Just yesterday we saw a rather underwhelming demonstration of Android on a regular style netbook. Today we have something from China that, if it works well, could sell at twice the rumored price of $100. The Alpha-680 from Skytone, if it’s for real, is really more a UMD than a netbook, with an 800×480 screen, 533MHz ARM processor, and default 128MB of RAM. But with a swiveling capacitative touchscreen, full keyboard and trackpad, could this be the tweener device you keep by the couch?
It’s got 1GB or 4GB of built-in storage and an SD slot, and it seems to be 3G-ready, although I don’t see a spot for a SIM. And the $100 price being thrown around seems a little too good to be true, although to be sure it does skimp on certain expensive components. I’m going to guess that the screen isn’t going to launch a thousand ships.
It’s difficult to say whether this thing is really any good, but the potential is there. I’m not heartened by their choice of colors, though — banana, strawberry, and cherry should stay in the ice cream parlor where they belong.
[via Tom’s Hardware]