[vox] The Androids are coming!

[Bill Kendrick]

Ok, so some of the folks out here might not know, but Amazon's Kindle
ebook reading device is Linux-based.  There are likely others.

But just this week, Barnes & Noble announced their own competitior to the
Kindle, which has the odd name of "Nook".  I heard a little about it earlier
this week, and the main things that were exciting included:

  * dual screen  (one large e-ink one, one small color LCD touchscreen)
  * SD card  (something Kindle lacks)
  * 3G  (Kindle has; Sony's first ereader lacked)
  * WiFi  (neither Kindle nor Sony's have, I believe)

But then I just learned it's Android-based.  (Google's Linux-based platform
that's probably most well-known for its use on cellphones, but earlier this
week I saw an Archos multimedia device (handheld music & HD video player)
which also runs Android.)

  Book retailer spins Android e-reader
  http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Barnes-Noble-Nook/

    Barnes & Noble announced its long-anticipated eBook reading
    device, which it bills as being the first Android-based e-reader. The
    "Nook" offers the usual six-inch E Ink display, but also supplies a
    3.5-inch color subdisplay for an Android interface, plus 2GB storage,
    a microSD slot, WiFi, and 3G, says the company.

Not only that, but ALSO mentioned on LinuxDevices today is this:

  Android e-reader boasts dual displays
  http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Spring-Designs-Alex/

which at first I thought was another article about Nook, but no:

  Spring Design announced an Android-based e-book reader that boasts
  two displays and full browser capabilities. The WiFi- and 3G-enabled
  "Alex" offers both the typical 6-inch monochrome EPD (electronic paper
  display) display for reading, plus a linked, 3.5-inch color display
  for Android content and multimedia, says the company.


Plus I've seen news articles saying there'll be something like 20 or 40
Android-based devices (or were they talking about mobile phones?) by the
end of the year (or something).  Too tired to dig through Google News.


Linux (at least the core OS, if not the 'platform' we're used to on
the desktop) is definitely making headway in the mobile space in a way that
I think Microsoft has not.  At least from my uninformed and "don't much like
those MS folks" point of view. ;)

-- 
-bill!
Sent from my computer