We’re well aware that Intel will be porting Android 3.0 Honeycomb to the x86 Atom processor and that when it was announced the company was, “actively” working on said port. However, there was no real time estimate as to when we may see our first Android Honeycomb tablet running on an Atom CPU, but it may be sooner than you think. According to DigiTimes, Acer is set to launch an Android Honeycomb tablet running on the Atom CPU sometime in July.
When Honeycomb is available for the x86 platform, it will open up a whole new door for manufacturers looking to get a piece of the Android pie that didn’t want to ship ARM-based products. While designed for touch, we would also see Honeycomb netbooks, officially or otherwise. This wouldn’t be the first time we saw an Android netbook but it would be the first time said netbook may give an enjoyable experience.
Back to tablets, though. It’s said that Acer will be shortly followed in the Android-Atom tablet race by Lenovo and Asustek Computer. Surprisingly, Acer’s tablet could be in mass production as we speak, which lends well to the July release date. Intel stands a good chance of bringing some hefty competition to the likes of NVIDIA and Qualcomm in the Android tablet space, and that’s always a good thing. If you’re a consumer, that is.
Acer already has two Honeycomb tablets available running on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, and while we love our Tegra, having another option is always welcomed.
We still have a couple of months to see if this Atom-based Android tablet from Acer actually does materialize, but it may be worth the wait.
Would you be interesting in an Android tablet running on the Atom processor? Leave your comments below why or why not.
[Via: DigiTimes]