Android On the Desktop

John Morris at CNET offers a brief review of PC Android devices, many of them hybrids running Windows 8 and Android. From the article, 'Microsoft has spent a lot of time and effort trying to get Windows onto smartphones and tablets — so far without a whole lot to show for it. Now several PC companies are trying the opposite approach, taking the Android operating system and porting it to PCs.' The article reviews the recent releases from HP, Acer, Asus, and Samsung. Does Android creeping onto desktop or 'traditional' PC devices have any kind of possible long term consequences? Could this be a way for Android and Google to develop a larger presence in corporate IT, or could Android ever really supplant the Windows foothold?

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/13/...on-the-desktop

Rockchip Bringing Windowed, Tiled Capabilities to Android

Bringing windowing capabilities to Android was only a matter of time, especially with desktops hitting the market sporting Google's popular mobile platform. Sure, Android is capable of multi-tasking, allowing users to run numerous apps in the background and access them by hitting the Recents button in the Navigation Bar. But typically users can't natively use their apps like they can in a desktop setting.

Rockchip was actually showcasing this multi-window technology back at CES 2013 using an RK3188 quad-core SoC. Users could treat Android like a desktop, opening apps in several windows, sizing them and moving them around on the screen.

So far Google hasn't released any statements about the Rockchip announcement.Lilputing points out that even though Android is open source software, Google can apply some resistance to change when needed. The company has already made it clear that it wants a consistent experience across all Android devices. It even reportedly gave the CyanogenMod developers a hard time when they tried to add support for windowed apps to their custom version of Android.

The new "windows" mode for Android will reportedly be supported by Rockchip's new RK3188 quad-core SoC launched at the end of June. It's based on an ARM Cortex-A9design and GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 28 nm HKMG process technology. The company also launched a dual-core variant, the RK3168, but it may not have enough horsepower to run multiple app windows on the same screen without performance issues.

It will be interesting to see if Rockchip releases a stand-alone option to the masses as a side-loaded feature despite Google's reluctance to windowed apps. Chuwi likely announced the feature first because it was able to acquire the beta and take screenshots, Canex said.