Toshiba's Android Netbook compares favorably with Intel-based Netbooks on thickness--and performance isn't bad either, according to NetbookNews.
Netbooks to date have been an exclusive Windows-Intel club but Toshiba is trying to change that. The Japanese company's new AC100 Netbook (to be sold as the dynabook AZ in Japan) has neither Windows nor Intel. Instead, it comes with Google's Android operating system and a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 250 processor.
NetbookNews, which just got its hands on an AC100, was duly impressed at the hardware. "The AC100 has great hardware...with Nvidia Tegra 2 onboard," the site said in a "first impressions" writeup, adding that "it's incredibly thin and makes current netbooks feel like bricks."
NetbookNews found Android 2.1--typically a smartphone OS--a bit wanting in some respects for Netbooks and said the default browser lacks Flash, though the mobile version of Opera browser is preinstalled with Flash support and "some tweaks to make mouse usage pleasant." YouTube video quality was somewhat compromised, however, according to NetbookNews.
Toshiba dynabook AZ, available as the AC100 in Europe:
- Operating system: Android 2.1 (with 2.2 coming)
- Processor: Nvidia dual-core Tegra 250
- Memory: 512MB
- Storage: 16GB flash
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce graphics
- Screen: 10.1-inch
- Ports/connections: SD card slot; USB 2.0; Web camera
- Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n
- 3G: Optional
- Battery life: Rated at seven hours
- Weight: 870 grams or about 1.9 pounds
- Price: Not disclosed, but product in Japan will be priced at, or under, $500
And Netbooks aren't the only Toshiba Android products coming. Notebook Italia has leaked a Toshiba Android tablet with similar hardware specifications, including an Nvidia processor and 16GB of memory. The "smartpad" also sports Android 2.2 and a 10.1-inch multitouch screen, and weighs about 1.67 pounds.