ASUS looking into Android for Eee Phone and Eee PC

There's not a lot of meat here, but we like where it's headed: ASUS CEO Johnny Shih talked up the company's "two-pronged" approach to mobile devices last night, which apparently includes a unit that can be "put in the pocket, play MP3s, offer GPS services, works like a PDA and offers Mobile TV altogether" -- with the other prong being the Eee PC, we would guess. When asked about plans to use Android, now that the company is a minted member of the Open Handset Alliance, Shih said that they're looking into using the OS on the already-hacked Eee PC or the Eee Phone (hopefully both!), and that they're big iPhone fans -- we'll just let our imaginations run with that one.

[Thanks, Neerhaj]

[ImaYam @ Jan 7th 2009 11:59AM]

I wonder how many variations of the phone theyll bring out.. (eg PhonEEE 1000, PhonEEE HA, PhonEEE 702)

[sinjinn @ Jan 7th 2009 7:52PM]

surely eeephone .. apple might sue though

[Kris120890 @ Jan 7th 2009 12:02PM]

Here comes the pathetic comments about the number of eee models. You really need to get over yourselves. It was approaching funny the first time. Now it isn't funny whatsoever.

[telepheedian @ Jan 7th 2009 5:26PM]

English obviously isn't your native language.

[ilh @ Jan 7th 2009 6:41PM]

If you're implying the AAO has better build then I simply laugh at you.

[madgic987 @ Jan 7th 2009 8:52PM]

Yeah, the comments about ASUS milking the Eee and how they release a new model every week is getting really old, really fast.

I went to Acer's website to get info about the Aspire One. I counted 40 models on the site. On the ASUS website, there are 20 different Eee models listed.

Acer has twice as many models listed on their website, it's just ASUS announces every model, so it appears that there are more Eee PCs.

[216 @ Jan 7th 2009 12:06PM]

Wow they're really trying to milk that Eee thing aren't they? Trying as hard as they can to make "Eee" the new "i"

and i think PhonEee is hilarious

[Nadool @ Jan 7th 2009 8:29PM]

How are 3 silent vowels funny?

[SiXiam @ Jan 7th 2009 12:09PM]

Android... The Google OS, to eventually compete with Microsoft...

[Theli @ Jan 7th 2009 12:19PM]

Here's a thought:

EEE devices with 3" - 9" screens run Android on an ARM processor.
EEE devices with 10"+ screens run Windows 7 on an Atom processor.
Touch screens, GPS, Wifi and 3G everywhere.
Use swivel design (tablet mode) where applicable.

[superhobo @ Jan 7th 2009 12:52PM]

Now the OS is lacklustre too!

[john @ Jan 7th 2009 1:10PM]

1) fix android's 6 shortcomings (full Gmail support, full Google Reader support, full Google Docs support, better SSH/VNC integration, better IM support, SyncML client for Calendar).
2) release the 8.9" convertible/tablet EeePC demo'ed yesterday, in black, with internal GSM/WCDMA modem
3) put Android on it

I'll buy it.

[Cory @ Jan 7th 2009 1:15PM]

For the tards talking about ASUS milking the eee line, the phone is NOT called eeephone, that is engadget making fun of ASUS because they are Apple fanboys.

[telepheedian @ Jan 7th 2009 3:52PM]

I could actually see myself using an Eee 700 if it ran something more embedded, but still usable, such as android, the smartphone-style apps that will be available would be much better suited to the device than the linux apps they've been using. The limited screen real estate is the biggest issue I have with it, but I find 1024x600 just fine.

[gini sam @ Jan 7th 2009 11:15PM]

Waste of time and resources by this OS (shrink-ware).. better work towards getting Linux OS perfected and evolve from there...