See here, when you are making a copy of a famous product, you might as well make something that is capable of running the original software as well, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought. It is the first rule in the “Fakers’ 101″ handbook. So anyway, you have all been looking at the MacBook Air fakes from Chinese makers ever since Steve Jobs pulled that thing out of an envelope. Now see one of them running the OS X.

Yes, if you have ever wondered about it, now you have you answer. Yes, some of them apparently can run the full OS X in all its glory. Isn’t that simply… umm… yeah, slightly meh. Still, these cheap fakes are really… cheap, they are thinner than competing netbooks and some have a larger screen. So if you can hack your way into making one run OS X for you, things are all the merrier.

This version however is a netbook sold by an entity that is currently flying under the Apple radar. They are asking for your credit card number and even though the price is $325 (man that’s a cheap Hackintosh), losing your money and identity may not be worth it you know. Just look from a distance and appreciate the many hours it must’ve taken to make this thing work.

The ‘HackBook Air’ video can be found on the other side. If you have a hackintosh you would like to show off, please do so by all means in the comments section! If yours is really good, it gets covered in a separate post dedicated to it. How about that?!

[read]

Here we are folks, it is Monday once again and that means going getting out of weekend mode, getting back to work and catching up with the world that has been busy as usual« over the weekend. That is why we bring you this round up every Monday to help you catch up with the most relevant news in consumer technology that has broken over the past few days, with some fun bits thrown in for added taste.

This week we have speculations about HTC making a unique netbook, Vaios coming out in more style than usual, some great iPhone apps and still more. Get over to the other side to get started.

Apple:

WorldMode iPhone Nano [?]

This is one persistent rumor and it seem like it will only go away when Apple finally makes it official. Rumor goes that this phone will not only come to Verizon but it will be a smaller, 2.3” screened device that will support all UMTS 3G and CDMA networks worldwide. One phone to run on all (networks). [read]

Core i5 iMacs Ready For Being Shipped

Looks like the Core i5 iMacs are getting ready to be shipped as of today. Those of you who have been starving for the Quad Core iMacs, time to hit the buy button. [read]

Mac OS X 10.6.2 Update Released, Atom Be Gone

The second update to the Snow Leopard has been pushed out to the public today and as anticipated, there is no Atom support on this version. There’s also a security update for Leopard users.  [read]

First Ever iPhone Worm Hits, More Anticipated

Do not hit the panic button yet. This worm is first of all a playful worm that changes the wallpaper and rickrolls users. And it only affects jailbroken iPhones. So those of you who are playing it legit have nothing to worry about. But this might as well be the start of a new line of worms and other malware. [read]

O2 Will Unlock iPhones For Customers

Not out of the goodness of their hearts but at the end of the legitimate contract in exchange of a small fee. Available only to the customers in the UK as of now. [read]

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Nokia:

Nokia X6 Starts Shipping Next Week

The Nokia X6 isn’t something new. It was launched quite some time back and it is only just beginning to move toward a shipping date. It is slated to launch in about a week’s time in different parts of the world in tandem with a Rihanna release party. According to Expansys, the X6 will ship in the UK on November 12^th. [read]

Nokia Recalls 14 Million Chargers

Not taking a chance with a widespread customer outcry, Nokia has recalled 14 million chargers. These chargers have been deemed faulty and they may shock users. Nokia has started a replacement program through which customers can replace their chargers for free. Kudos to Nokia for being so very prompt and open about it. [read]

Unlocked Nokia Booklet 3G At Best Buy From November 15^th

For those who have already pre-ordered the Booklet 3G from Best Buy and for those who want to – we finally have a date. The Nokia netbook is landing on November 15^th, after what seems like ages since it was first announced some months back. [read]

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HTC Working On ‘Unique’ Netbook

The rumors are abound again, apparently HTC is making a netbook instead of just “carefully looking” at the segment. The CEO sort of let slip that the Android based device that we have been hearing about is still very much on and in the making. But they do not want to make anything official because the company wants to bring out something that is unique and adds some value to the segment. Not a boring old yet-another-netbook. YAN – I think I will make that a tag. [read]

Toshiba 3G Netbook Now On AT&T & Verizon

The Toshiba NB205 becomes the latest 3G-enabled netbook to be available through carriers. This time on Verizon and AT&T. [read]

More Anti-iPhone Ads from Verizon

This was intentionally left out of the Apple section. Verizon has started airing three new ads that focus on the bad 3G network coverage that AT&T is (in)famous and hated for. All three ads more or less bash the iPhone along with AT&T with the 3^rd ad directly showing the iPhone in the land of Misfit Toys (because it has spotty 3G coverage). [read]

Sony Unveils New Fall Winter Collection Vaios

Sony has released a new fall winter collection of Vaios. These are normal Vaios with great new styling that will really make you want to own one. Perfect for a high-end Christmas gift eh? [read]

ThinkPad X110e Netbook Rumored For January ‘10 Launch

The latest rumored netbook is one with a ThinkPad branding that goes by the name X100e. The latest news from rumorsville in this regard is that it is slated for an early January release next year. [read]

Intel Intends to Blitz Into Pine Trail

According to new rumors based on certain leaks, Intel will be announcing details about their new pine-trail generation Atom chips as early as December 21^st this year and we are likely to see these chips in new netbooks as early as January next year. Looks like Intel is simply waiting for everyone to finish selling through the holiday shopping rush before they announce this. [read]

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iPhone Apps:

Balloons! iPhone App Emulates Message In A Bottle

This is a brand new app with a brand new concept. It is called Balloon! and what it does is quite simple yet brilliant. It brings the concept of a message in a bottle to the iPhone and ties it to a kind of social networking with a twist. The idea is that you take a balloon, snap a picture to show what’s going on with you, put in a little text and let it float off into virtual space.

The fun part begins when it drifts all over the world and people catch it, add some more text and let it go again. Slowly, each balloon builds up a story and some can be pretty interesting. You have a free app where you cannot track your balloons and a paid-for app where you can track your balloons. As you will quickly realize – the main fun is in the tracking. Going for $2.99. [read]

Use Knocking To Share Up To100 Images Instantly

You can now show a big finger to the carrier that is not letting you use the MMS feature on your iPhone, thanks to a new app called Knocking. Knocking lets you share up to 100 images with other Knocking users in no time at all. It works over 3G and WiFi and also allows you to take control of what the other person is seeing. This one is going for free for the first 50,000 downloads, which should take long on the App Store if people like it. [read]

Shazam Has A New Paid-for App Called Shazam Encore

Shazam has upgraded their music identification app to a paid version that is called Shazam Encore. This new app has music recommendation features based on the songs tagged for identification, the ability to find out what is popular and also a car mode that apparently makes it easy to use even when driving car. Although I would say that the only thing that you really should be using while driving is a GPS app/device, with your music player on auto. The new app is also very speedy compared to the original one.

The free app is now crippled and lacks features of the premium with limited song identifications per month. Those who have already downloaded the original app get to keep on using it as it is. Going for $4.99 [read]

The litl Webbook has just found itself in an exclusive video demo by none other than the CEO of litl himself. This feat was achieved by a member of TechCrunch and it shows us in detail what the litl is really about.

The litl Webbook is about simplicity. It is about making tasks like Internet surfing a lot easier than they are on conventional netbooks. It takes away as much as possible from the usual computer experience without hampering the essential utilities of the device.

Technically, the Webbook is nothing but a common laptop that has been customized with a few special controls that are not standard on any other laptop. The screen turns to an extreme angle to change onto the ‘easel mode’. This mode is useful for those times when you want to view things in full screen continuously and probably from a distance. Great for watching movies, images and web channels.

Web channels are litl’s idea of laid back computing via the Internet. Any webpage with content to offer can be turned into a ‘channel’ that will display the intended information in fullscreen. You can change the channel through the dial integrated into the hinge of the device and also with the optional remote control.

You will not have to do anything to maintain the thing. There are no viruses to think about (you will never install anything anyway) and updates are pushed by the company during night without making you do anything. So all you have to do is keep the thing connected to the Internet and let it do its thing.

For more details, just hit the play button on the video above. My opinion on the matter echoes what a lot of other people are saying. The concept is pretty nice and it does seem attractive, but it is okay to charge $699 for what is essentially a mediocre netbook with a 2GB flash storage that runs a custom-made simple-to-use OS?

No matter how much companies try to play them down, netbooks are still going pretty strong. They may no generate much profit for the companies but they sure are hits with the users. That is why Otaku Gadgets updates you on the very latest on netbook every Wednesday – cutting through all the noise and delivering you the stuff that matters.

This week, we have Litl finally releasing their Webbook (Easel) netbook, multiple new Asus models start showing up across the world and Lenovo seems to have ThinkPad series netbooks up their sleeves. Get to the other side for brand new netbooks and more netbook news.

Litl Easel Released: Named Webbook And Too Expensive

The Litl Webbook is a well-named, interesting litl concept. It gives you a netbook that has the usual specs ­– Atom 1.6Ghz, 1GB RAM – but a tiny litl 2GB flash storage. Is that the company taking their name too far? It is because it has a completely custom OS that relies entirely on the cloud i.e. – things running and stored on the Internet. So, to use the Webbook you are to remain connected at all times. But then again, this is meant to be a nice little family computer that is meant to be usable by every member of your family.

The form factor is pretty interesting. It has nice litl touches here and there. You have the baby blue parts and the overall cutesy appeal. You can turn the screen far beyond the usual angle to achieve an easel like effect (hence that code-name). That way you achieve a nice view while watching movies or pictures. Plus, it comes in handy during something called the Channel view.

Channel view is when the online content is displayed full-screen. You have those widgets cycling around in the easel mode, displaying information in full screen. So overall, it is a nice litl concept that sound like fun.

What isn’t fun is the price, which is not so litl at $700. With that kind of money, no one would be interested in buying something that does not even have enough space to store movies, music and pictures on. They need to curtail their expectations a (large) bit and then may be they will see some response. But it does look nice and family friendly, I will give it that.

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Asus

1021N Spotted In Italy

The 12.1” ION powered Eee PC 1201N had already been announced by Asus post the Windows 7 launch as part of their new line up. But it had yet to show up on stores, until now. Netbook Italia has spotted the 1201N at an online store in Italy. It is going for €510 (including VAT, $754 approx at the current rate). It will be running Windows 7 and will have more RAM and better graphics (courtesy ION). [read]

1001HA On Pre-Order in The UK

The budget Eee PC 1001HA is a low configuration model that is more like the last generation of the netbooks that is now selling at a discount price. With its 1.6GHz Atom Processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD and 3-cell battery, it will just get you through all your basic surfing needs. But it won’t cost you anything more than £199.99 if you are in the UK. It is currently on pre-order. It will run Windows XP and Windows 7. It think that is as much about cost-cutting as about performance limits. [read]

T91MT On Pre-order In The US

The T91MT is the updated version of the touchscreen-convertible Eee PC T91. The new model has a multi-touch enabled touchscreen, which is signified by the ‘MT’ in the model name. It is now up for pre-order on Amazon for $549 with the full huge model name.

Asus will not include its own custom touch UI now that Windows 7 is here, which might finally start selling the device. It will be running Windows 7 Home Premium – the lowest edition of Windows 7 to have multi-touch. [read]

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Lenovo

ThinkPad Netbooks Spied On

After a hazy and suspicious live shot of the alleged ThinkPad netbook, we now have clear shots of what indeed looks like a netbook with the ThinkPad branding and signature features. It is apparently called the ThinkPad x200e or the x100e. No one is all that sure yet. The pictures look real enough, so we will have to say that this thing looks like it will hit the shelves soon. [read]

New Lenovo Netbook On FCC

Before those above pictures surfaced, a new Lenovo notebook model was spotted on the FCC by Wireless Goodness. And the images look very much like a netbook. The images are part of an application made by Wistron, Lenovo’s hardware assembler. This might be the new ThinkPad netbook and hence it might be pretty close to launching. I would say next week. [read]

Hates Linux But Likes Chrome OS

Lenovo has been saying that Linux simply does not cut it in the market and that Windows 7 now makes it look even worse by comparison. And then they go on to talk about their Interest in the Chrome OS being developed by Google. For those of you who don’t get the joke here – Chrome OS is a full on Linux-based OS that is being developed by Google. May be they are overlooking that ‘minor’ problem in an otherwise promising OS. [read]

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Via Releases Nano 3000

Intel has been having a nice and big Atom party ever since the netbook craze hit the market. But others have wanted a piece of that pie for quite some time now. So AMD released the Neo, NVIDIA the Tegra and VIA the Nano. Now that the next-generation Atom is approaching, the others have to step up their game. And it looks like VIA has already done it.

Enter the new Nano 3000 – 64-bit support and picture perfect 1080p HD playback. Plus there’s also support for better security features built into the chip. This will be the chip that tales on the Atom N470 that is headed our way. [read]

Verizon To Start Offering $300 Vaio P

Looks like Verizon is going to get a Vaio P on their roster and they will apparently be selling it for $299 (minus may be a $100 rebate). You of course have to sign a long-term data contract with them but sicne this is not AT&T, you might actually want to. [read]

Hackintosh: Snow Leopard 10.6.2 Update Will Break  Atom Support

This is just a heads up to those running hackintosh Atom netbooks. Do not upgrade to 10.6.2 till the hackers figure something out. The latest build kernels of this update lack support for Atom, which will completely break your hackintosh once the update goes live and gets installed into your system. Panic not though, the hackers will likely figure this out pretty easily. That is unless Apple is devious enough to actively make it harder for them. For all legit Apple computer users, take that smirk with you to the next post.

Eee Control For Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

For those of you who have been running Karmic Koala (Ubuntu 9.10) on a Eee PC or similar netbook, this should be important. Eee Control, the little piece of Linux software that allows you to tweak the clock speed of Atom, is now out for Karmic Koala. It helps you tweak the chip in order to achieve a balance between speed and battery life and you can choose either one when you need to.[read]

If you are going mobile, netbooks are the thing! And to help you stay up to date on this fast changing segment of portables, I gather up the latest netbook news for you every Wednesday. From the latest in netbook components to the latest in netbook models – you get it all right here once every week.

Get to the other side for this week’s round up.

Samsung’s 7” OLED Netbook Prototype

You know you are going to see some fancy displays when the name of an event is Flat Panel Display (FPD ’09) and Samsung has not disappointed in that regard. They are showing off a new 7” netbook prototype that has an OLED display. As you can imagine, the brightness and contrast ratio are off the hook – 300CD/m2 and 1000000:1 respectively! But the resolution is only 1024×600. But since this is a tiny screen anyway, I think that much is quite enough. No word on pricing yet (obviously) but rest assured it will be quite higher than your average 7” portable. [read]

FCC Reveals Pine Fresh New Eee PCs

You gotta give to the FCC – they have turned into a pretty reliable source for finding out gadgets that are yet to be announced or released. After they became the source for Apple leaks, they are now a rich mine for new and unannounced Eee PCs from Asus. They are your usual Eee PC fare with 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, etc. But the new thing about them is the fact it looks like they will be powered by the next generation Atom chips or ‘Pineview’ as the code name goes. Also, it looks like at least one is going to have a 3G modem. [read]

Dell Now Offers Dell Design Studio For Mini 10/10v Netbooks

We human beings have always wanted to own everything. So personalization and customization comes very naturally to us. Thinking along those lines, Dell has been offering various colors on their laptops for quite sometime now. And now they will let you buy your laptops with one of 200 available original artworks on the lid.

What is more exciting is that this offer extends to the Mini 10/10v line of netbooks as well. The cost of getting one of the artworks on your portable is $85, out of which $20 goes to AIDS charity in Africa. Now there’s a good impetus for buying into this. [read]

Leaked: Litl Easel 12.1” Netbook With Custom OS

Dunno if this will be just another piece of vaporware but it sure is friendly looking. A little known company called Litl is coming up with an interesting netbook that has a custom OS. The OS is designed like a stack of cards which are color coded into three colors – Blue, White and Black. Blue is for ‘permanents’ cards like settings, white is for the web like the browser and black is for things that are similar to widgets.

This was unearthed from the FCC (again) by Engadget. The aim of the company is to make computing more intuitive and family friendly. But we have heard that promise so many times that it is kinda hard to believe in it till we see something really pathbreaking. [read]

Atom N470 Netbooks Will Be Easier To Make

Intel currently has a lot of restrictions about what manufacturers can and cannot do with the Atom. So as you can imagine, that severly limits the choices manufactures can make while making Atom computers.

This is apparently about to change with the advent of the next-generation of Atom chips. It also ties in with the fact that Microsoft is finally allowing netbooks to load Windows 7 Home Premium. So you can finally look forward to netbooks that have a bit more power without completely letting go of the battery life. [read]

MSI Tegra eBook Reader Might Be A Netbook

As I mentioned yesterday, MSI is making a Tegra-based eBook reader. The reason I am including this in this round up is because the Tegra is far too powerful to be used to power a simple eBook reader. After all, it is meant to be Atom’s direct competitor. So MSI might have something pretty interesting up its sleeve.

Leeenux: Yet Another Ubuntu-Based Netbook OS

Somehow, I had not come across this little OS when I did my netbook OS round up few days back. The title says it all though. This is a light OS that is based on Ubuntu Linux and it is meant for Eee PCs and other similar netbook models. It mimics the UI of Ubuntu Netbook Remix to better utilize a small screen. It is optimized to run on 7” devices and has a power utility to optimize battery life. Plus it is only 1.4GB after installtion, so you can install it on a 2GB device. If you use your netbook for basic things like surfing the net, chatting and checking mail, this OS might be useful for you. [read]

Nokia Booklet 3G On Pre-Order At Best Buy

Christmas is coming and if you want a Booklet 3G out of contract, you can pre-order yours at Best Buy. As you know, the retail store has the (retail) exclusive on this netbook and they are currently charging $599.99 for the device on the website. These are all unlocked versions and they are currently only available in black. Best Buy says option for blue is coming soon. [read]

New Nokia Netbook Rumored For Next Year

The Nokia Booklet 3G has hardly gone on pre-order and we already have rumors of a new netbook from Nokia in 2010. The speculation comes from the fact that the company the makes the Booklet 3G is working overtime to satisfy the demands of production. This is turned into something that goes along the lines of Nokia debuting a netbook (or an updated model) next year.

It would be pretty logical though because we will see a lot of new technology next year and it makes business sense to update something that has been selling well. [read]

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Feel like adding to that list? Got a netbook you absolutely love? Share it with us in the comments below?

MSI simply cannot stay away from the hot market that eBooks are a part of right now. So they are coming in strong with the NVIDIA Tegra powering the way. The chairman of the company (Joseph Hsu) let announced that MSI is indeed working on a Tegra-based device. Details are scanty as nothing else has been revealed. But the Tegra can mean a lot of things.

Using the Tegra is almost overkill for a simple eBook reader. So it might not be all that simple. The Tegra is powerful enough crunch out HD video, eye-candy graphics and more. So MSI may be planning something that is not as long lasting as an eBook but is way more powerful and multi-tasking capable than the likes of Kindle or Nook. It might even be an eBook reading centric MID with extra long battery life. Now that would be interesting.

The chairman has said that there are certain problems that are waiting to be fixed and hence the company is looking at an early 2010 launch. May be we will see a pre-production unit or something at CES this year. [read]

Hello and welcome to a brand new week. We are off to a great start here with great new rumors to tell you about, new gadgets being launched this week and a host of other things! So jump right over to the other side and get started, because you can’t start your week without catching up first!

Apple To Reveal Q3 ’09 Earnings Today

Although the analysts have already reported about what we should expect from Apple’s Q3 earnings for this year, we are yet to hear the official word on it. In the interest of full disclosure here – yes, I love Apple and no, I do not have personal motives behind reporting predictions.

That aside, Apple’s sales are expected to have continued to grow and the company seems to be overall bullish as of now. They are also about to launch a massive ad campaign to counter the Windows 7 launch, so watch out. [Read last week’s Apple round up]

Update: The Report Is here. It is better than we all thought – they have had nearly 12% year on year growth despite the soft economy. [read]

Verizon Testing 4G iPhone Despite Droid Ads [?]

As reported on a slightly annoyed tone, Verizon has kicked off an iPhone mocking ad campaign to sell its newest fleet entrant – the Motorola Droid. Now, there are reports from a relatively unknown blog that Verizon is actually double-dealing, in a way.

Apparently the carrier is involved in extensive testing of a forthcoming iPhone CDMA device on the 4G LTE network. The tests have been going on for a few months now but there’s no talk of a release date yet, the blog claims. This could get interesting if it is indeed true. [read]

Lenovo IdeaPad S12 Gets ION, Coming On 10/22

The coveted Lenovo IdeaPad S12, enriched with the wholesome graphics goodness of the NVIDIA ION chipset, is all set to launch on October 22^nd. But the launch will be in Japan only. This Atom N270 toting device already has other versions but it is this ION version that everyone wants and for obvious reasons. Let’s hope it gets to the rest of us soon. [read]

The First Ever Live Shots Of The HTC Dragon [?]

The HTC Dragon is the latest in a long line of rumored Android and HTC phones. However, those earlier rumors have proved to be accurate in the cases of the HTC HD2, the Motorola Droid and others. However, as new phones are released, rumorsville is left empty. Filling this void is this new HTC phone that supposedly has the same hardware as the HD2 but will be running Android. If a 4.3inch full touchscreen phone is not a dream Android phone right now, I don’t know what is.

Anyway, we have the first live shots of an obviously HTC phone, running a previously unseen UI with the Android OS. From the photos, it does look like a larger than average phone such as the HD2. We’ll keep you posted as more news filters through. [read]

Asus T91MT Multi-Touch Netbook Due This Week

Asus’ T91 convertible tablet netbook wasn’t an instant hit but it did break new grounds. Now we have the new multitouch T91MT (MT for multitouch of course). No one really knows anything about it yet but we finally have a release date for the thing – 22^nd October. It will come with Windows 7 Home Premium and will hopefully be a lot more exciting than the original T91. [read]

Vicon Revue Camera [SenseCam] Records Your Life Every 30 Seconds

The Vicon Revue, a licensed version of the SenseCam concept developed by Microsoft, is a nifty little device. It has a 1GB memory, a fish eye lens and a tiny form factor that is riddled with sensors to detect light, temperature and orientation.

The device was originally built for patient’s suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, to help them recall the events of their day. Vicon was licensed by Microsoft because apparently the demand was too great for Microsoft. Vicon will be bringing out the camera at £500 by this Christmas that will be primarily aimed at researchers. A consumer version is in the works and it will apparently be available in 2010.

The camera can take images at a pre-determined time interval, with 30seconds being the lowest. It also snaps pictures when it detects a person directly in front (through IR) and when it senses a new environment (through temperature sensors). Since the images are quite low in resolution, 1GB can hold up to 30,000 images. [read]

Texas Instruments Promises Super Low Voltage Bluetooth

Texas Instruments, the number 4 manufacturer of semiconductors worldwide, has developed something very interesting. They have been showing off a new chip that makes Bluetooth run at an incredibly low energy level, making it possible to run the system for a rather long time on a single button cell battery.

TI says that the chip, measuring about 6mm-squared, will run on that single cell for more than a year. This means it can be fitted into a number of handheld devices and make them exceptionally useful. So you can now have a TV remote that you do not have to aim and that works amazingly well.

However, the current Bluetooth technology is anything but energy efficient. So waxing all eloquent about it right now may not be such a god idea. [read]

Sony Has New 360º Display, Has No Clue What To Do With It

Sony has been displaying a new device that displays a virtual image in full 360º view. So you can see the image in 3D with your naked eye. No more weird glasses that give you a headache. The device is still prototype and Sony has no concrete plans for it right now.

It has very limited capabilities right now but hopefully it will make virtual 3D images a consumer thing in the near future. [read]

Lamp Bearing Rocking Chair Generates Its Own Power [Concept]

This concept reading chair has an OLED lamp attached to it and it generates it own electricity. How? It is a rocking chair and it generates electricity when you are rocking on it. Cool idea I say. There’s nothing like powering your own reading lamp. Hopefully it and similar products will go into production someday. [read]

As everyone waits for the Éclair release of the Android OS (Éclair is the codename for version 2.0), the web is rife with talks of even more new Android phones and devices. A lot of things have changed since I reported about it the last time. When I say a lot of things have changed, what I really mean is that the lovable green robot has gotten itself another smattering of delectable new phones and devices. I am slavering just by looking at the array. Could it be, that this loyal Apple fan is actually considering something other than an iPhone? Oh, how the world has changed!

Anyway, a little competition is always good for companies like Apple. ‘Don’t let ‘em get too complacent’ is what I always say. But we, the users, have it the best actually. Companies are tripping over each other to bring out the best just for us!

Anyway, the latest on the Android awaits you on the other side.

Acer Liquid A1 Android Phone

Acer has announced a new (Qualcomm) Snapdragon-based smartphone that will be running on the Android OS. They are calling it the Liquid A1. The phone seems to be following the usual form factor that has be become common post the iPhone. It has a large touchscreen and there is no keyboard. Acer of course did not say anything about the hardware when they announced the phone.

But the hardware specs have finally been leaked and it only serves to confirm that the phone indeed runs on a 1GHz Qualcomm processor (i.e. the Snapdragon) like the HTC HD2 and the rumored HTC Dragon. There is now a video that shows the custom UI that the Liquid will be sporting. No words on whether the phone would be able to change shape like the T1000 in Terminator, thus living up to its name. DARPA already has one by the way. Stay tuned for Judgment Day news.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X3 Android Phone Spotted (Again)

We have more live shots of the Sony XPERIA X3 and its looks every bit the looker high-end SE phones usually are. On the surface we see a 4inch touchscreen, which is huge for a touchscreen phone and the resolution is 852×480. More good news is that the touchscreen is capacitive.

The phone’s running Android and it definitely looks like it is almost ready for the market. So we won’t be very surprised it comes out right after the Éclair release. Besides, the specifications were gained from an Expansys product page that was accidentally put up ahead of schedule. That is enough reason to believe that it is right around the corner. I’m just glad that Sony Ericsson too is going the Android way. I have always loved their high-end phones but the first XPERIA’s UI was just too drab. [read]

More Pics Of the Motorla Sholes/Droid

In case you have not been keeping up with rumors, there is a new Motorola phone that is doing its rounds around rumorsville. It started getting passed around as the Motorola Sholes but newer evidence suggests that the official name would be Motorola Droid.

It is an Android phone and before you start thinking back to the CLIQ debacle, let me tell you that this is a ‘Google Experience’ phone. So it will have no UI customization and hence no MOTOBLUR madness. It has the same form factor as the CLIQ but it looks far better. There is the QWERTY keyboard in place too. Boy Genius Report seems to have struck a gold mine of a source from which they are digging up live shots of the device and its UI. I just made a Sholes/Droid round up yesterday for gHacks.net, check it out here. The video above is the boot video, complete with the robot voice even.

Giant Éclair Delivery Heralds 2.0 Release?

A giant (foam) Éclair was delivered to the Google front lawn recently and it is currently sitting pretty beside the Green robot, the Cupcake (1.5) and the Donut (1.6). Now this is no news on its own but combined with the fact that the Donut was delivered only days before 1.6 was released, it gives us hope that the 2.0 is on its way. Although, we already know what to expect thanks to the detailed UI walkthrough on the Motorola Droid.

Dell Mini 3i Android Phone

Micheal Dell, the CEO of Dell, has been quite vocal about the Mini 3i. This being very new grounds for companies like Dell and Acer, it is understandable that he would be slightly anxious about it. He has recently announced, yet again, that the Android loading Dell smartphone will be arriving next year. But this time, he had something new to say.

He said that Android is not the only OS that Dell is looking at. Whatever he means by that, I hope he doesn’t mean that he is going for LiMo or something similar.  The Dell Mini 3i is probably going to AT&T, there hasn’t been any official word on it yet.

Acer’s Android-Windows 7 Dual Booting Netbook Is Now Up for Sale

Acer will soon be releasing a dual booting version of its D250 netbook. This news comes from us from all over the web and it looks like they will have Windows 7 dual booting with the more exciting bit – Android. Android will replace the usual Linux OS that graces the usual instant start up options. Android will let you view your photos, surf the Internet and do all the light stuff. When you want to do serious work, you have to switch to Windows 7.

Archos 5 Android MID Is Holding Steady

Archos 5 has attracted a lot of attention for using Android with its latest MID. But it hasn’t gotten amazing reviews mainly because of the lack of apps for it. But the Donut (1.6) using device is holding pretty steady in the market.  Fears of its firmware being unstable have been allayed and it looks like it is pretty stable for the time being. It has a 5inch capacitive touchscreen and comes from the long line of MIDs from the same named company.

“Android Adoption Is About To Explode”, Says Schmidt

Eric Schmidt was heard saying this when he was at the Q3 earnings conference recently. And he is quite right. With more and more heavyweight companies pulling their weight behind the OS, the green juggernaut is about to become very big indeed.

In case you are wondering, Google earns from the Android Os from all the mobile searches that it generates. Eric said that quarter on quarter growth for Q3 2009 in mobile searches was 30%, although he didn’t reveal absolute numbers. Still, looks like the party is going to be pretty good for Google this next quarter too.

With CEATEC underway and more Asian companies bringing out netbooks, the action in the netbook segment has gone east for the moment. Sure things are trickling down to the West after the Asian markets have had their fill but if you want to see netbooks that will never see the other side of the GMT, you have to head east.

Having exhausted all possible combinations of Intel Atom and the usual features found in netbooks, the companies are now keen on experimenting with things like in-built 3G, GPS, etc. Take the Nokia Booklet 3G as an example or look at what Kohjinsha is doing. Jump over to the other side for the entire round up.

Kohjinsha Dual Screen Netbook

Kohjinsha has something on show at CEATEC that getting them a lot of attention. It is a dual-screen netbook. That means it has two physical screens side by side. Two gorgeous looking screens side by side that is. Now this has already been happening with other companies but when you see something like this in person, you just have to take a look see.

This is an experimental model with no plans for production in the near future. First there has to be a market that has use for a dual-screen netbook. That is something that Harelon might not understand but Khojinsha sure does. So this is just a prototype.

The twin LCD screens can display either 1024×600 or 1366×768. It has 4GB of DDR2 RAM and is running Windows 7 Premium along with other commonly found features like a 2.5” SATA HDD. I don’t know about anyone else but I sure could get used to a wide view of things. [Akihabara News]

Sharp’s (Teeny Tiny) NetWalker

Sharp NetWalker is stuck somewhere between being a Netbook and an UMPC. It is a tiny 10inch thing with 512MB RAM, a five-point mulitouch screen and wireless LAN. Thankfully, the battery life is pretty good — rated at 10 hours of juice. It is running a special version of Ubuntu and you can see the common utility apps in pic like Firefox and Thunderbird. There is also a twitter app.

The price is quite high though – $500. Hopefully it will come down as they always do when it reaches places like Amazon and Best Buy. It is only available in Japan right now and there is no news of when it might hit the western markets, specially the US. [cnet news]

Weibu N10A With NVIDIA ION

NVIDIA’S Ion, as reported last week, is slowly but surely making its way into the market. But so far, there aren’t as many netbooks as there are low-power HTPCs and nettops using the chipset. That’s because Ion consumes more power than the Intel chipset in order to power the graphics chip. Plus companies perhaps do not want the thing to cannibalize their notebook offerings. Because without Ion, you would have to get a notebook in order to get decent graphics and video. Of course, that also means sacrificing the convenience of a netbook.

Still, we have seen one or two netbooks already from mainstream manufacturers. But smaller manufacturers in the Eastern side of the world have shown more eagerness when it comes to making Ion powered netbooks.

So here we have the Weibu N10A 10inch netbook that is running on the Ion chipset. It was unveiled just a few months back and has currently gone up on sale in Japan. It is powered by a single core Atom 230 processor with 2GB RAM and 150GB of storage. There is also an HDMI port. Forget that portable DVD player, put your movies on an external storage and take this with you instead. [Liliputing reports]

Hasee Ultrabook Dreams Of Being The MacBook Air

May be some day it will, but just not today. This is a 12.5 inch netbook that is china made but is doing its rounds in the European market. Liliputing has spotted the device being sold on the French Amazon website for 380 Euros (about $560).

You are right in thinking that a device this cheap will never be able to match up to the MacBook Air’s performance. It really can’t. The only resemblance it has with Apple’s super-thin beauty is in its looks. Even there it can’t match up to the aluminum body and the actual thinness.

Acer Windows 7 Tablet

Acer Aspire aficionado macles has ousted a new tablet that is looming over the horizon. This seems to be a part of the Timeline series and looks similar to the 1810T model. It is called the 1820P and according to the blog, it will have the same design as the 1810T except for the swiveling screen that is touch enabled.

It will hence be running on a single low-voltage Intel processor that and will be an 11inch device with a resolution of 1366×768. The touchscreen will be multitouch.

Alpha 680 Android Netbook

Google is currently working on the Chrome OS and that is what they want to see in netbooks. But Android is already such a nice and robust platform that netbooks makers can hardly resist experimenting with it.

Meet the Skytone Aplha 680. It is a tiny little device that is powered by an ARM 1153MHz processor, 128MB Ram and has 1Gb flash storage. Actually, its more UMPC than netbook and with kind of specifications it’s no wonder that it’s running a mobile OS like Android instead of anything else. [Netbook Choice reports]

Dell Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon Edition

The netbook market is getting saturated and people are going to buy less and less of it as time goes on. So companies like Dell and Acer are looking at changing the age group a bit to find a new target audience – the kids.

Which is why you have the gooey slim themed décor on a Dell Insipiron Mini. I don’t think there’s much more to say here. Just look at the photo.

Nokia Booklet 3G Best Buy Price Leaked

Now that we know that Best Buy has the exclusive on the Nokia Booklet 3G, here’s one leak that is not making much sense right now. Phone Area has spotted a pricing that says $600 for the Booklet 3G. Even though that is lower than $800, it is still too high for a low-powered netbook device even if it has special features like GPS and inbuilt 3G modem. But since Best Buy is known to have these anomalies we are hoping for it to go down upon availability.

This is not your usual laptop review that you read on all the other computer sites that review laptops all the time. This is more of a personal experience review with a laptop that I have purchased recently. I needed a lightweight laptop with excellent battery and enough power so that my work would not be slowed down while working with it. My last laptop was a 15.4″ Toshiba laptop running Windows Vista that was to heavy to be portable. It also did not have the power that I needed for a fluent workflow.

Here is what I usually need the laptop for. I need it to update my blogs, surf the web, work in Microsoft Office, view movies and to play music. The laptop should come with a good batter that would last longer than the usual 3-4 hours that most laptop manufacturers seem to favor so that it could be used on longer trips without the need of finding a power source to charge the battery on the trip. I did not need a laptop for gaming or other performance intensive tasks like video editing.

Acer Aspire 3810T 354G32N Specs

• Display: 13,3″ (1.366×768)
• CPU: INTEL Core 2 Solo SU3500 1.40GHz
• RAM: 4096MB(2x2GB)
• HDD/LW: 320GB / no optical drive
• OS: Vista Home Premium (Windows 7 Home Premium update included)
• Video: Intel GMA X4500HD (IGP) max.1792MB shared memory
• Power: 5600 mAh Li-Ion
• Lan: 10/100/1000 LAN, Wake-on-LAN-ready
• Wifi: Integrated Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 (802.11a/b/g/Draft-N)
• Extras: 5-in-1 Card-Reader (MMC, SD, MS, MS Pro, xD), RJ45, Acer Crystal Eye webcam,
• Weight: 1,60 kg
• Dimensions: 322 (W) x 228 (D) x 23.4/28.9 (H) mm
• Price: 598,00 €

Design and Usability:

The design of the laptop is excellent. I do not care that much about the looks of a laptop but some users do. It looks professional and comes with several comfortable features that make working with the laptop easier. It is for example possible to disable the touch pad by pressing a button next to it. This is great if the touch pad is not needed at the time. The keyboard is not as wide as a standard desktop keyboard but it is wide enough to not cause problems while using it. Typing on it is as fast as typing on a regular keyboard. It might feel a bit unusual at first glance as the keys are large and flat offering a similar feel than many Apple and Sony Vaio notebooks.

The one thing that is missing is an external volume control. Acer provides a software that handles the volume control which is only available for Windows. Users who plan to install a different operating system should consider this. I have installed Windows 7 on it and had to download the software from the Acer website to be able to control the volume with their program (it is possible to change the volume in Windows as well but the software offers hotkey support for that).

My Experience:

We all know that hardware specs are not everything and that they can differ widely from what users experience while working with the hardware device. The Acer Aspire 3810T promised a lot, especially in battery running time. I’m currently sitting outside typing this review into the laptop. The battery meter is showing 51% remaining batter power which is good for another 5 hours and 40 minutes of working with the laptop. These values can only be achieved by configuring power settings properly. A full screen brightness and performance reduces the time quite a bit. There are however no performance reductions or to dark screens in this setting. It is absolutely possible to achieve a running time on battery of 10 hours and more. It still depends on the tasks that are done while running on battery but it definitely is valid for most every day uses.

There was no problem writing a blog post on the Internet and listening to music or watching a movie. I have not tested game performance other than a few flash games on the Internet. It turned out that these flash games played fine. Problems appeared however when playing a movie and high end flash game simultaneously. This reduced the frame rate of the flash game significantly.

The laptop should be fast enough to play older games that support an onboard video card . Newer games on the other hand will most likely not run at all on the Acer laptop. But that’s something that the laptop has not been designed for anyway.

Verdict:

The Acer Aspire 3810T Timeline laptop is an excellent piece of hardware for users who want to be mobile. Its weight and battery make it a perfect companion for business users and everyone else who needs to travel or work with a computer in different locations. The Acer Aspire 3910T costs roughly two times as much as a netbook. It offers a better performance, bigger screen and keyboard that most netbooks do not come with.

I have not had the time but I plan to install Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 on the laptop to see how it performs then. If anyone is interested in other applications let me know in the comments.