Intel’s Ultrabook machines, thin, powerful laptops that echo the MacBook Air, haven’t taken the world by storm so far. But what if your next model didn’t just run Windows, but Android Ice Cream Sandwich? With today’s latest Google release, you might be able to do just that.
The Android x86 open source project has just released a version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich which runs on x86 processors. x86 is the architecture used by processors that power desktop Apple and Windows computers, and what Intel and AMD make their money off.
It’s different to the architecture of today’s mobile phone processors, but with this modified Ice Cream Sandwich release, these machines – your netbook, your desktop all-in-one, your MacBook Pro – can run the latest version of Google’s OS, a lean, mean and powerful operating system.
Install Android Honeycomb on your old Eee PC
If you’ve got a touchscreen PC too, you’re in luck: developer Chih-Wei Huang says that multitouch support in this x86 build of Ice Cream Sandwich already works, although right now, sound, camera and Ethernet support do not.
Of course, Android on notebooks is not a new thing. Stock Android supported x86 systems up until version 1.6 (Donut), and we saw more than a couple of dual-boot Windows/Android netbooks, such as the Acer Aspire One D250. But they were slow, ropey, and Android lacked features back then and never took off.
But in the years between, we’ve seen vast improvements in low power x86 processors, and in Android itself. Android Ice Cream Sandwich, with its low power consumption and blazing browser, could make your next Ultrabook, or whatever laptop you plan on picking up next, a very different beast. All we need is a manufacturer to go out on a limb again: we can think of a couple that like to.
(via Android x86)
