It seems Skytone’s new Alpha 680 netbook is suffering from a serious identity crisis, and that’s not referring to the tablet PC swivel screen, side mounted game controls or that it will be priced in the $100-$200 price range. Nah, what’s really got the Alpha confused is the fact it doesn’t run Windows or a Linux variation but Android; Google’s OS originally designed and featured in smartphones. All those rumors of Android making the jump to netbooks turned out to be true after all…kind of
Skytone is trying to change the game with this one even though the Alpha 680 netbook/tablet PC is virtually a large smart phone with a 7-inch LCD. Internally, it’s a smartphone minus the phone, having a 533 MHz ARM11 processor, 128 MBs of RAM, a SD/SDHC/MMC card slot and WiFi internet connectivity – all the same features and parts you’d expect from a Blackberry or G1. And since it runs Android it just seems more phone than netbook. Of course the 2 USB ports, ethernet card and 1 GB (upgradable to 4GB) SSD does set it apart a bit, but we’re not fooled.
Once we get Skype on it, we can toss our Blackberrys to the curb. Learn more @ Skytone.net
