Posts Tagged ‘Google’s Android’

Android to Power Netbooks

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

The rumors that Google’s Android is expanding beyond mobile phones finally have some clout.

Acer Inc. has announced that it will release the Aspire One netbook, a low-cost notebook featuring Android, during Q3. The Android model will be less expensive than the Windows XP model, even though the two have the same electronic compartments. Asustek Computer Inc., which created the netbook, also has developed a model that runs on Android.

These developments show that the Android software is powerful enough to replace Windows, which currently runs about 90 percent of the world’s personal computers. Calvin Huang, an analyst at Daiwa Securities Group Inc., told Bloomberg that this puts Google in a position to compete with Microsoft, which is preparing to introduce Windows 7.

“This is a negative and may force Microsoft to lower the price of Windows 7,” he said. “More and more vendors are adopting Android and non-Windows in their products, so this is a very good chance for Android to penetrate the PC market.”

Officials in the marketplace think the competition will be good and will allow users a choice as to what’s best for them.

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Desktop and Mobile Searches Meet

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

On Tuesday, Google hosted a Searchology event, during which time the company revealed a number of core search upgrades, including some dealing with mobile.

Engineering Director Scott Huffman showed how Google searchers will soon be able to automatically synch their desktop and mobile searches.

“Mobile search is growing faster than search on PCs, and it’s the primary way that people access search in some countries,” he said. “But we want [it] to become a daily engagement activity no matter where you are.”

For instance, if someone is searching for upcoming flight information on a desktop, they could have the flight’s status translate to their phone, getting rid of any need to enter the data again. Huffman said this would stop people from having to “frantically look through their baggage for the sheet of paper with the flight number on it.”

In order for this type of function to work, people would need to be logged into a Google account. Google also recently upgraded its mobile image search, which has been optimized for touch-screen phones, and launched a location-aware astronomy app for the Android mobile operating system.

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Companies Implementing Android

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Many companies, including Acer, are working on implementing Android into different devices.

Acer is working on several different devices that use Google’s Android operating system and software and the company is planning to launch a smartphone that uses the software later this year.

“The entire industry is looking at Android,” Gianfranco Lanci, Acer president and CEO, recently said at the company’s first-quarter investor’s conference. “We are testing Android on a lot of different solutions. 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.”

Lanci said Android is good for communication and Web access, but isn’t sure if it’s right for traditional PCs. He said a smartphone with the software makes more sense than having it on a netbook.

T-Mobile was the first mobile network operator to launch an Android handset, the G1, and sold a million of the smartphones in the first six months it was on the market. However, this is less than the number of iPhones sold in the same time period.

Several more Android smartphones are in the works, including more from High Tech Computer, the G1 developer, one from Samsung Electronics and two from Far EasTone, a mobile network operator in Taiwan.

The netbook market for Android is largely untapped. Hewlett-Packard confirmed earlier this year that it had been testing Android on netbooks and Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies, based in China, has said its Android netbook is undergoing final testing before it launches.

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