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7-inch Android Netbook From GNB

Posted by timothy on from the zehr-zehr-nett-aus dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Netbooknews.com has scored a video of a 7-inch Google Android netbook from a company called GNB during Computex. The device is powered by a Freescale iMX31 CPU. The design might not be to everyone's taste, but it could turn out to be a super cheap Android netbook."

7 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Some information would be nice. by Gordonjcp · · Score: 4, Informative

    You know, maybe a description of the spec, a couple of decent photos, that sort of thing...

    1. Re:Some information would be nice. by wisty · · Score: 4, Informative

      Unless you just want to stick to VIM (or emacs), a 7 inch screen screws up a lot of user interfaces. My eeePC has dialog boxes in pre-loaded software that can't be "OK'd" because the buttons are off the screen. :(

    2. Re:Some information would be nice. by angryphase · · Score: 5, Informative
      • CPU: 533MHz Freescale i.MX31 ARM-based processor
      • Operating System: Google Android
      • Display: 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen (Sascha says it's not glossy, but you can see a fair bit of glare in the video)
      • RAM: 256MB
      • Storage: Up to 8GB SSD
      • I/O: 3 USB ports, mic, headphone, and 4-in-1 card reader
      • Weight: 680 grams, or about 1.5 pounds

      See working video of it here

    3. Re:Some information would be nice. by corsec67 · · Score: 5, Informative

      In most of the window managers I have used, if you hold alt, dragging anywhere on a window moves the window.

      Having the OK buttons off the screen is a very bad design, but it can be worked around.

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
    4. Re:Some information would be nice. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Informative
      Note that the i.MX3 series is very old (in CPU terms). The current generation, the i.MX5, is based on the Cortex A8 and is a very nice chip capable of, among other things, running Flash and encoding H.264 in real time. The i.MX3 is an older generation (there was no i.MX4) based on an ARM11 core. It does have the VFP (vector / floating point) coprocessor, but does not support the NEON SIMD instruction set. It is likely to be significantly slower than a 600MHz A8 as found in something like the OMAP3, and a lot slower than the 1GHz A8 found in the i.MX5. The i.MX3 didn't have an on-die GPU, so this may be using a simple frame buffer while most A8 SoCs (OMAP3, i.MX5, etc) include an OpenGL 2.0 ES-compatible GPU.

      The A8 is currently in the process of being superseded by the Cortex A9, which includes a slightly improved pipeline, out-of-order execution, and support for up to 4 cores on a single die. ARM started licensing it a year ago, and SoCs based on the core (e.g. nVidia's Tegra) are beginning to appear.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  2. Site slow by boiert · · Score: 4, Informative

    Better link the youtube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZlKnubPUbk

  3. OK, saw it and my likes and dislikes are: by blind+biker · · Score: 4, Informative

    First of all, it's a real netbook, with keyboard and touchpad (I wish it had the nipple, but ok) and all the connectors one can find on a number of (intel-based) netbooks. So this is good - this is the first real ARM-based netbook I have seen so far.

    I like the weight - 650g! Amazingly light.

    But battery consumption is not good. It will work for 2.5 hours on one charge. That's pathetic.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.