Is Dell cooking up an Android-powered netbook?
By Darren Murph 
posted May 6th 2009 10:14AM
posted May 6th 2009 10:14AM
Update: Dell just pinged us with an adorably terse response: "The Bsquared news release erroneously mentioned Dell and is being recalled. Dell does not offer an Android based netbook." Well then.
Bsquare to Port Adobe Flash Lite on New Google Android Netbook for Dell Leverages Bsquare's Android Competency to Improve the Adobe(R) Flash(R) Lite Experience on Dell's Mini Inspiron 910
BELLEVUE, WA -- (Marketwire) -- 05/06/09 -- Bsquare Corporation (NASDAQ: BSQR), the leading software solutions provider to the global embedded device community, today announced it is porting Adobe's Flash Lite 3.17 technology onto Dell Netbooks running Google's Android platform.
Adobe is a leader in rich internet and user interface technology for mobile devices. Flash technology ships on over 800 million devices worldwide with more than one million designers and developers using Adobe Flash to build video and rich media applications.
Netbook and Nettop computers offer the functionality and efficiency of traditional laptops, but with lighter weight and better portability.
Research firm Gartner estimates that worldwide shipments of netbooks will increase by 50 percent to 7.8 million units in 2009, while overall computer sales are expected to decline. Industry analysts also predict that Android will gain traction on smart devices, such as the ultra-portable Dell Mini Inspiron 910, which are used in a range of industries.
"Integrating Adobe Flash technology with the functionality of Google's Android platform on the full range of Netbook devices will allow our OEM customers to meet the high expectations their customers have of this new industry segment," said Bsquare's CEO Brian Crowley. "As the Netbook and Nettop market segments expand, our Adobe Flash Lite port to Android is just one of the software products we will offer our OEM and ODM customers."
In the last 12 months since its acquisition of NEC America's Adobe Flash Technology Consulting and Distribution business, Bsquare has worked on over 40 different customer devices including handsets, set top boxes, digital signage, consumer devices and netbooks. Bsquare has built an Android competency in its professional engineering services group through customer engagements and by hiring top talent in the field.
About Bsquare
Bsquare is an industry leader with a proven track record in providing engineering services and production-ready software products for the smart device market. Since 1994, Bsquare has provided device manufacturers with software solutions for personal navigation devices, point-of-sale terminals, handheld data terminals, smart phones and many other device categories allowing them to get to market more quickly and cost effectively. Bsquare acquired the TestQuest testing automation tools in November 2008. The combination of TestQuest's testing automation products and Bsquare's industry leading software and hardware products and services offer the best of class device development solutions to the embedded and mobile device development community. Now device developers building consumer mobile or vertically targeted embedded devices can rely on the highest quality development expertise from Bsquare, plus the most feature rich testing automation tools from TestQuest, to accelerate their devices to market while minimizing development costs and errors. For more information, visit www.bsquare.com : .
Am I the only one that thinks this is kind of a stupid idea?
No, you're not.
My first thought was "NO THANKS".
Yes, you are the only one. It is a great idea. Android Rocks!
@IG: I agree that Android is cool, if Sprint ever releases an Android phone I'll certainly hop on but it's not really a functional operating system for a netbook. Windows XP/Linux works fine and does a lot more.
No, it's a stupid idea and enough examples have popped up on the web over the last few weeks to prove that.
Here's an example for you: http://jkontherun.com/2009/04/28/android-netbook/
Yeah, another one thinking that all these Android-netbook rumors are really rather stupid.
I'm fairly confident that no major manufacturer will ever release an Android-/Symbian-/webOS-powered netbook.
I have a dell mini 9 and don't really see any reason why Android would make this better. I would think that having a more touch friendly interface would be nice... although it currently doesn't have a touch screen. The software base is so much better for Linux, OSX, or XP that I can't see wanting to put Android on it. It certainly wouldn't be any faster than putting a paired down version of Linux on this, and there are already so many people working on netbook remixes for it.
Is there some killer Android app that I'm missing?
I really like Android as a phone OS, the only thing that's keeping me from getting the G1 is the battery life.
I'm pretty sure the 90% of the tech savy consumers agree with you. An android powered netbook??? No thanks.. I like my xp and windows 7 just fine.
You are not alone, it's stupid.
A product looking for a market. Way to think intelligently dell.
No but I think your wrong.
An Android Netbook will not be running on Intel. It will be probably running on Tigra or what ever nVidia is calling their ARM+Graphics combo. By dropping Intel the battery life will go up and the cost will go down. Android has an App store and a lot of applications. If you add a port of OpenOffice you have a nice little netbook that will run all day on a charge.
Nope, its a stupid idea. Android is great for phones, but its a step backwards on netbooks, give me Ubuntu anyday.
If it was cheap and well made like a lot of $200 dollar netbooks these days, but had a touch screen and android I'd buy one. No, this is not a laptop replacement, but if it ran an embedded cell phone processor with a nice big screen, it would make a great "Net"book. Bigger screen for longer reading sessions that I want to do on my iPod touch or G1, longer batter life than other netbooks because Android is highly optimized for that. Ie, something you do email, web browser, reading, youtube, etc on while kicking it on the couch, or under a tree at the park. Its a new bracket of computer with a different use case than a general purposed laptop or desktop or cellphone.
What's on the girl's shoulder on the left side of the picture? She sure is happy about whatever it is.
That girl is actually Clayface.
I feel like all of the records everywhere on that notebook are meant to remind you of boobs. Take a close look at the girl with her shirt open on the top right of the notebook...Doesn't that record look like an exposed boob at first glance?
Those would be speakers, not records. And not really.
Freud would have a field day with you.
i like that cover art.
The artwork looks nice!! very "Android -like" :-)
really dont like the idea to have Android on netbooks
doesnt make sense
I carry an Android phone, which I think makes for a fun toy, but Android on a Netbook? I can't imagine why anybody would think this is such a great idea.
There is no useful software for a netbook on Android.
What do people mostly use their netbook for: Internet browsing and checking their e-mail with an occasional office style application. Android is not very good at any of these things.
Netbook manufacturers: Please stick with Linux and Windows on your netbooks.
"Internet browsing and checking their e-mail with an occasional office style application."
See, thats exactly what Android is great for. This wouldn't be for work, but just for browsing and reading longer articles than I want to do with a heavy, hot full sized laptop or the small screen of an iPod or G1.
Definitely more of a single purpose, niche device. But thats exactly what a Netbook should be.
Have you seen the Ideastorm website?
It's chock full of linux activists.
If it's still going to be running on an Atom/x86 chip (is Android even compatible?), and it will drop the cost of the machine, then by all means, go for it. It's always nice to have other options next to Windows and Linux preinstalled, with the option of still going back to one of the others.
WTF is the deal with Android on netbooks? Why would anyone choose that over a more appropriate nix (i.e. Ubuntu JJ Netbook Remix?) OK, maybe this makes sense on a MID device or something with a smallish 6-7" touchscreen, but then you'd need to validate existence of said MID to begin with!
for those of you not "getting" the android appeal for netbooks, it makes them cheaper, there's a strong pool of specific developers for the platform to make integrated apps, and it's not a spec limited OS if you want to put accelerometers and touchscreens and other gizmos in your device.
if they can get it to play nice with Flash, then it's lost its strongest barrier against widespread adoption. if you keep track of Android stuff you'd see that they're really fleshing out the features and abilities of this system.
consider that the Android "Market" will no longer just be for cell phone applications but a ubiquitous store for any application as android evolves from a device centric platform into a full featured operating system. take some time to look into chrome's desktop integration for web-based applications and you'll see where google is headed with this thing. you might be pleasantly surprised.
No.
but, yes.
This is part of Google's mythical OS we've been hearing quiet rumors about for so long!
And God bless Dell for possibly bringing yet another non-Windows option to their products.
You're speaking about an EXTREMELY specific group of users, the majority of consumers don't care or know what Android is. It boggles my mind that Engadget readers can't comprehend the fact that MOST people don't care about any of this. If they're shopping for a netbook they just want something small that they can do word processing and web surfing on. A lot of netbook users are older people that just don't need a full fledged laptop, do you think they want to mess with Android? No, they want XP, or something like that.
if they don't know or care what android is, but it does everything they want it to do, why do you think they would insist on XP?
you can have XP or...
this new thing that does everything you want PLUS ties in directly with google's suite of web applications, has access to a whole library of new third party applications you can use which make use of location awareness/touchscreen/motionsensing, and is cheaper.
i guess if you insisted on marketing to stupid people...
"You're speaking about an EXTREMELY specific group of users, the majority of consumers don't care or know what Android is."
There you go, you don't have to make a machine that appeals to every need for every user. If you do that you end up with a piece of crap. If you make a targeted, smartly thought out device with one purpose in mine (see: net in netbook) there will be a market for it. There's plenty of room in the market for niche devices.
There was an announcement that this may be for tmobile.
Looks like someone graffiti'd Dell's laptop. I think I'll pass on this one.
From the same morons who brought you the Adamo...you know, the world's thinest computer that is more expensive than the Apple Air...the upscale computer that makes you want to upchuck when you see what it does and what it did to your bank account.
And now this. What are you going to embezzle from the public for this creation Dell? $1,000? $1,200? $1,500?
Dell, stick to making products the general population can use and afford in these economic times...or you will fast become the next General Motors and Chrysler.
"Consider our interest piqued."
Piqued means feeling irritate or resentful, is that what you mean?
No, it can also mean aroused, or challenged.
Merriam Webster: 2 a: to excite or arouse especially by a provocation, challenge, or rebuff
If it's going to have an ARM chip, sure, Android would be great.
How? There are plenty of regular distributions that support ARM... Hell even Ubuntu does. Android is a phone OS and it will stay that way.
Ok where can we find this skin - it's awesome
Try http://www.skinit.com. For 35 bucks, including shipping, they'll ship you a skin for your laptop, cell, etc. You can even select your own image for the skin.
Microsoft will make it worthwhile for Dell to clear the deck for Windows 7 on their netbooks. The only logical conclusion is that Dell is planning an Android MID.
Hold on, people.
The press-release wording can simply mean that Bsquare developers are using Dell netbooks to port Flash Lite to Android. The PR says nothing about any Dell implementation of Android.
We know that Android is readily ported to any x86 netbook. So, Bsquare could've chosen stock Dell netbooks.
!