Google's popular portable operating systems are set to make the leap into larger devices this year - although manufacturers are still torn as to whether Chrome or Android is the way to go.
Sitting on the Chrome OS side of the fence is Samsung, which according to Australian site Channel News has recently confirmed a netbook running Google's browser-based cloud operating system.
With a 10.1 inch LED-backlit display and around 12 hours of battery life, the N210-styled netbook, which is as yet unnamed by the company, will have a surprisingly impressive 2GB of RAM and at least 64GB of on-board storage - a huge amount of horsepower for a lightweight operating system designed to store all of its documents on Google's cloud servers.
So far the processor built in to the system isn't known, but it's thought that Samsung might be going down the ARM route to get the impressive 12 hour battery life - with rumours circulating it could even be Qualcomm's latest 1.5GHz Snapdragon chip under the hood. Sadly, we'll have to wait to find out: there's no official launch date as yet.
While Samsung might be concentrating on the netbook-oriented Chrome, other manufacturers continue to attempt to shoe-horn Google's Android - originally developed as a smartphone platform - onto ever larger devices, with the latest design coming from Hewlett Packard. According to V3.co.uk, the Compaq AirLife 100 will have a similar 10.1" screen, a Snapdragon processor, but a mere 16GB of solid-state storage on-board. Unlike the Samsung device, the AirLife 100 comes with on-board GPS.
With a 12-hour battery life to rival the Chrome OS-based device from Samsung, it'll be interesting to see which of the two devices succeeds in the market - or even if consumers can be convinced to give up Windows on their netbook.
Which do you think is the most suited to netbook use - Android or Chrome? Would you personally prefer a more desktop-oriented Linux distribution such as Ubuntu? Perhaps you're of the opinion that it's Windows or nothing? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Sitting on the Chrome OS side of the fence is Samsung, which according to Australian site Channel News has recently confirmed a netbook running Google's browser-based cloud operating system.
With a 10.1 inch LED-backlit display and around 12 hours of battery life, the N210-styled netbook, which is as yet unnamed by the company, will have a surprisingly impressive 2GB of RAM and at least 64GB of on-board storage - a huge amount of horsepower for a lightweight operating system designed to store all of its documents on Google's cloud servers.
So far the processor built in to the system isn't known, but it's thought that Samsung might be going down the ARM route to get the impressive 12 hour battery life - with rumours circulating it could even be Qualcomm's latest 1.5GHz Snapdragon chip under the hood. Sadly, we'll have to wait to find out: there's no official launch date as yet.
While Samsung might be concentrating on the netbook-oriented Chrome, other manufacturers continue to attempt to shoe-horn Google's Android - originally developed as a smartphone platform - onto ever larger devices, with the latest design coming from Hewlett Packard. According to V3.co.uk, the Compaq AirLife 100 will have a similar 10.1" screen, a Snapdragon processor, but a mere 16GB of solid-state storage on-board. Unlike the Samsung device, the AirLife 100 comes with on-board GPS.
With a 12-hour battery life to rival the Chrome OS-based device from Samsung, it'll be interesting to see which of the two devices succeeds in the market - or even if consumers can be convinced to give up Windows on their netbook.
Which do you think is the most suited to netbook use - Android or Chrome? Would you personally prefer a more desktop-oriented Linux distribution such as Ubuntu? Perhaps you're of the opinion that it's Windows or nothing? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
RELATED ARTICLES
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.