Take your tablets
It looks like CES in Las Vegas is going to have a distinct whiff of Android to it, with both Acer and Dell hinting at their plans for devices using Google's mobile operating system.
Talking to ComputerWorld, Acer's vice president of handhelds in Asia, Roger Yuen, said the firm had plans to launch about six new smartphones running Android in the first half of 2010 alone, with the firm's Liquid device already making its debut in Taiwan and Hong Kong this week.
According to Yuen, Acer, which happens to be the second largest computer maker in the world, is planning on having Android phones spread over three different price points, the high end, low end and enterprise.
Apparently the Qualcomm 8250 Snapdragon chipset based Liquid, with its 3.5-inch touchscreen should go on sale in Europe within the next couple of months, accompanied by several new Android apps to go with it.
"We have a very large R&D team so they work on Android projects," said Yuen.
But Acer isn't the only firm with Android announcements up its sleeve, with Samsung Electronics, HTC, LG, Motorola and even Dell going gaga for Google.
Over at Pocket-lint, there's even word of an Android based tablet tipping up from Dell, in direct competition with the former TechCrunch baby, Crunchpad (now renamed JooJoo) and Archos' Internet tablet.
If Dell manages to launch such a tablet at CES, the firm will also be beating Apple to the finish line in terms of tablets, which would be no small coup.
Dell, of course, is not confirming or denying anything, coyly claiming that it "continually develops and tests new products that extend the mobile experience."
But Pocket Lint's spies say they have it on good authority Dell's device will sport a five-inch touch screen, placing it squarely between a smartphone and netbook, will run Android and should tip up on UK shelves very shortly indeed.
And if CES is anything to go by, think second week in January, folks. We'll be there, so we'll let you know when we see it.
