The Toshiba AC100 probably won’t be available in the US for a few more months, but Toshiba Germany has posted a promotional video for this mini-laptop running Google’s Android operating system.

The video is in German, but interestingly all the text on the computer itself is in English. That makes it a bit easier to follow the action — and also seems like a pretty good indication that the Toshiba AC100 should make it to US shores sooner or later.

It also looks like Toshiba has added some custom software to to smartbook. I already knew that the AC100 would use the Opera Mobile web browser instead of the default Android browser. But it also looks like there are custom Toshiba-branded media apps for playing music and movies.

It’s also not entirely clear at this point whether users will be able to download third party apps from the Android Market, but I did spot a few icons for apps on the AC100 home screen, including a popular eBook reader called FBReader. My guess is that any third party apps will come preinstalled.

You can check out the demo video after the break.

Update: Now with 100% more English-language video after the break.

via NewGadgets.de

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15 replies on “Video overview: Toshiba AC100 Android-powered netbook”

  1. Why would they load Opera on to this? Isn’t the default Android browser something based on Chrome (if not Chrome itself) therefore actually rather decent, if not the finest browser out there (other than Iron of course!)?

  2. Now, netbook sales are going to drop big time. Only an idiot would buy a netbook weighing 1.4Kgs when you can get a Smartbook for about 800g.

    1. Not necessarily, a lot of people still want to run some flavor of windows OS and that requires an x86 processor.

      1. not really anymore. 90% of people just use the device to surf the net. All they want is a decent browser like the Opera installed or Mozilla.

        These 90% of owners all have their primary PCs at home to do all the Windows stuff and processing power.

        Just ask every netbook owner, they will confess that they ONLY use their netbooks to surf the net.

        Furthermore, Office applications now can be run online

        1. Online office is gonna be the key. I don’t know about your 90% statistic (seems way too high) but the average seems to want to do a few things. Which is, browse the web, listen to music, watch (flash) video and do some work in office applications.

          Really Zoho/Google Docs/Microsoft Web Apps are all lacking when it comes to online office applications, so there needs to be improvement there.

          Flash still isn’t in Android 2.1 so that nixes a huge amount of the internet.

          People will love this thing until they cant do their office/homework on it and then can’t watch hulu.

          1. ninetynine makes a good point. As someone who actually uses netbooks, the appeal of netbooks are because they are essentially mini laptops that may be lower powered but can still do all the basic things you can expect from a computer system and these range beyond just web browsing.Smartbooks are for now by and large essentially just bigger smartphones with keyboards. Especially if they adopt a Smartphone OS like Android, which is designed for use on a Smartphone and a touch interface.OS designed for the Smartbook and Tablet market have yet to be released, though Meego definitely looks the most promising to date. So this may change, but they also have to work on the availability of Apps to make these devices useful and that will take time to create.So for now, netbooks are safe…

        2. To one who preconditions others with “only an idiot would…”, I submit that anybody who uses “online office applications” as part of their workflow is probably more computing-active than computing-intelligent. Microsoft and Sun pushed the “software as service” model for a long time, and Google is late to the party but coming on strong. Computing as a service can be in the consumer’s best interest, but very few examples actually are.

          Web-services shutdown, website policies change, and pricing models can switch abruptly. While I’m sure that you knew what the AGPL was and why some people thought it was important enough to create before you shot off with your “idiot” comment, the sad fact is that the “90% of people” that you’re referring to don’t know. They’re the ones in peril. Look no further than recent problems with Facebook to see how a simple change in policies can adversely affect people who became dependent on that web-service. Perhaps the most illustrative example of any of this is what happened with Electronic Arts “free” game Battlefield Heroes. It’s hard to blame them for being so ignorant. Billions of dollars are spent every year to form them into blind, abiding, money tossing consumers, and there’s almost no opposing force at work.

          The bottom-line is that when you decide to TRUST in the good-will of a business who is responsible only to its shareholders, then you get what you deserve in the end, especially when you’re not actually a customer who pays them any money. The problem with a device like this isn’t the hardware, it’s the software. I think that you have the interpretation wrong. The fact that you CAN access online office software services is not a feature. The fact that you CAN ONLY access online software services is a bug. I, for one, don’t know why anybody store data somewhere else using tools that they neither own nor have guaranteed access to, unless they either don’t care about or legitimately hate the data that they’re creating. Maybe that’s just because the things I do with computing I depend on for such mundane things as feeding my family, providing for my shelter and safety, and paying wages of those in the community whom I employ. Perhaps if I was using my computing tools as a rehearsal platform for emotional addiction, social evasion, and degenerative communication, I’d more inclined just not to care.

          I think when you see MeeGo on a device like this (not the one with Bronson Pinchot), we’ll turn a corner on Netbooks.

  3. This is very interesting because it defiantly closes the gap between netbooks and smartbooks.

    It really makes me wander if we will ever actually have smartbooks available on the Market.

    1. well the asus had at least a full os . the shortcommings were else.
      i expect the same drama as with the first asus … no full os, no windows, no applications people are used to from their other pc’s.
      if people buy something that locks like a pc they expect it working like a pc – not like a smartphone.

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