Computex: Where Are ARM and Android-Based Netbooks?
So where were these machines? Behind closed doors.
Leading up to Computex, I heard a lot of hype about netbooks running Android and machines, about the size of a netbook, running an ARM-based processor like those used in most phones, rather than the traditional x86 processor used in most PCs. So, I walked around the show floor looking for such machines and came back pretty disappointed.
For the most part, the PCs on display at Computex reflected a "Wintel" world. Every PC vendor showcased a wide variety of Windows machines, and most were really pushing Windows 7, following Microsoft's own push. I was looking for some Android-based netbooks but found only one, sitting in a glass box in Acer's booth. The netbook had just a static screen—and a small one at that—running on an older Aspire One netbook model, so it wasn't very impressive.
I did see a number of machines running other flavors of Linux in booths from the various Linux makers, notably Linpus and Novell. Intel was the big place to see non-Windows machines. The company was promoting its Moblin version of Linux on a number of netbooks and nettops, and I was particularly surprised by the number of all-in-one designs.
Moblin has its own user interface, but the company also showed off other versions of Linux running on top of it, including Ubuntu, Novell Suse, and Linpus. The idea is that Moblin will create a standard version for things like compatibility, with other versions adding things like different applications and user interfaces. Intel SVP Sean Maloney did show Android on top of Moblin in his Computex keynote, but it was not in the booth.
I fared even worse looking for ARM-based netbooks. I went to all sorts of booths asking about ARM-based netbooks and smartbooks, and was mostly met with blank but very polite stares. A few companies showed me smartphones running Windows Mobile, though.
So where were these machines? Behind closed doors. I did get a chance to see a number of ARM-based machines at ARM's suite in a nearby hotel. In its Computex suite, ARM was showing a number of small notebook-shaped machines, with different ARM-based processors and operating systems. The company says it expects such machines to pretty much work like a phone—with day-long or better battery life, instant on, and instant access to e-mail and the Web. They showed off machines based on processors from Freescale, Nvidia (Tegra), Qualcomm (Snapdragon), TI (OMAP), and a number of smaller system makers.
ARM says it expects at least five systems shipping by the end of the year, and it's clear that there's a lot of work left to be done before they make the market. Of course, we won't know how good these systems will be until they ship, but the concept certainly seems interesting.
Still, there are tons of questions on both ARM-based systems and the various Linux variants: We don't know how well they will perform, what they will cost, or how much compatibility for complex Web sites they will really offer. Will they provide better battery life and faster startup than Windows/X86 machines? Will any improvement in price be worth the trade-offs in compatibility? Will customers expect these machines to work just like Windows machines, and will they be disappointed if they don't?