Android hits netbooks
Android, Google’s popular open source mobile phone operating system, is starting to spread its wings and is now being used on popular netbook PCs.
The operating system, because it is designed for smartphones, is small and fast while still being powerful enough to be more than just a phone operating system. One of the first projects to release customised versions of Android for netbooks is the Android x86 project[http://www.android-x86.org].
To date the project has largely concentrated on the Asus eeePC platform and says that the OS runs reliably on almost all of the Asus netbook range.
Installing Android on an Asus netbook is easy and quick. The entire download is just over 50MB and the installation takes little more than a minute. The reward for that is a fully working Android desktop with desktop icons, an application menu and a pull-down menu of system notifications just like a standard Android-based smartphone.
While the Android x86 project is just a few months old the system is remarkably usable and includes a full range of desktop applications as well as access to the Android market for additional applications. The latter doesn’t work reliably yet but does give some idea of the potential of the Android market.
The desktop applications are much the same as you would find on an Android smartphone: email, address book, web browser, photo gallery, calendar and clocks and a selection of games. On an Asus 401 the wireless connection was automatically detected and configured which meant instant access to the Internet.
For Android users the configuration settings will mostly be familiar as they are an exact replica of the settings screens on mobile phones.
Because most netbooks available at the moment don’t have touch screens like smartphones, the keyboard and mouse is used to control the onscreen activity. While this is familiar to most users it is confusing at first for users accustomed to Android’s “home” button which switches back to the home page with a single click. There is no discernible equivalent of the home button on the netbook version of Android and so getting back to the desktop means hitting the escape button a few times to get out of open applications.
Similarly there is no obvious way of viewing a list of open applications or recently used applications.
System notifications are provided in the top panel as on most Android phones. To access these you need to drag the top panel down, just like on a phone.
With its relatively small footprint and speed, Android on a netbook holds much potential, particularly as the Android market place is adding thousands of new applications every day.
As a platform for day-to-day computing, or as a replacement for a desktop or laptop, Android on a netbook is not the answer. But as a lightweight net-connected smartbook, Android is very appealing.
The current version of Android used by the project is Android 1.6. The next release will be based on an Android 2.1 version.
Android hits netbooks << Discussion
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