Lenovo is reportedly getting ready to launch a new business ultraportable that will dual-boot Windows and Android. The Verge caught wind caught the story, naming the upcoming laptop as the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid.  On the outside, the ThinkPad X1 ultraportable isn’t any different than the current model, but the new hybrid model will also have an “instant media mode” which appears to be based on Google Android.

You’ll be able to fully boot the machine into a  Windows desktop to run productivity apps, but youcan also tap a button and start working right away if you opt for the instant media mode, likely by using the Android web browser, media players, and other light-weight apps.

The Verge reports that the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid will get up to 10 hours of battery life when running Android, which is about twice teh 5 hours of run time under Windows. If you can get by with Android apps instead of Windows apps, that provides a pretty good incentive for running in media mode.

There’s no word yet on how much the new X1 Hybrid will cost, but the current Lenovo ThinkPad X1 laptop runs about $1200 and up and features a 13.3 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, Intel Core i-series processor, 4GB of RAM, and a choice of a solid state disk or a hard drive.

Just when you though innovation in the netbook field has stalled, Japanese computer maker NEC brings a new, innovative thin and light netbook powered by Google Android to the market. The folks at PC Watch got a chance to check out an early prototype, called the NEC MGX, which measures just 9.9mm thick.  That’s thinner than many Android tablets!

The MGX has a full QWERTY keyboard and a clamshell design that lets you close the lid down over the keyboard.  The mini-laptop has a 1024 x 600 pixel display, WiFi, and 3G. The computer measures 8.5″ x 4.3″ and weighs about 0.8 pounds. It’s said to get about 10 hours of battery life. There’s no word on what kind of processor it uses.

ITMedia has also posted a video showing what the device looks like when you fold the screen all the way back:

Charbax from ARMdevices spotted this netbook powered by an an ARM-based processor at a trade show in China last week. Since it runs an ARM process, this netbook runs the Google Android operating system. While it’s not the first Chinese Android tablet we’ve seen, this one is a bit special.

First, it has a new RockChip RK2918 processor running at 1.2 GHz.  This ARM Cortex-A8 processor with support for Adobe Flash and the  Android operating system has been tweaked to include a mouse pointer.

The netbook also features 2 USB ports, mic and headphone jacks, and built-in speakers. Charbax imagines it should get extra long battery life due to the low-power processor and light weight operating system, but the RockChip booth representative didn’t seem quite as certain.

Check out the video after the break.

UK retailer Next already introduced an Android tablet last year and now the company’s latest Android product is a 10 inch laptop with Google Android called the Next Surfer Pro.

Underneath the sleek exterior, the Surfer Pro has a 10 inch display, 1GHZ processor, 256MB of RAm and 16GB of SSD storage. It runs Google Android 2.1, has WiFi, a flash card rader, and 2 USB ports.  Next is not offering detailed specs, but a Japanese web site says the processor is an ARM11-based chip.

The Surfer Pro certainly looks the part, with a nice keyboard and a slim case. Unfortunately,  Android 2.1 wasn’t really designed for use on this type of device,  but users may have a difficult time installing third party apps or navigating through some Android menus.

On the bright side, the Next Surfer Pro is pretty cheap, at £155.

via Netbook News.de

Last year at CES, there were lots of cheap Chinese netbooks with ARM processors, running the Android OS.  This year, they were few and far between as companies have largely replaced them with trendier tablets. But, at the Shenzhen Firstview there was an attractive netbook running Android. It’s also capable of handling Windows CE.

The Firstview PC101V isn’t going to win any performance awards. It’s powered by an ARM9 processor (either a 533MHz or 800MHz chip) and has just 128 MB to 256 MB of RAM and between 2GB and 4GB of flash-based storage.

But the PC101V does have a decent 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 802.11b/g WiFi, support for 3G (with an optional USB dongle), 2 USB ports, a 1.3MP camera, and an SD card slot.

Just a few days ago we heard about the Toshiba AC100 – something  a little different than the typical netbook running an Atom processor.   This new little Toshiba will run Google’s Android OS on an Nvidia Tegra chipset.  Today,Toshiba Germany has posted a promotional video for this mini-laptop running Google’s Android operating system.  The video is in German, but the text on the computer is all in English, so it’s even worth watching if your German isn’t up to snuff.

From the video we can see that Toshiba customized the Opera Mobile web browser instead of the default Android browser.There’s also some custom Toshiba-branded media apps for playing music and movies.

You can check out the demo video after the break.

MSI Android Tablet

MSI is showing a 10 inch capacitive touchscreen tablet.  There aren’t many details yet, but according to  Engadget it uses NVIDIA’s new Tegra 2 platform and runs Google’s Android OS.

No more details yet, and it may just be a concept machine for MSI.

Acer Aspire One D250 with Google's Android OS

Netbook Italia has posted a video showing the new Acer Aspire One D250 Google Andriod edition booting up Windows 7 through Android.  So, there isn’t an official ‘dual boot’ option, but one can load Windows 7 after booting into Android.  Here’s the response from Acer when asked”:

Q “What is the point of Google Android has on netbooks?”
A “Android is a slim OS, starts up fast and the applications start quickly. Ideal as an instant OS”
Check out the video after the break, and don’t forget, the regular D250 is already available for pre-order with Windows 7.  Check out our Windows 7 Guide for more info.

Alpha 680 Android Netbook

Google Chrome OS is rumoured to be launching later this month but don’t let that stop you from checking out the Android powered  Skytone Alpha 680 netbook.  It was initially due to be released this summer, but Airis the manufacturer is only now showing it to vendors for imminent release.  Le Journal du Geek, got their hands on one and took a few pictures of this 7″ touchscreen netbook for us to look at.

via Engadget.

Acer has Android Netbook plans

Despite an erraneous report last week, a representative at Acer has reaffirmed that they are stillon schedule to launch at netbook runing Google’s Android OS.   You’ll remember, we first heard of Acer’s Android plans  during Computex, and their president of IT products stated:

“Netbooks are designed to be compact in size and easy to connect to the Internet wherever you go,” Jim Wong, Acer’s president of IT products, said in a statement. “The Android operating system offers incredibly fast wireless connection to the internet; for this reason, Acer has decided to develop Android Netbooks for added convenience to our customers.” The Taiwanese manufacturer said the majority of Acer Netbooks will come with Android as an alternative operating system to Microsoft’s Windows.”