Netbook News

It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anybody that PC Maker Acer is planning on launching a tablet or two this year. But the company hasn’t shared many details so far. Now Digitimes reports that there will be two Acer tablets coming in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Both models will reportedly feature ARM-based processor and run Google’s Android operating system. According to DigiTimes, one will have a 7 inch display while the other will sport a 10 inch screen.

Both will feature multimedia capabilities and support Adobe Flash Player 10.1 — assuming they ship with Android 2.2 Froyo or a newer version of Android.

It’s possible that we’ve already seen the 7 inch tablet. Acer showed of a 7 inch eBook reader with a Qualcomm processor at Computex last month. While the device was described as an eBook reader, it was running Google Android and sure looked an awful lot like an all-purpose tablet.

If you were hoping for a Windows tablet from Acer, you might have to look at a larger model such as the 11.6 inch Acer Aspire 1825PTZ convertible notebook-style tablet.

At $179, the Pandigital Novel might not be the cheapest eBook reader around. But it’s definitely one of the cheapest general purpose Android tablets available in the US… even if that isn’t how the company is marketing the device.

Thing is, it has a 7 inch, color touchscreen display and runs Google Android. All you have to do is figure out how to get past the custom software interface Pandigital throws on the Novel and you can install third party apps — including the Amazon Kindle app, Aldiko, or other eBook apps. You can even install games, media players, or just about anything else you can run on an Android tablet.

A few weeks ago we saw the first evidence of hackers gaining root access to the device. Now it looks like there’s a whole heck of a lot more you can do with the Novel — even without rooting it first.

There are a few catches. Right now there’s no way to access the Google Android Market, which means you’ll have to manually download apk installer files for each app you install. And you’ll need to apply a few hacks to get things working properly. That includes installing a third party home screen so you have access to the program launcher and a hack that lets you use the volume buttons as if they were Menu and Back buttons — since the Novel doesn’t actually have dedicated buttons for those frequently-used Android functions.

It’s even possible to install the Google Calendar, Contacts, Maps, Voice, and Gmail apps.

You can find instructions for hacking the Pandigital Novel at The Digital Reader, as well as the SlateDroid forums. The video below shows some of the things you can do with the tablet once you start hacking. Bear in mind, the Pandigital Novel has a relatively sluggish CPU which was really just meant to power an eBook reader, so don’t be surprised if some of the animations and other visual elements look a bit slow.

Just in case you thought tablets only showed up in China these days, Rover Computer has introduced 5 new tablets that will be hitting Russia later this year.

That includes a 7 inch touchscreen tablet called the Air G70 which will run Windows CE 6.0 and 4 models running Google Android.

The Air G70 has a 667MHz ARM11 CPU, 256MB of RAM, and 4GB of flash storage. It packs WiFi and a MicroSD card slot, and there’s a 3G option.

Rover is also introducing several Android tablets with screens ranging from 5 to 7 inches. It looks like most will be stuck with Android 1.5 or 1.6 and pretty anemic specs. But the RoverPad Tega W70 will run Android 2.1 and pack an NVIDIA Tegra processor for high performance graphics. That model will also include 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and an HDMI output.

The Litl Webbook is a $399 internet appliance that’s sort of a cross between a netbook and a souped up digital picture frame. When the company first introduced the product with a $699 price tag, I was skeptical. And to be honest, now that the price is $399, I’m still a bit skeptical that there’s a market for the Webbook — or at least that the market isn’t already being better served by products like the iPad. But the folks at Litl are pushing ahead with their vision of an internet-connected device that’s so easy to use that you can hand it to your non-tech-savvy grandparent or a toddler.

The company’s latest announcement is that Litl has partnered with Skype to let users make voice and video calls using a Litl Webbook.

The concept behind the Webbook is that users won’t have to (or be able to) install third party apps. So the Skype app will be baked right into the operating system. New customers who pick up a Litl Webbook this fall will have Skype preloaded. Existing users will get it through an automatic software update — although you’ll have to reboot the Webbook for the software to initialize the first time.

The software isn’t quite ready yet. I got a chance to check out a demo unit this week and only voice calls were up and running. But the full version should be ready in the fall.

TCL is a Chinese manufacturer that’s famous for its TV sets. Now the company brings a non-TV product: a 5 inches Android powered MID called Touchlife. The device looks sleek and very nice, thin and clean. But when coming to its specs, It doesn’t gets much to talk. It’s just another MID that’s based on Rockchip’s 600Mhz RK2808 chip, which has been seen on most China brand Android MIDs or tablets. So It will only gets Android 1.6. Like other RK2808 based device, it can handle 720p MKV(XVID/px/H.264)  videos. Another advantage its has is its Flash support, giving you complete access to  Flash relied contents.  Other specs are still not disclosed, neither are its price and availability.

Lenovo may have put its innovative Skylight tablet and IdeaPad U1 Hybrid notebook with a detachable screen/tablet on hold indefinitely — but it looks like the projects aren’t entirely dead. As the company hinted a few weeks ago, Lenovo is looking at Google Android as an alternative to the Skylight operating system that had been developed in-house for these devices.

Tablet PC Review caught up with some Lenovo reps who explained that the company isn’t killing off the Skylight and U1 form factors… but is indeed working on bringing Google Android to these devices.

So it looks like Lenovo is scrapping the Skylight OS, which is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, the company spent a fair bit of time and energy developing the custom Linux-based operating system and it would have been nice to have another choice for this type of device beside iOS, MeeGo, and Android. On the other hand, there are thousands of third party apps available for Android, which makes any device running the operating system instantly much more useful than one running a proprietary OS that nobody else uses.

There’s still no release date for the IdeaPad U1 or Skylight, but it looks like these products aren’t exactly dead yet.

Got $900 burning a hole in your pocket and don’t know what to spend it on? You could buy two or three netbooks, a used car (that doesn’t drive in reverse), or donate to charity. Or you could pick up a tiny mini-laptop from Sony, because the latest version of the Sony Vaio P is now in stock and shipping from SonyStyle.

The Sony Vaio P mini-laptops sport 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processors, 2G of RAM, and 128Gb solid state disks, and an 8 inch, 1600 x 768 pixel display. They also pack 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bleutooth 2.1, and 3G modules.

You certainly get a lot for your money, but I’m still just not sure why you’d drop that kind of money on a computer with a relatively slow Atom Z530 CPU.

The Gigabyte T1000P is a 10.1 inch touchscreen style tablet which features a high resolution 1366 x 768 pixel touchscreen display. You can operate the T1000P either as a normal laptop, or fold the screen down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode. First introduced a couple of months ago, the Gigabyte T1000P is now available for pre-order from Amazon, but at $699 plus shipping, it ain’t exactly cheap.

The netbook features a 1.83GHz Intel Atom N470 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive, and comes with Windows 7 Starter Edition.

Aside from the slightly faster processor and higher resolution screen, on paper the Gigabyte T1000P doesn’t look all that different from the Asus Eee PC T101MT, which sells for about $200 less. But if you’re a high-resolution display junkie, it looks like the Gigabyte model might be the best option.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X100e is a thin, light, and low power laptop aimed at business customers, or anyone who prefers a pointing stick to a touchpad and doesn’t mind a somewhat boxy design. Lenovo recently rolled out the option to configure the mini-laptop with a dual core AMD Neo processor, and the company sent me one of the new models to review.

At first glance, I see a lot to like about this little laptop. The overall design is very professional, and while it’s been years since I used a TrackPoint-style pointing stick, I can definitely see how it could be easier to use than a touchpad since your hand doesn’t have to move from the keyboard — although it definitely takes a little getting used to. Fortunately there’s also a normal touchpad for users who prefer to use one.

The chiclet-style keyboard is large and comfortable to use. And since the 6-cell battery protrudes from the back of the laptop instead of the bottom, it doesn’t add much height to the laptop, which is about 1.2 inches thick.

What really sets this notebook apart from most other thin and light laptops I’ve reviewed is the chipset. The demo unit Lenovo sent me has a 1.6GHz dual core AMD Turion NEO X2 L625 processor and ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics. I’ll be putting the laptop through the paces over the coming days to see how it stacks up in terms of battery life and overall performance,.

The Lenovo X100e is available from Lenovo.com for $449 and up, although a dual core model will cost you a bit more. The demo unit I’m testing starts at $529, and would actually run a bit more since it has 2GB of RAM and Windows 7 Professional.

Sony introduced an updated version of its Vaio P mini-laptops recently, and the folks at PC Pop in China have managed to get their hands on one of the colorful little guys and posted an unboxing photo shoot.

While the first generation Sony Vaio P was all-business, with a metallic gray design, the new models come in black, white, or pastel colors including pink, orange, and green. It kind of looks like Starburst candy threw up on the mini-notebook. But if you can get past (or if you actually like) the new color schemes, the PC Pop photos give you a good look at some of the other new featueres including the optical touch panel on the side of the display, and the accelerometer which allows the display to automatically rotate when you tilt the Vaio P.

It turns out that the new Vaio P also ships with a higher capacity 2500mAh battery. The old version had a 2100mAh battery.