By We haven’t yet told you about the Motorola Beam Smartbook which, in January, was said to be launching in the summer for AT&T. Why? Because at the time the Beam was running on Windows CE. LaptopMag caught up with the Beam a couple days ago and SURPRISE – it now has the pleasure of doing business with Android!
They admitted it was a little “rough around the edges” but that is what tends to happen when you’re integrating Android with a new piece of hardware. That’s why we have alpha and beta versions – test runs if you will!
The Beam has an 8.9-inch screen, Nvidia Tegra chipset, sports HD video playback, has HDMI Out for 1080p video and will include CinemaNow for downloading premium videos. Sounds pretty good to me!
Now comes the disappointment… you won’t have access to Android Market. Mobinova claims they are working on their own version of an app/game store for Android, but with AT&T already forcing some hands when it comes to 3rd party apps, it’ll be interesting to see what the Mobinova Beam has in store.
LaptopMag complained about a cramped keyboard, but said if the price is right, the Beam with Android could be an attractive offering for AT&T customers. Price and date still unknown.
Head over to LaptopMag for a video and more details.
Yeah, I can see that keyboard being really cramped… must be what, like 8″ across? Nice looking device, though.
I’m not sure the benefit to Android being on a Laptop over a different OS.
I think a custom build of Android is in call for this. Idk maybe the final release will have a custom build?
Anyways I wonder How ATT is going to butcher this like the poor backflip.
Like what I’ve told my friends, Android is going to be HUGE. It’s going to be everywhere. I can see Windows becoming like Linux is now (just sitting in the backrow for people who might want it). But with Android, it’s opening many more doors. It’s clean and simple.
Backflip seems horrible anyways!
To think that Android is STILL in its infancy is awesome, also its based off of the linux kernal as well as the iphone (I think) nevertheless…GO Android!!!!