Will it be based on a typical Atom/Intel platform, or look more like the ASUS Snapdragon test unit we saw yesterday? How will they adapt Android's interface to suit netbook use, if at all? The questions! They press! [WSJ]

Acer's President and CEO:

We are working on an Android solution for the smartphone, [but] I think it's too early to say if we're going to see Android on a netbook in the near future.

So they're considering it! Then, from PC World:

He said Android is "very, very good for communication and Web access and so on," but he's not sure yet if it's right for traditional PCs.

A smartphone with Android makes a lot more sense than a netbook with the OS, he said.

Oh, so he basically heard some other company talking about an Android netbook, decided to dignify the possibility with a mention just in case, but intuitively thinks—reasonably, I might add—that the whole idea is kind of dumb. Got it. [PC World]

Beyond that Computerworld claims the Alpha 680 is smaller and lighter than ASUS netbooks and it will run a 533 MHz ARM11 processor. A full list of specs are already available on Skytone's website.

If all goes as planned, we should be seeing a product on store shelves sometime in the next 3 months or so—although there are no guarantees it will be on time and on price. [Boy Genius via Computerworld and Phandroid]

One of the catalysts for Windows 7's diet for the netbook crowd, apparently, is Google's Android moseying its way up to them from smartphones. Which sounds a bit like Ballmy's Google paranoia coming into play, since most people have opted for Windows on their netbooks despite the multitude of very good Linux flavors available.

It makes for a fun guessing game though—Windows 7 Starter can only run three apps a time, so what will be missing from Windows 7 Internet Edition? [Financial Times]

Maybe Asus was inspired by this hack, but the idea of a simplified, cell-enabled netbook computer—tablet please—is very appealing. Something like the iPhone, but with a larger screen. I would like to have one for sure.

Shih also says he likes the iPhone and the job Apple is doing, and he is looking for Asus to create a simple device that can be "put in the pocket, play MP3s, offer GPS services, works like a PDA and offers Mobile TV altogether". [Tech Radar via Modmyiphone]

Apparently it was a piece of cake to get Android to support everything you'd need for functional computing, including sound, graphics (at the Eee's native resolution) and wireless internet. And it's not the first time this has happened—a Google developer showed off his successful Eee 701 port a few weeks ago.

But why would you want to run Android on a Netbook, when in most cases, a more traditional flavor of Linux or even Windows works just fine? The opportunity opens the door for even less powerful (and cheaper) MIDs, like Nokia's Internet Tablets. Also, the potential for a fully web-delivered OS via Chrome (which is not yet a part of the Android project, but definitely within the realm of possibility) is kind of exciting; Chrome was built primarily for web applications, after all.

Apparently the port only took around four hours, and many references to MIDs and other non-phone applications can be found in Android's source code. So whether it makes sense on an Eee PC or not, this is definitely a direction for Android we'll see more fleshed out in 2009. [Venture Beat]