Category: Laptops

Chromium and Firefox within Android

Posted by Charbax – February 3, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Software, Opinions, Archos, Google, Android

The default Android web browser is really awesome in terms of speed, it even works amazingly fast on the ARM9 Powered web browser of the Hivision PWS700CA that I tested in my video-review a few days ago. Though for Laptop form factors, also known as ARM Powered Netbooks or Smartbooks, and for Android Tablets like the Archos 5 Internet Tablet that has a HDMI output and supports USB and Bluetooth keyboards and mice, the default Android web browser might not be enough.

This is why the support of the full desktop-like experience using Chrome and Firefox web browsers within Android are really going to be nice. Perhaps the June 2009 release of the Native Android SDK can help developers reach this goal.

The Mozilla team is showing this screenshot of Firefox running within Android (check also Mozilla’s wiki entry on Android: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Android):

Since Google is now working on releasing the full Chrome OS for ARM Powered devices, perhaps it would make sense to take the source code of that Chrome web browser for ARM, and make it into an Android application. This way on a Pocketable Android tablets or phones the default Android web browser would still be used, but when in HDMI output mode to a HDTV and when using USB or Bluetooth keyboards and mice, the Chrome browser or Firefox would thus be the browser of choice.

I think it would be nice as well if it was possible to provide a full speed browser experience even on cheap ARM Powered Android devices that come with little RAM memory such as only 128MB or RAM, still enable the use of unlimited amounts of opened tabs by somehow perhaps saving the state of each tab into ROM memory and be able to quickly in few milliseconds be able to pull that back into RAM memory when the specific tab is selected.

On the other hand, I also think it would make sense to support all Android applications within Chrome OS, thus this might mean that eventually Android and Chrome OS will merge.

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Android Laptop Review: Hivision PWS700CA

Posted by Charbax – January 29, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Reviews, Rockchip, Android

This is the world’s first video-review of the Hivision PWS700CA ARM9 Powered Android Laptop, find more info at Hivision’s website. (Hivision, which I previously video-Interviewed about cheap Laptops from the trade shows at CES 2010 and IFA 2008)

Hivision Android Laptop

The Hivision PWS700CA is based on a Rockchip RK2808 600mhz ARM926 processor, 128SDRAM, 7″ 800×480 screen, 720p Video playback support, WiFi, Ethernet, audio input/output and weights only 650grams.

The price has not yet been announced officially because Hivision is looking for worldwide distributors who will then decide how much it will be sold for to end consumers. But you can understand that if Hivision was able to sell those types of laptops for $98 to distributors more than a year ago (when I filmed my popular video from IFA 2008), then surely the mass manufacturing price has not gone up since then. My expectation is that if a giant consumer electronics reseller such as Walmart or Best Buy approaches Hivision today to order huge quantities of this laptop, it could be sold below $100 to end users.

I’ve seen those kinds of cheap laptops running Windows CE or some less optimized Linux distribution at Buy.com (2), at Amazon.com, at Kmart.com and plenty other places for even cheaper. The point of this video is to show that Android can make all these cheap laptops much more usable when it comes to browsing the web. The Android browser is much better than the one in Windows CE or the Mozilla-based ones used in other Linux distributions. More usable web browsing means more people will want to buy it, which means even cheaper prices.

Click on the thumbnails below to see the full sized pictures at Picasa:

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Tim Sweeney talks about Unreal Engine on ARM Powered devices

Posted by Charbax – January 25, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Smartphones, Set-top-boxes, Software, Exclusive videos, Nvidia, CES, Android

Tim Sweeney is the founder of Epic Games, he is in charge of the Unreal Tournament, Gears of War and plenty more very famous game franchises. But not only does his company make games, Epic makes the most famous and most popular 3D game engines on which hundreds of other games all over the industry are based on.

Now the Unreal engine is being launched for the Nvidia Tegra2 processor and has been showcased to run on other OpenGL ES based ARM Powered devices like the ipod touch.

In this interview, I ask when we will see Android devices with support for the Unreal Engine, and how many games does he think will work on all these ARM Powered devices that have the advanced 3D acceleration built-in.

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HP Compaq Airlife 100 hit the FCC

Posted by Charbax – January 21, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Exclusive videos, Qualcomm, CES, Android

Wow, so HP is likely going to be pushing the awesome looking Qualcomm Snapdragon powered Android laptop on 3G networks! See my previously posted video of it:

Source: engadget.com

See more videos of this product from CES:

Netbooknews.com‘s video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIm5BQhvhgk

JKKmobile.com‘s video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5RdVAEXqCc

Liliputing.com‘s video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o3T5w9NDvA

HP’s official CES video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXMl0XISYnY

Andy Clipsham, Product Manager on the HP Android Smartbook, unveils it at the Qualcomm keynote at CES 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSvGhXa6RdY

GNB 7″ $140 Android Laptop

Posted by Charbax – January 17, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Freescale, CES, Android

GNB at http://g-netbook.com does $140 or cheaper 7″ Freescale iMX31 533MHz ARM11 Powered Laptops that run Android. Check out this video to see the Android in action where I also try to browse on some websites.

Lenovo Skylight at CES 2010

Posted by Charbax – January 17, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Qualcomm, CES

An ultra slim awesome looking ARM Powered laptop shown by Lenovo at the CES 2010. It is ultra slim and light, they are currently running a version of Linux customized by Thundersoft to provide basic applications.

$109 Tablet by Menq at CES 2010

Posted by Charbax – January 16, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, E-readers, Exclusive videos, CES, Windows

They have Windows CE on it for now, but they plan to have Android running on it soon. Check also my previous Menq video review of the Menq EasyPC E790 which is based on the same hardware as this Menq Tablet.

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ApusOne ARM Processor platform for cheap Android Laptops and Tablets

Posted by Charbax – January 14, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Exclusive videos, CES, Android, Windows

ApusOne provides ARM based SoC for cheap Laptops, Tablets and set-top-boxes. They are demonstrating their platform running Android and Windows CE. The Apus One MAP100 processor decodes 720p at 300mhz and next generation Apus One MAP200 processor can decode 1080p/i at 800mhz. Bill of Material for an Android Laptop with 720p playback is $70, the 4.8″ Android Tablet would be $70 and the set-top-box is only $30.

Cydle M7 Android Tablet and Chromium OS Netbook

Posted by Charbax – January 14, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Exclusive videos, CES, Android

This 7″ Tablet will have a $199 MSRP with built-in ATSC and a plan to have the Google Marketplace integrated. They are also saying that they will provide ARM Cortex based Chrome OS netbook.

Marvell runs Chromium OS on the Armada 510

Posted by Charbax – January 14, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Marvell, CES, Chrome OS

Marvell is showing a demonstration of Chromium OS running on their Armada 510 processor. There are still a lot of optimizations that need to be done to utilize hardware acceleration to optimize the web browser speed.

Hivision demonstrates cheap 7″ Android Laptop at CES 2010

Posted by Charbax – January 11, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Samsung, CES, Android

Hivision which I filmed in my very popular video from IFA 2008 have worked very hard to port Android to their latest ARM9 500mhz 7″ mini Laptops. They offer an extremely impressive fast and Android integration, with a surprisingly fast Android web browser over WIFi and Ethernet. The price for the laptop at retail could be $149, more or less, it depends on the distributors.

They borrowed me their 7″ Android Laptop for the next few days. I am very impressed with the speed of web browsing on this device. I will do an extensive video review one of these next few days, especially showing you the web browsing speed considering this version of Android is not even yet optimized by Google for Laptop form factors.

Lenovo Ideapad U1 Tablet/Laptop hybrid

Posted by Charbax – January 10, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Exclusive videos, Qualcomm, Intel, CES

Lenovo is presenting a hybrid ARM Powered Tablet mode that docks into an Intel Core Duo bottom to become the Laptop form factor.

Marvell Armada 610 powers Android Tablet reference design

Posted by Charbax – January 9, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Smartphones, E-readers, Set-top-boxes, PMPs, Exclusive videos, Marvell, CES, Android, Windows

Greg Stearman from Marvell showcases the amazing new Armada 610 processor from Marvell in a prototype reference design tablet that can run Windows Mobile or Android OS and which can playback 1080p video and render 3D graphics at the same time. Amazing stuff right here.

Quanta ARM Powered laptop design at CES 2010

Posted by Charbax – January 9, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Qualcomm, CES, Android

Here’s one thin really nice looking Android laptop design by Quanta, one of the largest laptop manufacturers in the world.

Freescale at CES 2010

Posted by Charbax – January 9, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, E-readers, Displays, PMPs, Exclusive videos, Freescale, CES, Android, Ubuntu

Steve Sperle, head of Consumer Segment Marketing at Freescale, shows us an overview of the product demonstrated at their Suite several new tablet, e-reader, laptops, smartbooks and interactive display implementations of their i.MX515 ARM based processor technology.

Freescale powered Smartbooks at CES 2010

Posted by Charbax – January 9, 2010
Category: Laptops, Displays, Exclusive videos, Freescale, CES, Ubuntu

Freescale is powering a new Smartbook design by Wistron running Canonical’s Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Sharp runs a Freescale processor in the Sharp PC-Z1 and Acer is launching the DisplayPlus D241H 24-inch smart monitor.

Thinkfree Mobile 2.0 with Editing on the Acer A1 Liquid Android phone

Posted by Charbax – January 9, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Smartphones, Software, Exclusive videos, CES, Android

Thinkfree 2.0 ads Editing support in office files support such as Word, Excell and Powerpoint support on Android devices.

Via Technologies at CES 2010

Posted by Charbax – January 9, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, VIA, CES, OLPC

Via Technologies is powering the OLPC One Laptop Per Child XO 1.5 with a Via C7 1ghz processor on the VX855 chipset that can support up to 1080p video playback and other much more powerful things which also can help OLPC lower the price more quickly in terms of supporting the most up to date components of the industry that lower in price constantly. Via also has an ARM licence and is doing all kinds of things with that.

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HP Android Qualcomm Snapdragon Laptop

Posted by Charbax – January 8, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Qualcomm, CES, Android

This may be one of the best implementations of Android on an ARM Powered Laptop so far, HP is showing off their masterful customized Android user interface for the ARM Qualcomm Snapdragon based laptop form factor. It has great automatic standby and resume, connected standby, and a range of customized high resolution Android applications, widgets a touch screen and even hardware Search, Home/Menu/Back buttons on the super well made design.

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Mary Lou Jepsen shows Pixel Qi at CES 2010

Posted by Charbax – January 8, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, E-readers, Exclusive videos, CES, Pixel Qi

Mary Lou Jepsen, Founder of Pixel Qi, provides the latest status of the Pixel Qi screens, tells us about their latest engineering and production ready designs, current power consumption and power consumption targets.