Tag Archives: Asus tablet
The Future of ARM and Chrome OS
Posted on 19. Jan, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 
1 Comments
While the Cr-48 comes with an Intel Atom processor and devices from Acer and Samsung may also come with Intel chipsets, it cannot be forgotten what the potential is for Chrome OS on an ARM processor may do for the platform. Sure, Intel has the netbook/laptop market cornered, but Chrome OS will likely not be slotted into that market specifically. Other form factors will likely emerge, just as Google has envisioned at the Chromium site.
Granted, there has been some speculation about all-in-on ARM devices recently that could combine Android, Google TV and Chrome OS into one ARM-powered gadget and I wouldn’t discredit that from happening. I just wonder what wireless operators and satellite/cable companies would do should manufacturers try to put something like that on the market.
Asus Dropping Windows CE from Their Tablet Just Smart Business
Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
One of the most popular products at Computex 2010 was the Asus tablet. It was a beautiful device; if anything were to compete with the iPad’s form factor it would be this device. One troubling element, however, was the fact that attendees at the show were kept at arm’s length to actually use the device. A product representative closely guarded the tablet that people could hold on to, while another was enclosed in a glass case.
This bit of posturing by Asus led me to believe that although the company wanted to use Windows CE – or at least try to convince Microsoft of the fact to stay on good terms – it was not going to be a finished product anytime soon. Was I surprised to hear that instead of Windows CE Asus’s tablet will now come with Android? Not really. I didn’t even know that Microsoft was still updating their Windows CE product until I was at Computex.
And I’m not even sure that Android is the solution to battling the iPad. I just know that Asus wants to get their product into people’s hands ASAFP. That means using Android, since the OS is ready to go right now. I don’t blame them for trying to get something on the market right now because it really is an impressive product on the outside. Let’s just hope that they can come up with an interface that is as well.
Who’s Going to Compete With Apple’s Tablet?
Posted on 22. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
The current state of the tablet market is pretty stale. And let’s not even go into the JooJoo.
I say this because when I was at Taiwan’s Computex 2010 conference less than a month ago there were some formidable competitors in terms of hardware, but the leading manufactures for these devices didn’t really offer a whole lot in terms of software.
Sure, the Acer tablet that allows one to flip the netbook-style form factor over to a table was impressive, but the touch functionality of Windows 7 for it was quite lackluster: I asked a product rep to reboot the device because there seemed to be a problem with the touch software, only to have the same problems crop up again once it started up.
Asus offered up a beautiful tablet design that had potential to compete with Apple, but they kept a product manager closely hovering over the device running a new version of Windows CE that looked surprisingly Android-like, but because of the people and Asus employees holding a close grip on the tablet, no one was really able to test the paces of Microsoft’s UI.
MSI had a winged version of a tablet running Android that seemed surprisingly comfortable in my hands, but we all know that Google’s smartphone operating system isn’t really meant for tablets – it just seemed like a supersized stock version of the OS. An MSI product manager also told me that the MSI Wind tablet was just a concept for now.
This is problematic. The reason why I say this is because since Apple has taken the world by storm plugging an already existing operating system with the iOS to a tablet form factor, that have essentially beaten the entire computer manufacturing market with the iPad. There is no one else that has an operating system that is fully compatible with touch on a tablet.
That’s not to say Android is far behind Apple’s touch-based operating system, but it is clear that unlike the iOS, there was no plan for tablets in its future. We’ve seen early on Google’s Chrome OS tablet concept, and we can only hope that Chrome OS will offer a stylishly-designed slate from the likes of HP, Dell or Acer in the coming months, hopefully something that is just as functional, open source for app developers and creatively designed mobile gadget that can compete with the iPad.
I hold out hope on this, because only one successful tablet in the market does not bode well for innovation. What do you think? Which one of these PC manufacturers has the best chance of offering a tablet running Chrome OS that can compete with Apple?
