Lenovo kills Skylight OS in favor of Android, U1 Hybrid and Skylight smartbook being shelved
By Nilay Patel 
posted May 28th 2010 4:39PM
posted May 28th 2010 4:39PM
We spoke to Lenovo for clarification and it sounds like things are in considerable flux at the moment: the company told us it wants to tap into Android's apps and ecosystem, but it's invested something like 18-24 months into building Skylight OS products and it's going to rethink and retool while it transitions to Google's OS -- although the underlying ideas of the Skylight and U1 Hybrid will live on in future devices, neither will come to market as announced. We were also told that Lenovo is now targeting Q4 as a launch date for Android-based devices, so we'll see what happens -- it'll be a sad day for the gadget world if the U1 fails to live on in some way.
After careful consideration of market conditions and user feedback, Lenovo has decided to focus its resources on building a family of next-generation mobile internet devices based upon open technologies such as (but not limited to) the Android kernel, similar to the Lenovo smartphone, which is available for sale in China now.
As a result of Lenovo's strategic shift towards open standards such as an Android kernel based environment, the Company has shelved its plans to release the initial version of the Skylight smartbook that featured a proprietary Linux-based OS.
Lenovo remains committed to working with our strategic partners to deliver innovative products in the growing mobile internet space, including the aforementioned smartphones and smartbooks, as well as exploring innovative new concepts that continue to "push-the-envelope" like the U1 hybrid PC.
After seeing MeeGo, I'd rather have that on this instead of android.
Killin' viewing angle! /s
@n8equalsd Triple Boot?
@n8equalsd
MeeGo doesn't have the application horsepower to make use of the awesome hardware this brings. On the other hand, Android and Skylight are linux based... switching gears is not as hard as a full os change.
@Drago my thoughts exactly. Way to make Apple's products look good even if they are overpriced …
@Oldarney Whoa fact check... MeeGo is linux based too...
@Oldarney Wow. Face, meet palm.
@Oldarney MeeGo is Linux. There is a huge base of applications for Linux. Anything that has it's source code available can be compiled to ANY processor architecture - be it ARM, x86, Cell (yes, USAF is using those) Sparc or WHAEVER else.
Let me remind you, that the original reason for C programming language was portability - assuming that it is the source code that is distributed, the customer could run the program on ANY machine.
@Oldarney
Now what about this running something with KDE 4.4? With my own current setup on PC, I can already imagine, with Lancelot replaced with a Drawer launcher of sorts, or even just application launchers automatically thrown on desktops by default. Dragging across the screen spins the Cube! Widgets are already in place! It fits, so why is everyone working around it?
KDE already has multiple configuration support available to users who want to customize it. I'm sure that with the appropriate drivers, pulling out the tablet would switch it to maybe a different interface for certain applications, load the on-screen keyboard into RAM, switch the default pointer, and go maybe to a more power-efficient mode.
For what goes into the machine's body, I would propose battery, extra RAM or high-speed RAM-like SWAP, a high-speed hard drive, USB 3 and IEEE 1394 c(+) support, memory cards beyond SD (which should already be on the tablet), audio ports including Digital Coaxial, multiple analogs besides just mic, front, and line-in, and a low-speed, read-only disk drive, possibly with Blu-ray support. The frame for the tablet should have holes in it for whatever outputs and inputs on the tablet to be visible, besides the headphone out, which would be duplicated on the unit itself. I will not comment on the actual innards of the unit besides that the Tegra 2 would rock this thing, and that if the unit is so big, why can't they clock the processor higher?
The Tablet should have a USB 2.0 input, microphone, headphone jack, HDMI with full support for whatever audio Blu-ray supports,
What... first MS kills Courier, now Lenovo kills U1... I'm soooo sad.
@Hosermage
How can you kill something that was never really produced (courier) ?
@mnhthebest
In my dreams, they were real. While I loved the Courier demo, I felt the U1 would have been a more realistic/practical gadget that I would purchase. Now I just keep my money under the mattress.
@Hosermage
I never thought for a minute this would be released so this is little surprise to me.
@Hosermage
it just wasn't something practical if you think about it, Skylight was an unimpressive OS, and having two hardware sets into one thing just adds way too much to the cost
@Hosermage
I hope they use the same ax on the price before we see it again.
@Hosermage if it makes you feel any better Microsoft could never kill the idea of the courier, if they dont capitalize on its amazingness someone is bound to come along and do it themselves... and if its apple then i guess ill be buying an apple product again some day (i hope its not apple tho)
@SteveyAyo uh apparently it will be Sony
@Hosermage That's why they should never announce a concept. If it is cancelled they'll lose some fans. Apple has cleverly never introduced a concept, so fans would be so eager to see what comes.
@Hosermage I was saving money for the U1 too.. oh well.
@Jimbob Agreed. While the form factor was interesting the whole dual OS thing was just stupid. If somebody else is going to make one use the same OS whether docked or not. The netbook part should just have battery, keyboard and ports not CPU, RAM or Flash.
I hope they will come out with an Android based design soon, I hate to see such an interesting innovation being axed.
One less OS, Thousand less BS news titles to read.
Great
Mate the Skylight UI to Android and give users the choice to switch back to the default Android UI (if they like it that way) and it will be a win-win situation!
@mnhthebest Agreed! Also, Lenovo, make it easy to root.
Good, no one wanted another worthless Win7 tablet in the market we haz enough. More android, WebOS,Chrome OS Tablets please
I think this is good. It means other companies are learning and aren't just throwing a random assortment of paint at the wall and hoping it will stick.
Focus and discipline is needed these days for a good consumer electronics device.
@hated one lol wut
@hated one
Nope. HP Touchsmart tablet is the true one. And it has been on the market since years.
Goddamn it! The iPad doesn't have to kill any tablet. They are all committing suicide. Fark! >_
@hated one
Thank you kind sir.
I try I try... :P
I'm still upset though....
Dun, dun, dun... "Another one bite the dust-ehh!"
I think its a good idea. Android is so much farther ahead in terms of development and apps plus its being adopted by so many consumers that it just makes sense to put it on a hybrid computer. Hopefully by the Q4, Lenovo wont try and make up 24 months of custom Linux work by just throwing Android onto any old hardware.
@hated one lol oh.
@hated one
Hello, HP has multitasking, full OS, core i5 processors, dedicated graphic cards, flash and higher res screen. From a productivity point of view that is light years ahead of your iPad. You must be the one smoking the Apple weed
@hated one
Obvious troll is obvious.
Its hard to argue with free
"Lenny??"
Oy.
Holy-crap-viewing-angle-on-that-display, Batman!
@hated one there aren't so much iPad-killers on Android. Most of Android tablets are cheaper (100-300$) with smaller screen that the iPad.
An iPad-like running Android 2.2 (with some custom UI or not) would be nice to see.
One thing I like about Apple is that they show you stuff they can sell/ship and not some random stuff from their lab.
@assb10yr
Yea they should have kept Apple TV in the lab.
@mnhthebest Yup and the HP has the 2 hour battery life to prove it.
@hated one
Not as good as the stuff you've been smoking obviously.
most of the gadgets that are called vaporware on here are actually for sale in China, or elsewhere, if you search chinagrabber or dealextreme
@ttringle
In 2 hours you will be able to do 10 times more work with it than the iPad
This is the bad thing about Android. Instead of companies innovating and trying to build their own OS that is better than others they are just throwing together some hardware and loading a (probably outdated) version of Android onto it.
@jflan
The problem with building your own OS is getting developers to build applications for it. Android provides them an innovative platform that is constantly evolving AND a great repository of applications (once they are made available for tablets).
Re. outdated version...yeh...that sucks. The hardware vendors really need to streamline the process, so that new versions are made available quickly, after each new release.
@hated one Troll much?
@hated one
i feel bad for youre poor untech-ified soul :(
Wow, that's real sad to hear the U1 is canned. That was probably one of the most interesting designs I've ever seen.