Would You Buy An Android Netbook or a Google Chromebook?
Jun. 28th, 2011 by Dave Courbanou
Some things in life are plainly dichotomous: Mac or PC, Republican or Democrat, single malt or blended whiskey. But are you an Android person or a Chrome person? Google has created an interesting problem for the consumer market by developing two distinct and different mobile platforms. Chrome will be hitting the market any day now, while Android has been courting the public for quite some time. But when it’s time for you to decide, would you buy an Android netbook or a Chromebook? More importantly, what is Google’s endgame?
Android netbooks exist today in the form of an Android tablet and a separate keyboard. But standard-style Android netbooks are coming. Digitimes reports quite a few vendors are gearing up to create ARM-based netbooks that will run Android. Vendors were once gun-shy about developing such a netbook after some underpowered retail devices failed to impress, but thanks to increases in ARM CPU capabilities and the maturation of Android, vendors have come around to the idea of an Android netbook.
According to Digitimes, a 13-inch Asus netbook running nVidia’s Tegra ARM-based CPU will be one of the first out the gate. Other vendors including Samsung and Acer are planning similar offerings using Texas Instruments and Qualcomm chips (even though they’re also planning Chromebooks). Such a device would be bigger than the 11-inch MacBook Air that I work on every day. With a 13-inch screen, Android could be running on a higher resolution than it was designed for. Can apps, or, better yet, will developers take advantage of such real estate? Or will an Android netbook be just a fancy yet limited web browser?
If apps are your thing, you might want to stick with Android. But if you’re a true-blue web dude you might want to go with a Chromebook. At first glance, though, it can be a tough call: both support Flash; both support tabbed browsing; both provide access to GMail, YouTube and Facebook. Both even run Angry Birds. So, what’s the real selling point for a Chromebook? It’s a question worth asking.
Put simply, Chrome brings with it implications beyond the mobile world. It’s not all about Chromebooks — Google is thinking big with Chrome, and with the 100 percent cloud-based model, Google is reaching into enterprise, large-scale computing and even virtualization territory. But when it comes to the consumer marketplace, it’s going to be awfully confusing having two Google-tagged OEM devices, sporting either Android or Chrome OS.
The whispers of a Chrome-based tablet muddies the waters further to the point where it’s difficult to determine Google’s real mobile strategy. But maybe Google is big enough to drive two horses into the race, regardless of popularity or adoption. Maybe Google will merge the projects, who knows? But it’s something the channel should be aware of when guiding users into mobile ecosystems, especially with the Google’s announced Chromebook for Businesses plan.
My advice? Stick with the Chromebook for work and the Android netbook for play. Peripheral attachments and a true-web platform are Chrome’s strong points.
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And don’t forget Genesi which will be using freescale i.mx53 (arm) and they use ubuntu for now, but hopefully chromeos and similar operating systems will follow.. Some distro’s are or have begun porting for arm, in fact quite a few have which should help drive user’s to not be afraid of the big bad ARM.
For a netbook or small laptop, neither. I’d go with desktop Linux (e.g., Debian, Ubuntu, Mint or MeeGo). There’s plenty of apps in the software repos. Gardens of a very different sort than Apple’s walled garden and no concerns about malware-laden apps (i.e., toxic weeds) in the Android Market.
Want the cloud? Use whatever browser you like (except for IE and Safari, no loss there). Want Google’s Cloud? Install and use Google’s Chrome browser. [sarcasm] Of course, we ALL know that there will be no malicious web-based apps in the cloud. We also know that websites hosting web apps will not be hacked, resulting in users being redirected to malicious web-based apps. Nor will there be email-based, social engineering exploits in Google’s new world providing yet another pathway to malicious web-based apps. [/sarcasm]
More to the point of your question, IF one is a diehard Google fan, use Android if you need local apps and Chrome OS if you don’t.
Android smartphone.
Atom netbook dual-booting Ubuntu.
Google is shipping Chromebooks to all the folks who recently attended the Google I/O conference. Curious to see how those 6,000 attendees react once Chromebooks arrive…
-TVG
As soon as I can buy a multicore ARM with a 12-13″ screen (1366×768 or better res) that’s thin and has a very long bat life, I’m in. I’ll happily run Linux on it (in preference to any other option, actually).
Will dual boot Win 7 and Ubuntu.
I don’t get the new concept of having a WEB-BOOK! Like the new chromebook has just the web feature. Yes I do use the web for most of my living but when I am not working, I like to fire up a game, or listen to the music or edit photo. Can we do this on a webbook like chrome and droid? They are giving us one more machine to worry about isn’t it?