Android lands on the Acer Aspire One D250 netbook

Acer recently refreshed its Aspire One D250 netbook, replacing Windows XP with both Windows 7 and Android. Yes, that’s right, Android on a commercially available netbook. The D250 is a true dual boot solution, offering users the ability to boot into Windows 7 or Android during startup. A wonderful idea that, unfortunately, fails due to poor hardware design as the D250 lacks a touchscreen, a critical component that is necessary for Android to operate at its full potential. You can navigate the Android OS using your keyboard and mouse but it is not the same as using your fingers to make selections and interact with the OS. On a positive note, Android boots quickly on the D250 and seems well suited for the netbook’s hardware which includes an Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. Perhaps Acer will learn from this mistake and offer an Android-powered netbook with a touchscreen so consumers can really get the full Android experience. Fingers crossed.