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Acer to launch first Chrome OS netbook, Android-based Aspire One sales disappoint
Acer loves it some Google. And unless Google's trying to stamp out your revenue stream, who doesn't? Now Acer chairman, JT Wang, says that he expects to be first to market with an official Chrome OS netbook -- sometime in the second half of 2010 according to DigiTimes' sources. In fact, JT says that Acer's been working on a Chrome OS device since mid-2009. This despite admittedly weaker than expected demand for its dual-boot Android netbook, the Aspire One AOD250. Guess even the Google halo isn't enough to shoehorn its smartphone OS into a market dominating position on cheap ultra-portables. It's worth pointing out that DigiTimes' moles aren't saying anything new with the launch time-frame since Google's target for its gold Chrome OS build has been 2H of 2010 ever since the lightweight OS was announced. Not that the timing matters too much since we'll likely be seeing plenty of Chromium OS netbooks flooding the grey market long before the second half of 2010.
Acer Aspire One AOD250 impressions: Android gone bad
We admit, we were pretty stoked when we first saw the Acer Aspire One AOD250 running Android in dual-boot mode. What could possibly be bad about it? Fast start-up, Google apps... other good things that aren't coming to mind at the moment... what could go wrong? Turns out, just about everything. See, the Aspire One AOD250 has an unfortunate lack of Google blessing, so that means no Gmail, which is really Android's killer app, and no Marketplace either -- so no opportunity to track down a different killer app. You can use your Google account for hooking up with Gcal, Gtalk and Google Contacts, but your Gmail account gets set up as a webmail shortcut to the included Firefox app -- which does an alright, slightly hacked-on job of augmenting the standard Android browser, including support for Flash. Unfortunately, with connection woes over WiFi and Ethernet (as seen on the video), there wasn't much redeemable even there, and perhaps the best news about the device is that it can be fully booted to XP at any time by clicking on the corner of Android's home screen. We still think there's promise for Android on a netbook, but it's going to need some serious TLC (also, Gmail) before it's ready for prime time. Check out our video impressions after the break.
Acer's dual-boot Aspire One AOD250 netbook gets doubly official
Alright, so we've already seen this one in the wild and up for pre-order, but it's not everyday that someone releases a dual-boot Android / Windows XP netbook, so we can understand Acer wanting to get extra official with its new Aspire One AOD250 model. Of course, this one's about as standard as it gets once you move beyond its dual OS nature, including an 10.1-inch WSVGA screen, Atom N280 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and a six-cell battery. You can get it in your choice of four different colors though, and the $349.99 list price is certainly right for anyone looking for an easy way to jump into Android.
