New Linux User » android

Android’s Eclair

Clair Ching — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:40:03 +0000

Looking out for something tasty? Patries would be an awesome treat
indeed. Especially you love cream puffs and eclairs like I do. I
suppose Google’s development team for Android want to tempt us with
something sweet and tasty just like eclairs, hence the name for
Android 2.0 ; )

What’s in store for us in ‘Eclair’ or Android 2.0?

Those who work in companies whose emails are managed by Microsoft
Exchange servers will be happy to note that Eclair is said to ship
with support for MS Exchange. Probably a good enough reason for some
to consider getting a new Android 2.0 powered smartphone.

Some of the features are said to be corporate friendly. Anyhow here’s a list of some features:

Multiple email accounts. If you’re like me, then you probably have at least two email accounts. This feature sounds practical to me.
Combined inboxes. Well, after all you have multiple accounts. It is possible to view them all as if they’re just in one inbox. No need to keep switching from one inbox to another, apparently.
They also put a virtual keyboard where you could use two fingers to type faster. The multitouch surface should make it fine for you to use this on smartphones which are supported.
Interestingly enough, there will be HTML 5 support on the browser on Android 2.0 so that sounds cool.

Developers might want to take a look at their improved API too. Includes changes in handling contacts, especially because of the multiple account feature. There is also a centralized acount manager for storing and accessing auth tokens/passwords.

Does Anroid 2.0 or Eclair look like a sweet deal to you? Then it might be worth waiting for. Well, there’s also Maemo so it should be interesting to see devices powered with Android Eclair and Maemo and compare them. Smartphones and Linux could be the future of computing for all we know. ; )

Thanks to Linux Insider for the heads up!

Post from: New Linux User

Acer+Android+Windows 7

Clair Ching — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:32:03 +0000

Acer is now really going to go put Android on their netbooks. A Linux Insider article talks about how Acer will have Android and Windows 7 in dual boot on their netbooks. Argh, the netbook will also have 9 hours of battery life. I don’t really care much about Windows 7. Even if they say that they are including Windows 7 for productivity on the netbook, I disagree. People could be productive on other platforms with the general office tools like OpenOffice.org and image manipulation tools like GIMP. There’s probably a way for them to stick with Android if they wanted to but maybe they were burned the last time they made their netbooks ship with Linpus? Because not everyone liked Linpus and there were users who really wanted Windows. Pressure perhaps? I am just speculating here. After all, if they feel their users/buyers are more receptive to Windows then they’d most likely want that in their machines to capture the market. Personally, I’d find their reason somewhat justified if they said they were putting Windows 7 for convenience.

So yeah, Acer’s joining the Android group and it might be interesting to see what happens. I am kinda hoping they will drop Windows 7 and stick with an all Android setup and see how that will progress. Part of me is thinking that we shouldn’t rely on Windows applications because there are Linux-based apps that work well too. Unless the person’s needs are highly specialized that is.

Are you excited about this latest news or are you dreading it? What do you expect from Acer now that they are planning to release a netbook with both Android and Windows 7? I am personally excited to have a netbook with 9 hours of battery life with a really fast boot-up time. But Windows 7 — no, I don’t think I’d want that. In any case feel free to drop by and share your thoughts here.

Post from: New Linux User

Acer + Android

Clair Ching — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:52:06 +0000

Looking for Android-powered netbooks? Acer might be coming up with something. It is reported that Acer is currently working on a netbook running Android. The market will have another choice when it comes to operating systems on the Acer Aspire One.

Interestingly enough, Acer might be releasing the Android-powered Acer Aspire One in the third quarter of the year. And they could probably even have a netbook sale around Thanksgiving, right? Or around Christmas time. A strategic time of release, don’t you think? Especially if these netbooks would cost lower. For Linux users who want to play around with Android on their netbooks, this would be interesting because at least you get hardware that works with the software already. Unless Acer releases something half-baked, that is. I don’t think they would be doing that because their customers could end up complaining.

Somehow, I’d like to see Android on even smaller devices like the Sony Vaio P Series that just looks like a pocketbook because it somehow feels right to me for it to ‘feel very mobile’ due to its size. Or maybe something like a DS Lite or a DSi. The DSi could even connect to wireless internet even with WPA security so I wonder if there’s a way to load Android there for the heck of it.

Post from: New Linux User

Android on Netbooks

Clair Ching — Sun, 10 May 2009 05:13:53 +0000

Netbooks are always fun to carry around. Though I am using mine as a work machine, most people I know use it for surfing and watching videos. And now there’s news of an Android-powered netbook out there but with a hefty price tag of $250. This is a bit expensive, comparatively.

So what do you think about this? Phone UI meets netbook. Yay or Nay?

In a way, it might be the simplest user interface to use for any netbook and it will reinforce the ‘appliance’ paradigm for it. On the other hand, for people like me, netbooks are mini-laptops. Though, of course, if they want to sell more netbooks with a different market in mind, this makes sense to me. If we treat netbooks as mini-laptops, we would get similar problems on laptops that are concerned with hardware aside from user interfaces.

If netbooks were to be marketed as appliances then the manufacturers must provide better support for them, IMHO. At the moment, I can still read/hear the frustrated netbook owner’s reactions when they are using Linpus or another Linux distro on their machines. They really think that they should have better support anyway. So it might be an interesting experiment to see Android on netbooks.

Post from: New Linux User