The netbook may be taking a hit thanks to the popularity of the iPad 2, but there is set to be an invasion of 10-12″ notebooks this summer powered by the Google Chrome OS. DigiTimes is reporting that we should see Atom or Tegra powered Chrome OS notebooks from Acer, ASUS, Sony and Samsung in the second half of 2011.

The Chrome OS powered notebooks were expected in the first half of 2011, back when Google sent out the Cr-48 notebooks to a group of beta testers, but sources are telling DigiTimes that the actual mass shipment of Chrome powered mini notebooks won’t start until the second half of 2011.

When the invasion of Chrome OS notebooks does start, expect to see some manufacturers using a dual boot system with Windows and Chrome OS to ease consumers into the idea of using a cloud based operating system.

Should you Wait for a Chrome OS Notebook?

The idea of an almost always connected, simple use notebook with built in broadband for $200 to $300 is appealing, but is it really what you should be looking for to fill your computer needs.

If you are a student, or looking for a companion notebook, then the Chrome OS notebooks will likely be a good fit. Because of the reliance on Chrome and the likelihood of integrated broadband at an affordable monthly fee, it should work well as a computer you sync to and use with a full fledged notebook or system.

If you need to access specific applications for business or need to run demanding tasks that can’t be moved to the cloud, then you’ll probably want to stay away from the Chrome OS.

The early Chrome cr-48 notebooks received mixed reviews, but it’s important to keep in mind that these units were essentially beta hardware, known as a prototype, on which Sony, ASUS, Acer and Samsung will base their designs. The key word is base, we expect to see manufacturers differentiate their offerings, just like they do with Windows.

If you see a notebook you want to buy today, like the $399 HP Pavilion dm1z, we suggest you get it and wait to see what Google Chrome OS notebooks actually arrive on the market and how they perform. Until then, you can look into running Chrome OS on your existing hardware.

Chrome OS Notebook Invasion Planned for Summer 2011: Should You Wait? is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

This past year was an interesting year for technology. There were some really big wins, like Apple’s iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Xbox 360 Kinect. Sadly, there were also some really big flops. We pick the 10 biggest disappointments in the tech world in 2010.

The criteria for making our list was that these ten products or services were introduced with big fanfare or great expectations, but crashed and burned this year usually to our great disappointment. So in order of least to biggest disappointments here are our Top Ten Tech Disappointments of 2010.

10. Palm Web OS MIA

After HP bought Palm we hoped that by the end of the year there would be something exciting come from the new marriage. Nothing has shown up. So we will have to wait till next year for a cool new WebOS phone or Tablet. There are rumblings that something is coming, but not yet.

9. Apple TV

With Apple announcing that they’ve sold a million Apple TVs, it is hard to put it on this list. In fact we were tempted to put it on the ten most exciting tech toys of 2010. But in our review of the tiny set-top box, we found that while it is a great piece of hardware and easy to set up and use, it could be so much more if they would just allow the installation of apps like their other iOS devices.

And we are not asking for all the apps either. Create a very narrow app store with much higher requirements to get your app into the Apple TV app store. To make it in, there should be a minimum of 720p resolution. The controls should be simple to use with only the Apple TV remote. There might be other requirements that the folks at Apple could think of, but apps like hulu PLUS or the ABC app would be excellent additions to the Apple TV.

If Apple ever opens this device up to these kinds of apps, the Apple TV will be moved from the most disappointing tech devices of 2010 to one of the most exciting. In fact it would be up there with the iPad and Apple could probably charge double what they are now and still sell a million of them in the first month after doing so.

8. Google Buzz

There are Twitter and Facebook. Do we need another micro-blogging social network? Google thought so releasing Buzz. But they made a few big mistakes. We would include releasing it at all as the first and biggest one. But assuming it was going to be a useful service, the problem was they released it to everyone with big security concerns. And they forced it on everyone within Gmail. It should have been an opt-in situation to start with and then they should not have shown everyone’s private data either. And to be honest we think they should have spent the time and energy working out deals with the TV networks to make something like Google TV a better service and not even bother with Buzz.

7. Apple iTunes Ping

Everyone is going social. So Apple tried to do the same thing with the new Ping service. There are reports that they tried to get it tied into Facebook which might have made it useful. But they couldn’t pull that off. So instead the Ping service is just a bust. It is not very useful and has one huge problem for families. The father might like 50s hits while mom likes classical. One of the kids likes rap music and the youngest has nothing but Barney songs or other kiddy music. When the preteen girl in the family logs onto iTunes looking for Justin Bieber, she sees recommendations for Elvis, Tchaikovsky, 50 Cent, and Sponge Bob. It just doesn’t work in that situation, so it is a failure. Even for those who are the only music buyer on the account it is not that helpful unless a lot of others like you are connected. Apple created a big disappointment in 2010.

6. iOS AirPrint

The addition of printing to the iOS platform is not something that everyone was longing for. Sure it would be nice to do, but we haven’t had a huge need for printing from our iOS devices. Yet, when Apple announced the addition of printing, we were hoping it would be easy and ubiquitous. We should be able to simply print to any printer on our network or anyone else’s. The problem is technical. How can a mobile device with very limited amount of storage for things like drivers print to every kind of printer available? It is a huge mountain to climb. Yet Apple made it sound like they reached the peak and would be releasing exactly that. So when AirPrint only worked with a handful of HP printers, it was disappointing.

It is a shame that small app makers have figured this out while big Apple cannot. There is no reason it should not have the capability of printing through any PC that has iTunes or Mac OS X installed. The fact that it does not yet work is disappointing.

5. Google Chrome OS

It is kind of hard to put this one on the list. It hasn’t really been publicly released, but our own Xavier Lanier has tested the new Chrome netbook (see part two and three of his review) that Google gave the attendees of their announcement weeks ago. His reviews have been less than positive. The problem as we see it is the Chrome OS is a solution to a problem no one really has. Do we really want an OS that is so handcuffed it can only work online. To use Chrome the user must have an Internet connection most of the time. This is fine when at home or the office. It is okay since Wi-Fi is so prevalent. And the CR-48 that Google handed out even comes with a limited amount of wireless data so the recipients could test it out without a cost. But when it finally is released, it will likely come with yet another wireless data contract cost. Who needs another bill related to Internet access? The only way we see this being a success for the consumer is if Google essentially gives away the netbook with a wireless contract that allows the user to wirelessly tether their cell phone or tablet as well. If the whole thing costs more than $50/month, then forget it. It will remain a huge tech disappointment both in 2010 and 2011.

4. HP Slate

If you are like many of us, you were on board with the Windows Tablet PC experience before most people even knew it existed. In the months before Apple revealed the iPad, everyone was trying to grab the world’s attention with a slate or tablet style computer. Steve Ballmer stood up at CES in January and showed off an HP tablet that ran Windows 7 and promised it would be great. The end result was much later than expected and never was really released as a consumer tablet. Instead the HP Slate 500 is marketed for the vertical business users. Sure consumers can buy one, but why would they? The iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab do this so much better. Even our Tablet loving friends at Gottabemobile have declared that Windows is not the best OS for tablets. We wanted the Slate to be a huge success and a great product. It was instead a magnificent disappointment.

3. Google Wave

Google Wave was one of those services that grabbed the tech media’s attention. It seemed like a great idea. It was a collaborative email and online community service. But it went nowhere. It was a little complicated and the roll out was limited at first making it less useful. Once it went mainstream and anyone could get onboard the word was already out. It was not that useful. Other simpler services already exist that let you do what the core functions promised. Email, chat and collaboration all in one is something only a small number of business users need. As a result, Google Wave was shut down just months after it was revealed. It has now been open sourced and might become useful yet. but for now it is one of the most significant tech disappointments of this year.

2. Google TV

Google TV may still succeed but early on it is a flop. The key reasons are price and the fact that it has been blocked by the networks that many would want to use it most to access. The Google TV is an Internet streaming and search device that either comes built into a TV, as in the Sony version, or a set-top box that is connected to a TV and a cable or Satellite box. It searches for content both over the air, through the customer’s TV service, or the Internet. Regardless of where it is found the device promises to find it and display the content. So if you missed the most recent episode of Glee and want to watch the streamed version for the network’s web site, you should through the Google TV.

Unfortunately, the networks have blocked the Google TV from accessing their online streamed content. Google TV was a good idea for Geeks who don’t mind the extra work of such a set-top box. But the mainstream person would have found it too complicated and since it didn’t have the content most want from the Internet, there was no good reason to add the complexity. To make it a success Google will have to streamline it, get access to online streaming content from everyone, and lower the price to something closer to the Apple TV which is $99 or the Roku box which can be purchased for as lot as $59.99.

1. Microsoft Kin

The Kin is one of the biggest PR and sales disasters in Microsoft’s history. One may have to go pretty far back to find one that failed this big. The Microsoft Kin was a cell phone that was not a smart phone but not a feature phone either. Microsoft was trying to find a spot between the more advanced smart phone but simpler and the feature phone but with more features. We think the key failure was not so much the phone itself and it’s feature set, but the price. The monthly contracts were as expensive as smart phones.The handset was a little cheaper but not enough to make it work.

To compete with iPhone and Android it would have had to have an incredible feature set or an incredible price. It had neither and was the biggest tech flop maybe of the decade but certainly of 2010.

Don’t want to end on a downer? Check out our Best of 2010 Series to see what technology really rocked it in 2010 and stay tuned because we will be at CES 2011 in January to show you what’s going to be great in 2011.

Top 10 Tech Disappointments of 2010 is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Google was kind enough to send over a Cr-48, the first Chrome OS notebook. This notebook is part of Google’s Chrome OS pilot program and will not be sold to the public. Google promises that Chrome OS is nothing but the web, but is that enough for most people? We’ll find out as we explore Google’s answer to OSX and Windows.

In this video you’ll see what Chrome OS pilot program participants are receiving in the mail. As you can see, the Cr-48 Google Chrome OS notebook doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles. It comes in a very plain box and there are no extras in the box, save for a short Chrome OS guide. The Cr-48, a battery and an AC adapter are all the hardware you’ll find in the box.

During the Google Chrome even in San Francisco, company representatives stressed the importance of a stress-free out of box experience. Setting up the Cr-48 is extremely simple and can be done in less than a minute. When you’re through with the four-step setup proces, the Google Chrome browser is up and ready to go. With Google Chrome OS, the browser is the desktop and the only application you can interact with.

Google Chrome OS is certainly different than Windows and OSX. The setup process is refreshing and there are a lot of things to like about the Cr-48 right out of the box, such as built-in Verizon mobile broadband. But there are several points of frustration. Different is good, but different doesn’t necessarily mean better.

Check back soon for our full Cr-48 and Chrome OS reviews. We’ll be watching the progress of Chrome OS very closely. We expect to see Chrome OS laptops on retailers’ shelves mid-2011.

Google Chrome Notebook Unboxing Video is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

Today at a Chrome Chrome Event Google announced the launch of the Google Chrome Web Store, a resource for Chrome users to purchase and download apps that run in the Chrome browser. The apps serve different purposes, but one key thing that was mentioned during the demo of Chrome Web Apps is that the apps can work offline.

During the demo of the Chrome Web Store we saw a few different apps announced including a news app, game and two from Amazon including Kindle for the Web which will be available in 2011. The rest of the Chrome Web App Store is live now with 500 apps that you can install and begin using.

The first app demoed was the NY Times app which  allows users to get an very useful NY Times reading experience, one that can travel with you as you go offline. Next up EA showed off a game called Poppit for the Chrome app store and finally Amazon showed off a Windows Shopping app and Kindle for the Web.

There are a mix of free and paid apps available in the apps store spanning many categories and uses from productivity to entertainment. Check out our additional coverage for more information on Chrome OS and the Chrome Netbook.

Google Chrome Web Store Announced is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

It’s no secret that we’ll soon see Chrome netbooks coming to the market but up until now we only had speculation relating to what these Google Chrome OS powered netbooks would be powered by. Now, thanks to a bug report found by Macles, we have a better idea what the Acer Chrome netbook will be running inside.

These aren’t official specs, but it appears that there is a Google Chrome OS powered Acer with the following hardware.

• Intel Atom N455 1.6GHz
• 1GB RAM
• 8GB pSSD
• Ambient light sensor
• Bluetooth and WiFi

According to Macles it is likely that these production testing specs may be upgraded before the product is released to run the newer dual-core Intel Atom N550 processor and come with double the storage space. Based on further comments Macles suspects that the Acer Chrome netbook will hit stores in mid-October and coincide with a public beta of Chrome OS.

Via Liliputing

Acer Chrome Netbook Details Leaked in Bug Report is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

According to Download Squad Google and Verizon have teamed up on a Chrome OS powered tablet that will be available on the Verizon Wireless network starting on Black Friday 2010.

Google Chrome OS tablet mock-up

An un-named source tells Download Squad that the Tablet will be made by HTC and go up for sale on November 26th, otherwise known as Black Friday; a time when shoppers are already in a frenzy for post Thanksgiving deals.

There aren’t any official specs or pricing available yet but if the rumor is legit you can expect a subsidy that will make the device cheaper than an iPad; so long as you sign a 2 year data contract.

Download Squad suggests that a Google Tablet running Chrome OS will, “be based on NVidia’s Tegra 2 platform and sport a 1280×720 multitouch display, 2GB of RAM, minimum 32GB SSD, WiFi/Bluetooth/3G connectivity, GPS, webcam, and possibly expandable storage via a multi-card reader.”

The news does line up with the recent spotting of a Verizon mention in the Chrome OS source code.

Given the closeness of Verizon and Google this is a possibility and if it really is a Chrome OS tablet, rather than an Android tablet, it will be interesting to see how it compares to other rumored Verizon tablets.

Google and Verizon Team to Launch Chrome OS tablet on Black Friday is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

At Computex 2010, Sundar Pichai, head of the Google Chrome project, has announced that they expect the first Google Chrome OS netbooks to launch late this fall.

In an article at Reuters, when asked about the release of Chrome on netbooks, Pichai said:

“We will be selective on how we come to market because we want to deliver a great user experience,” he said. “We’re thinking on both the hardware and software levels.”

When asked about the Microsoft claim of having to rewrite applications so they can be used on Chrome instead of being open source, Pichai said:

“Chrome OS is one of the few future operating systems for which there are already millions of applications that work,” Pichai said. “You don’t need to redesign Gmail for it to work on Chrome. Facebook does not need to write a new app for Chrome.”

So what is Google Chrome OS all about?  Here is a video created by Google to tell us again what to expect with this new operating system:

The Google Chrome operating system is greatly anticipated by both consumers and businesses alike.  Will this take over from Microsoft?  Will it do everything it its promising to do?  Will it be adopted by consumers?  Will hardware vendors build new systems (laptops, netbooks, etc)to take advantage of the new operating system?  Right now, there are more questions than answers.

Google Chrome OS coming late 2010 is a post by Amy from Notebooks.com.

Like many other major netbook makers Samsung has confirmed that it is working on a Google Chrome OS powered netbook.  The confirmation came at an event in Australia at which several new Intel powered netbooks were unveiled. Phil Newton, head of Samsung IT, told attendees that Samsung Australia would launch a Chrome OS netbook before the end of the year, and we can hope that some version of this will come to the States in a similar timeframe.

No detailed specs were announced but so far we do know that the device will be share many properties with the recently announced Samsung N210 including the standard 10.1″ screen and 2GB of RAM. Additionally the device is said to come with a 64 GB SSD, built in 3G connection, WiFi and a 12 hour battery life.

ChannelNews reports that it is possible the device will run on a 1.5Mhz Snapdragon processor, while CrunchGear hopes for dual Snapdragon processors or a dedicated GPU.

Via CrunchGear.

Samsung planning a Chrome OS Netbook is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

While Google is busy working on a Chrome Operating System for notebooks which will be available later this year, some manufacturers have taken it in their own hands to put the Google Android Mobile Operations System on cheap ARM powered notebooks.

Charbax from Armdevices.net has been testing the Hivision PWS700CA Android powered notebook, which he thinks could easily be sold at retailers like Walmart or Best Buy for under $100.

As he points out in the video review of the Hivision PWS700CA, Android is replacing Windows CE and other “crappy” versions of Linux as the operating system on these very cheap computers which is a welcome change but the demonstration shows that there are still some limitations.

While it is great to see a more modern operating system coming to these ultra cheap devices the video demonstration only highlights the problem with putting an inherently mobile and touchscreen based OS onto a non touchscreen device. The function keys have had to be tweaked to handle standard home and menu buttons found on mobile phones, the on screen keyboard shows up even though there is a hard keyboard attached, you have to click and move the page for scrolling and there is no access to the official Android Marketplace.

Still, the device is snappy and loads web pages pretty fast over the MiFi connection that is being used and it looks much better than the Windows CE cheap notebooks that I have seen. Hopefully Hivision will be able to make the Android OS work better on a notebook style device before they attempt to bring it to market. Even with the Chrome OS coming quickly, an ARM powered Android Notebook like the Hivision PWS700CS has a place in the market so long as they can overcome the hurdles of porting a touchscreen driven OS to a non touchscreen device.

image via Armdevices.net

Hivision PWS700CA Specs:

• Rockchip RK2808 600mhz ARM926 processor
• 128SDRAM
• 7″ 800×480 screen
• 720p Video playback support
• WiFi, Ethernet, audio input/output
• Weighs 1.4 pounds
• Estimated cost under $100

Review of the $100 Android Notebook: Hivision PWS700CA is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Since the Google Chrome netbook from Google was outed in mid-December we’ve been wondering exactly what will power the Google branded device when it hit’s homes in late 2010. Well, the wait is over if the IBTimes’ source is correct the specs for Google’s Chrome netbook have been determined from a request for proposal which was sent to manufacturers and boy is it looking to be a powerful netbook!

The IBTimes reports that the Google Chrome netbook will have the following specs:

• Chrome OS
• Nvidia Tegra
• ARM processor (instead of an Intel Atom)
• 10.1″ multi-touch display
• 64GB SSD
• 2GB RAM
• Standard options such as Wifi, Bluetooth, USB ports, card reader etc.
• Pre-installed Google Apps including Google Search by Voice.

If Google can pull this all together for the rumored starting price of $300, and they probably can since they are Google after all, then this netbook could give traditional Windows and even Linux based netbooks a run for their money; especially if the ARM processor lives up to the claims of more power and longer battery life.

While many projects like this have a way of ending up with a much inflated pricetag if they ever make it to consumers, see CrunchPad, Google has the power and the money to make this happen and I could see them making little profit or even subsidizing the initial Chrome netbooks to get a bigger marketshare.

Google Chrome Netbook Specs Revealed — ARM, TEGRA and SSD is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.