Compal shows off Android-running, Snapdragon-powered smartbook
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 4th 2009 7:23PM
posted June 4th 2009 7:23PM
As if it wasn't clear already, smartbooks are one of the big trends (if not the biggest) to emerge out of this year's Computex, be they Snapdragon or Tegra-powered. Just as interesting as the devices themselves, however, is the fact that a number of manufacturers are looking at using Android as an OS for 'em, including big players like ASUS, and now Compal. While's ASUS' Snapdragon-based offering was impressive enough, Compal looks to have slightly outdone it by adding a customized interface at start-up, which is apparently just a taste of further "optimizations" to come. Details are otherwise a bit hard to come by, but you can head on past the break for a hands-on video courtesy of techvideoblog.com.
They couldn't clean all the fingerprints off before making the video?
Real men don't clean.
What I wonder is why people feel a need to touch the screen in the first place, lol.
I just adore these lightweight, ultra-low-power devices - or "smartbook" as we're now calling them... - but unless these things get ultra-gpu-accelerated to make the whole system "snappy", I don't see them doing much.
I'll hold off until next year's computex where everything will be gpu-accelerated, and Android 3.0 brings the "real computer" apps to these things.
Also, maybe my count was slightly off, but, this thing took 3 weeks to boot up... Is it just me?
@ terry
it's just you. it seemed to have the same boot up time as normal smart phones which is way faster than computers.
Right, the video's insistence on buffering after every few seconds (slightly) altered my perception of time -- but a 28 second boot (I counted) still seems a bit too long for a "mobile device OS"
The speed was alright, android takes a pretty long time to boot up on my G1.
Ouch - 28 seconds? Damn.
I really think for this kind of device we should be looking at 10 seconds as a *maximum*. I'm sure that's hard to achieve, but...
I think ARM netbooks are a next year kind of thing too, personally...
At first i was opposed to the android os on laptops but im starting to warm up to the idea. this video demonstrated the exactly what netbook consumers expect which is the ability to turn on a computer in a small amount of time and quickly get on the Internet. the only thing they need now is to add a productivity suit on it (one is already available on the market) and keep the price $200 and lower and this thing will be golden.
I still think that Android is better suited for MID or phone type devices. In a "laptop" people still expect to be able to run x86 style applications.
It looks like the custom laucher that Compal has created on top of Android will also be used in their Menlow-based MIDs, if their press photo is anything to go by.
http://www.umpcportal.com/gallery/v/comt2009mids/Compal_KAX15_MID_2.jpg.html
Dude, Compal does not make computers.
http://www.compal.pt/
I can't see these laptops gaining much market share in Portugal
Wrong Compal there pal.
www.compal.com - the company that just recently out-produced Quanta to be the worlds #1 notebook manufacturer by monthly volume.
So, yes, Compal does make computers. Portable ones. More than anyone else.
The boot time isn't anything special, but of course smart phones were designed to be never turned off. So once you boot it, its suppose to be "on" all the time taking very little power.
so what's the difference between a netbook and a smartbook?
Netbooks use Intel, smartbooks use Snapdragon, Arm or another linux friendly processor.
I think the video did really well to skim over *anything* new and interesting, i just sat for 5 minutes watching the android browser hoping to see some more of that start-up screen, alas not...
yeah, we saw like 5000 frickin cats .... battery life, size and price are what I care about.... then maybe OS (Android vs WindowsCE vs ...), but probably not. These devices are here to do web browsing and media playing, nothing more. I kinda care less what OS it has.
Alright - sorry for the stupid question - what's the difference between a smartbook and say, a netbook? A laptop?
Thanks.
Smartbook = Qualcomm's term for a netbook with an ARM CPU and a 3G data card preinstalled. A cross between a smartphone and a netbook.
"It feels just as fast as any other laptop, basically, I mean, kind of..."
I'm sold.
28sec boot time? so what's wrong with that? I booted up my phone a few weeks ago, and have not had to worry about it since. True Smartbooks are meant to be left on, and should last the whole day. So you have no need to shut it off, just open it up, and it's ready to go.