News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within Months.

Re:Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within ... by melling on Monday June 03, 2013 @09:13AM (#5813014)
Now if someone could convince Google to turn it into a desktop solution. Just add keyboard, mouse and 30" monitor. Would asking for all of them to be wireless be asking too much? :-)

In the end we only need one device that's a little more flexible.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within ... by vidarh on Monday June 03, 2013 @10:24AM (#5813435)
There are tons of Android boxes with HDMI out, built in WIFI and support for bluetooth or USB keyboard and mice. Got one attached to my TV.

In terms of wireless display, there are options but there are multiple competing variations of "HDMI over wireless".

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within ... by untog on Monday June 03, 2013 @10:06AM (#5813327)
Well, the software can already handle all of those, so it doesn't have to be Google that turns it into a desktop solution.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within ... by Pxtl on Monday June 03, 2013 @02:07PM (#5814784)
Lots of chinese 3rd party no-names are making "mini-PCs" running android. There are problems - the android ecosystem has spotty keyboard/mouse support (drag scrolling sucks with a mouse and pinch operations are missing). Also the usual quality concerns with cheap stuff -bad WiFi and heat problems. Finally, remote wake support is poor, so a lot of the devices have no real way to turn them on/off besides unpluggging them.

But they exist and have a sizeable community around hacking with them, primarily as TV boxes. The Ouya should bring this usage into the foreground, plus Dell's plans to make the first brand-named device in this market.

Actually, WinRT is a better OS for this space since it's designed front-to-back with keyboard/mouse and touchscreen support (incl app market requirements) but MS is being their own worst enemy with that platform.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within ... by GravityWell on Monday June 03, 2013 @10:11AM (#5813362)
It's being developed, at least if you consider a 'notebook' to be a laptop/desktop. ETA is 3 to 4 months:

http://9to5google.com/2013/05/10/android-notebooks-from-sams...

http://9to5google.com/2013/04/26/200-android-notebooks-on-th...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within ... by oftenwrong on Monday June 03, 2013 @12:40PM (#5814224)
I think Google is trying to push ChromeOS as their desktop solution in the long term. If anything, I think Google will try to make ChromePhones.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within ... by RivieraKid on Monday June 03, 2013 @12:26PM (#5814135)
Google would need to significantly improve the platform to make it competetive with Win / Linux / OS X:

* Window managment.

* Compatibility with Linux applications? But that's very hard to do correctly.

* Extend the API, add support for more languages.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within ... by blindhippo on Monday June 03, 2013 @10:01AM (#5813305)
Out of curiosity, is anyone developing wireless display technology? We have wireless keyboards/mice and sound - seems the only blocker to what you suggest is wireless monitors.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Android Will Become The Most Popular App Platform within ... by vidarh on Monday June 03, 2013 @10:26AM (#5813442)
Yes, there are a number of products on the market. Search for "wireless HDMI". These products are not actually wireless HDMI, though (there's no wireless standard licensed to use the HDMI name).
[ Parent | on HN ]