Skytone debuts ARM-based, Android-powered netbook / tablet
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 21st 2009 3:47PM
posted April 21st 2009 3:47PM
Well, after months of nothing but hacks and proof of concepts, we now have not one but two Android-powered netbooks -- neither of which are actually available just yet, of course. This latest one comes from Chinese firm Skytone and, unlike the I-Buddie, boasts a slightly more unique convertible tablet design, which the company was apparently able to make happen by cutting corners in every other area. That includes a slightly underwhelming 533MHz ARM processor, a 7-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, a mere 128MB of RAM, 1GB of storage, an SD card slot for expansion, and even optional 3G (although that could just be a dongle). What's more, it looks like Skytone is saying that the netbook, dubbed the Alpha-680, could sell for as little as $100 if and when it's actually released -- which, as far as we can tell, could happen next week or never.
[Via The Inquirer]
[Via The Inquirer]
I pick never.
"That includes a slightly underwhelming"... that's the sound of the target market for this device whooooshing over your head. If you don't get why the specs are this way, why are you an editor on a gadget blog? srsly.
Ok, I'll bite, Mr. Sarcasm.
Exactly who ARE the target market for this device?
It's like a PDA, but larger, heavier, more difficult to operate and with subtantially lower battery life - not to mention, a limited range of apps.
It's like a netbook - except, as we've seen over and over, people want Windows on their netbooks. Not only is this NOT Windows, it's not even Linux. So unless the apps that come out for the Android are amazingly good - this is starting off at a disadvantage. And no - a netbook is not the same thing as a phone, so that comparison doesn't work. What's useful on a phone isn't necessarily useful on a small laptop (and vice versa).
It's got (for netbooks) a mutant processor - so the range of developers and apps will be.. well, limited to what is developer for Android.
Short version? If this is good enough for you - you might want to consider getting a G1 or G2 *phone*.
Personally, I think this will have all the boyancy of osmium.
Actually, Android is Linux, and ARM is trying to push into a more mainstream netbook space, using price, weight, and battery life advantages over x86.
Many mainstream Linux distributions are now supporting ARM, and Debian's supported ARM for quite a while (in fact, you could run Debian on a G1 if you wanted to.)
Oh. I'm the target market. I'd pay $100 or so for a tablet style ebook reader and MP3 player (plus web browsing as a bonus). A few more bucks if it can play movies of some sort (flash or whatever). Oh, and its got wifi. Its like a $100 Archos, or Nokia N8xx. Battery life is a bummer though.
Regards,
Hans
Is Android on a netbook a good experience?
Probably not at the moment.
Think Linux in 1997. There is promise there, but how about apps?
If its $100 they will have no problem selling these.
My mum once bought a netbook for £150 saying, it has 256Mb of RAM, yours only have 6Mbs
At which i promptly explained:
A) The SI system
B) The difference between DDR3 and DDR
c) The difference between a Desktop and crummytop
You have 6Mbs of RAM?
I didnt make that clear, it was Gb.
Thank you kind sardonic traveller.
I think most smartphones these days are more powerful. Pass.
Although, game keys are kind of interesting...but...nah.
But think of the battery life...
If this has a full sized Netbook battery, and an ARM CPU, then it should run for... lets see
EVER.
Wow, considering ARM smartphones have a long battery life of...1 day...
I guess this would last a week though.
and it has a full sized querty, this is for people who like phones but take no shit.
I'm interested. Especially if Android's software shortcomings get fixed (full gmail, full google reader, full google docs, full IM client, better VNC client, SyncML client for calendar).
I just wish it had bigger RAM options, and maybe on the storage side too.
It's also virtually identical to their Alpha-600 model, which has a more generic linux on it. That device with Mer (the community version of Nokia's Maemo linux platform) would be amazingly awesome.
And now watch as this sells a few hundred devices because people want the applications they're used to on their PC.
There's no reason to have an ARM processor for something larger than say the Pandora or the upcoming Maemo5 Nokia Internet Tablet.
No reason... other than wanting better performance and battery life, at a cheaper price, than an Atom based mobile.
And, their Alpha-600 (non-Android, regular linux version of the same device) can probably run all of the same software as the N810 (or at least Ubuntu-ARM software). So you get the same software, in a mobile device, but without having to squint at the phone/PDA sized screen.
@John: Hold on there - you're seriously trying to argue that an ARM processor is going to give you "...better performance and battery life, at a cheaper price, than an Atom based mobile."
Let me make that clearer: you expect a 533MHz ARM to give better performance than a 1.6GHz Atom with Hyperthreading?
Seriously?
Even in terms of battery life - maybe - but everyone's comparing phone life to netbook life. The thing also has a larger screen to power. And phones are in idle mode most of the time. I'm willing to concede it'll last longer - but probably no where as much as you think.
Cheaper price? Have you looked at the price of PDAs and smartphones? It's not just the processor that sets the price and ARMs aren't THAT cheap.
Sorry - I think you're dreaming me boy - on yer bike.
@Jeff: You said 'an ARM processor'. Right now, ARM indeed don't offer released processor designs as fast as Atom, but when the new ones come out (Cortex A9 has multicore and out-of-order execution support), they will definitely be worth considering. ARM performance-per-watt has traditionally been a lot higher than Intel.
Since many people are happy to use Linux variants in netbooks, there's no particular reason to use Intel processors for this market. Virtually all Linux applications (and all the important ones) can work on ARM.
This said, even if using an ARM processor instead of Atom could halve the CPU's power consumption and increase performance (which rather remains to be seen - A9 should be faster than current Atoms, but it isn't out yet, so who knows how it will compare to the processors at the time of release), that wouldn't make much difference because the graphics chipset uses much more power than the CPU in the first place. I presume the intention would be to combine ARM chips with matched lower-power graphics (maybe in system-on-chip fashion) to produce something that is a lot more power-efficient. So anyhow it's not really about the CPU, it's about the whole system. With that, though, it should be possible to see significant improvements in battery life (doubling at very least, I'd hope).
By the way, I completely agree that Android seems pointless for netbooks when there are already plenty of other Linux derivatives which are perfectly suitable. Also this system seems unnecessary in hardware terms too - is it a netbook or a tablet? Please pick one, combining the two is always a mess, especially in a cheap device.
Needs some shoulder buttons. NES emulation, and not SNES/GBA emulation, is getting old real fast.
If I was going to purchase an ARM based netbook I would wait for Always Innovating's tablet to be released.
yeah much cooler... but way pricier. that's my problem with the touchbook super cool concept but 399 for full functionality
I'm also keeping an eye out for the Touchbook, but I like the convertible tablet design more than the removable keyboard design. On the other hand, the Touchbook is a lot more expandable, it sounds like.
Convertible Tablet + Low Price vs Better Expandability
The Touch Book is also likely better quality (let's face it, what are you expecting with a sub-$200 Chinesium machine?)
And, it can do every position that a conventional center-hinged convertible tablet can, except for positions where the screen is pointing sideways, in addition to a couple positions that a center-hinged tablet can't.
Oh, and it'll be much faster (600 MHz ARM Cortex-A8 vs. 533 MHz ARM11 - IIRC, the ARM11 is less than HALF as fast per MHz,) have a larger screen, more standard memory, and more (and upgradeable) storage.
In theory, i'd buy it immediately. Damn you, reality !
Now this is more like it for a netbook! That i-Buddy thing is pretty crap. But, I could live with this little number for $100!
Hopefully $100 is the new price point for netbooks...
Specs suck, price point awesome. Game controllers on the touchscreen display really nice. That's about it.
Its definitely the new price point for a night with your mum.
waaaay :L
ARM? Android? Is that Windows XP I see on the screen? :P
looks like, although the pic is small and my eyes are tired lol
No, seriously, I can't tell. Small pictures FTL. Could just be a browser with a blue title bar and a red X, which seems to be quite common...
Yeah I dunno how this is going to fare. Basically it's a PDA with a real keyboard. The thing about the current netbooks is that you can use them for general computing and have them run software you probably already own. If you need something on the device you just whip out the disk and install it (or use a package manager in the case of Linux.) With ARM your going to be limited on the apps you can run (just like you were with ARM-based PDAs.)
Except of course that Android has a growing list of easily added applications.
And their Alpha-600 product runs linux (but is otherwise the same product), so it would also just add apps via a linux package manager. The fact that it's ARM doesn't make it a PDA, it just makes it a better mobile than an Atom based mobile.
However, the full Debian, Ubuntu, and Xandros repositories either are (in the case of Debian, have been for years) or will very soon be available for ARM.
And, indeed - ARM doesn't always mean PDA (or even embedded.) My Acorn RiscPC most definitely isn't embedded, and it's the largest PDA I've ever seen if it is one, and oddly requires a mouse, keyboard, and external monitor to be useful. ;)
This makes a lot more sense than the i-Buddy. I think that at $100+, having descent battery life, a good browser and some smaller mobile apps/games, this could become a popular product type. At that price point it places itself well outside the reach of both traditional Windows netbooks and smartphones.
It's kind of what I was looking forward to from Asus, except with a sexier design.
LOL, my N95 has 128MB of RAM. Probably not same speed, but it's still funny as hell!
Interesting.....
i have seen more laptops with android then phones.
Frankly, I think plenty of people not in the First and second world countries we're all from would be very happy with a 100 dollar android device.
There clearly is a market for cheap little sub-netbooks like these or I wouldn't own a CnM book (Skytone Alpha 400).
It has game controls on both sides of the LCD:
http://www.skytone.net.cn/en/uploadfile/200904/600en.jpg
and folds over into a tablet:
http://www.skytone.net.cn/en/uploadfile/200904/20090410110237967.jpg
If it's $100 - $199, I'm interested!