A netbook is a computer in a small format, often between 7″-11″, that are often also cheap. Almost all netbooks use Intel’s Atom platform and at several occasions they have been criticized for being priced too high, considering what you get. It’s been known for long that netbook manufacturers have been looking at alternative platforms to lower prices of these ultraportable computers even further, and now the first Android netbook is finally coming.
Android is a mobile software package that was developed among others by search engine giant Google. It includes an operating system, and the package is often used by smartphones but also small computer system like Alpha 680.
Alpha 680 is a netbook made by Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies Co. Ltd in China. The company has only 50 employees but counts on having a prototype of the Alpha 680 netbook ready in June.
The greatest difference between it and today’s netbooks is that Alpha 680 use an ARM processor. The ARM11 CPU operates at 533MHz and is in no way a speed freak but according to the manufacturers the computer is fast enough to handle a 7″ LCD monitor with 800×480 pixel resolution.
With 128MB RAM, 1GB SSD harddrive and Wi-Fi support the price of Alpha 680 is said to be around 250 USD.
With 2-4 hours battery time the question is what the software support looks like, whenever Alpha 680 may appear in stores.
Skytone has more Alpha models in development, there is evidently a great belief in the ARM platform.
