Acer Aspire One AOD250 (Android)

Android Dissected
No matter how you slice it, Android is a Linux-based operating system. It'll look foreign at first, but Acer did its best to make this early release intuitive. Dual-booting Google's Android operating system isn't that bold when you can leave at anytime and head back to Windows XP Home Edition. Acer already made that mistake once by shipping a netbook with only Linux installed, and it suffered a high return rate because of it.

There are four "gadgets" visible on the main screen in Android, they include Google Talk, FireFox's Web browser, Webmail, and Calendar. What looks like a peel-off tab on the top left corner gets you back into Windows XP, in case frustration builds—and it will. On the far right is a slide-out tab that houses a drawer filled with 20 other gadgets that control anything from system settings, your music files and photo, Webcam, Gmail, etc.A reboot is required to enter Android. When you're in Windows XP, there's an Android configuration tool right on the desktop, which lets you activate the Android OS so that it's the first thing that boots. Within this tool, you can also log into your Google account, create POP mail accounts, automate software updates, and recover Android if anything goes wrong.

The Escape, Arrow, and Enter keys are your closest allies in this operating system. Any time you get lost or get too deep into an application, you can ESC-key back out into the home page. Whether it's punching in Wi-Fi settings, changing the wallpaper, or customizing power management settings, these tasks are made simple by Android. All the options are laid out in big gray tabs, where it's just a matter of clicking them with your mouse button or hitting the Enter key.

Setting up a Gmail and hotmail accounts were simple. You don't have look for incoming and outgoing server addresses; just punch in your username and password, and Android configures and gets mail in your inbox in a matter of seconds. You can receive e-mails with attachments, as long as they're media files (there is currently no document support in this release, and Android Marketplace is not available in this build, so you can't purchase and download a document editing program; you can e-mail Word documents or spreadsheets, but Android won't recognize them). With Google Talk and Google Calendar access, you'll need to have an account ready before you can run them in Android. FireFox is your Web browser, which handled most Websites the same way a Windows version would, including sites like Youtube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. A Web site like Hulu, however, didn't work because Adobe Flash Player 10 won't be available for Android until next year.

COMPANY

• Acer Inc.

SPEC DATA

• • Price as Tested: $350.00
• Type: General Purpose, Ultraportable, Value, Netbook
• Operating System: MS Windows XP Home
• Processor Name: Intel Atom N280
• Processor Speed: 1.66 GHz
• RAM: 1 GB
• Weight: 2.7 lb
• Screen Size: 10.1 inches
• Screen Size Type: widescreen
• Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• Storage Capacity: 160 GB
• Networking Options: 802.11a/g
• Primary Optical Drive: External