Update: 4th Nov. The latest I have is that Froyo will be available in Germany on within the next 2 weeks. (3rd week of Nov) Yes, it slipped
We had a great chat with the product manager for Toshiba’s AC100 in Germany at IFA yesterday and we covered a lot of ground about the target markets and future for these smart-books. Toshiba seem quite committed to the ‘smart’ sector and already have a team of 25 working on their Android builds. The next two milestones for the team are the Froyo-based Folio 100 Tegra2 Tablet and Android 2.2 (Froyo) upgrade for the AC100. Yes, it’s coming in 6 weeks and I’m excited because not only will it bring a Cortex core optimised version of Android to the device but it will also bring important browser improvements. We should get access to Google Docs and for me, that’s a huge step forward.
I’ve made Toshiba aware of the battery issue and I’ll be following up with an email. We’re also planning to get up to Toshiba’s HQ near Duesseldorf to get some quality time with the Folio soon. Yes, i’ll be taking the chance to tell them how important the Market is and encouraging them to kick Google hard!
I’m hoping to get my 3G / UK version of the AC100 from Amazon soon so if anyone want’s to buy a German (QWERZ keyboard) Wifi-only version, let me know!
There’s two ways of looking at this. Either you think about the issues of the Toshiba AC100 (no Google Apps, Market, Browser issues, crashes, standby battery life issues) and you think OMG – This is a fail from the word go, or you hope that the 2.2 upgrade and a touchscreen are going to fix it. Certainly if you take away the keyboard you won’t be tempted to try anything silly like writing a document so that at least solves one problem but I fear that the Market is still going to be missing.
There’s no way Google will licence Market for a device that is simply not supported by Android. Developers have no way at all to write screen-efficient apps for this screen size and the apps that do exist look annaemic on a 1024×600 screen.
I don’t want to be too negative but its difficult when you’ve tested three potentially great bits of hardware that were spoiled by having only half of an Android-based OS product.
I like the idea of Tegra 2 (with Android 2.2 it will, seriously, blow everything else out of the water in terms of Android benchmarks – i’ve seen it today) and the tablet form-factor at least ‘fits’ Android a little better but without the Google licensed apps, its only half of what it could be.
If I’m wrong about Google Market then great, we’ve got progress but i’m not holding my breath because I think only Android 3 can fix that.
For the last two nights I’ve been testing the ‘standby’ battery life on the Toshiba AC100. [Unboxing and overview video here] On the first test the battery was at about 30% capacity. I closed the lid and expected to have plenty of battery life left in the morning. When I woke up, the AC100 was dead. On the second test the battery was again at 30%. This time I turned the WiFi off before closing the lid. In that scenario I’d expect next to no drain at all. Again, when I woke up 7 hours later, the device was dead. Something’s wrong.
Looking at the battery information I’m seeing something strange.
Can you spot the issue on my WiFi-only AC100?
Yup, somehow the 3G subsystem is draining power which is really quite strange considering I don’t have 3G on this device. Have they left the 3G radio on the device and just removed the SIM slot? Have they forgotten to turn the 3G off in the firmware? Does ‘cell standby’ actually mean something else? I can’t imagine another subsystem in the AC100 that would take more power than the screen and Wifi. On my Android phone here, cell standby is taking only 9% of the power. When the firmware contains strings like ‘eng/test-keys’, commonly found on test builds, you’ve got to wonder what’s going on.
I’ll have to raise a support issue on this with Toshiba Europe.
Note: 12mins later, the graph was still the same. Cell Standby is taking 77% of the battery drain. Going to ‘airplane mode’ doesn’t appear to help.
Note: 30 mins later and ‘cell standby’ is up to 81%.
Anyone else experiencing the same on their AC100 (Is there anyone else out there with an AC100?)
Update: Just to be clear – active battery life is around the 6hrs mark (50% screen, wifi on) so there’s no problem with that. I’ve also found a lot of threads on forums that question the ‘cell standby’ measurement. One response says it’s a known issue in Android 2.1. Currently manually measuring screen-off drain.
In a third test last night I went to bed with about 60% drain. I woke up with 20% left – and the screen on. Something is turning the screen on and causing the drain. Have now done a factory reset to remove any of my sideloaded apps that may be turning the screen on. I’ll do another overnight test tonight.
Update: 1535 – 31 August.
With a fresh factory reset I’ve been testing the battery life over the last few hours.
With screen off, wifi on, idle, no usb subsystem, no sdcard i’m seeing 6 mins per 1% battery drain. That’s really not that good. 2.4W average drain. I’m expecting more like 1W.
With screen off, AIRPLANE MODE, no USB subsystem, no sdcard, idle, I’m seeing 13 mins per 1% battery drain. That’s 1.14W drain which is terrible for an ARM system. A smartphone with screen off and airplane mode would take about 20-50mw. Remember, the AC100 is effectively has smartphone internals so when you turn the screen off, there should be no difference (i’ve turned the USB host subsystem off and removed the SDcard to remove that from the equation.) Something is sapping over 90% of the battery which brings us back to the cell subsystem which, after these tests, was taking 84% of the power according to ‘battery status’ under Android. At this stage, i’m tempted to pull it apart. Will I find a surprise 3G module inside?
Update2 – 31st August.
I won’t be doing any more review work on the AC100 until I get to the bottom of this power issue because it’s a huge problem that takes away the main reason to have it in the first place. ARM-based devices do a good job at ‘always on’. Take the Archos 5 for example. It’s a Cortex-based Android device and just 30 minutes ago I checked some stats on it. It’s been sitting on my desk in a screen-off, wifi-off state for 4 days and 8 hours and get this, it has a battery that’s less than half the size of the battery in the AC100. Not only that, there’s 45% of the battery left. That’s under 50mw of drain. 20x less than the AC100. There’s the problem with the AC100!
Update 3: 5th Sept.
Toshiba Germany tell us that Froyo will be delivered in 6 weeks (Mid October) for the AC100. We have also reported the details of the above issue directly to the German product manager.
After 24 hrs with the AC100 its a an easy task to summarise what’s going on. We’ve got an impressive computing platform in a productive form factor with great screen and keyboard that’s let down by a limited operating system and aplication suite.
You’ll look at the AC100 and see some interesting elements. Always on, light weight, flash storage, long battery life and the Android ‘brand’ but let me tell it to you straight before you go and buy one – don’t buy it as a replacement for a netbook or laptop.
Taking it from it’s worst angle we’ve got a device that has none of the normal single-account convenience of the Google Mail, Contacts and Mail applications you find on an Android smartphone. There’s a read-only word processor included (laugh out loud please, this is a device with a decent keyboard!) and a video player that plays 1080p…until the application crashes. There’s a USB port that takes mouse, keyboard and USB hard drives but will error at the sight of a printer or DVD player. If you’re wondering what’s in the marketplace as downloadable apps then please think twice as this comes with the Camangi app store for large-screen devices which, with about 80 apps, is hardy the widest choice around. The browser can’t handle Google Docs or the WordPress back-end, doesn’t support Flash and is slower than a netbook. The YouTube and social networking widgets are fixed-size jokes. There’s no GPS but worse still, there’s no network location service. That’s part of the Google licensed app suite which doesn’t exist on this device. Overall, I’d say ‘forget it.’ Go buy a netbook. Android is nowhere near ready to be deployed on such a productive-looking device.
Like the Airlife 100 though there’s huge potential here. Netbook designers need to watch carefuly because the idea of an always-on device is a killer one. A full Google suite would elevate the AC100 into a different position and if you consider the potential of the Market, it would make a great addition to any netbook. Being able to pump out 1080p onto an HDMI screen kicks netbook-butt and 870gm is a joy to hold, carry and use compared to the netbooks that average 50% more weight. I like the idea of the indicator lamps too.
In a way, Android is a better fit for a ‘netbook’ style device. We’re looking at lower processor requirements, half the memory you would find in a netbook and a reduction in internal complexity that serves to bring prices down. Starting with a basic operating system makes complete sense and highlights just how bloated the 5-10GB install of a Windows 7 OS is. It needs time to develop though.
The AC100 is another smart device to watch. But don’t buy just yet. We’ll give you the nod!
Other notes:
Glossy screen looks good. No brighter than soem other devices I’ve seen tho. Row of activity keys is useful The 5 screens can be assigned to WiFi APNs meaning that when you connect to a given APN, the home screen changes uPnP support in the media player is good to see, as is multiple format support, WMV, H.264 and DivX were tested up to over 6Mbps Speakers are OK No case or cover included Keyboard is good. I prefer it to my current Touchnote netbook. There’s no heat or noise, even when charging (I*m using it on my lap right now) Opera Mobile is slightly slower than the stock browser but is slightly more capable Games play very smoothly …but there are issues with programs that only run in portrait mode. WiFi reception is very strong Single Click Connect allows remote desktop usage and remote printing (using the Single Click Desktop software) Only 5.5GB of the 8GB flash storage is available From the home screen you only need to start typing to search (for a website, program or file) The device can be locked with a numeric password There is no screen rotation or accelerometer No Bluetooth on the test device. No 3G on the test device
This article written on the AC100 using the WordPress application (sideloaded from an Android phone.)
Fresh from the DHL van it’s the first Tegra2 device to hit the ground. Most will be calling the Toshiba AC100 [details] a smartbook and it certainly creates a smart impression. Super thin and light with a great-looking 1024×600 glossy screen and nice user interface. This may be running AOS (Android Open Source) 2.1 but it doens’t look like it. Toshiba have done a resonable job of filling in the gaps.
Plastics are a little on the cheap side but the keyboard is good as is the mouse-pad with scroll area and dual mouse buttons. One point to note is that the video player, while blowing me away with a 1080p playback and ability to handle a 8.5Mbps WMV and 6.5Mbps DivX out of the box, is somewhat buggy. Three lock-ups (requiring reboot) in the first hour left me feeling that the firmware was rushed out for IFA. Fortunately, Toshiba include an OTA firmware upgrade app so i’m going to be checking it regulaly.
Oh, the media player suppors uPnP devices too.
Finally: YouTube Unboxing Video now available.
We’ve also got three much longer videos from the live session:
Tegra2 testing begins tonight because within the next 3 hours I expect the AC100 to be delivered. It’s on the DHL truck roll so unless anything unexpected happens, we’ll be unboxing a true retail package (yes, one we bought ourselves) later.
The Toshiba AC100 is the first Tegra2 device to hit Europe and only the second true smartbook to hit any global market. We’ve already reviewed the Airlife 100 so now its time to see if Toshiba and Tegra can bring anything new to the table.
Oh, and of course we’ll be running an Email Notification Rave so bring a few beers and join in. “‘Here come the emails!”
Live VIDEO Q&A and chat session on Carrypad.com/live tonight at 2200 Berlin time (1600 New York, see other locations. Approx 11 hours from the time of this post.)
JKKMobile will join to help moderate this independant review session.
We’re sorry for the late notice but with IFA creeping up on us it’s now or never! We hope you can drop in. (parts of the session will be recorded.)
We’re twitching at every movement outside our door while waiting for our own Toshiba AC100 today (Note: Possible live video review session tonight stay tuned.) but at least we’ve got something to keep us occupied in this unboxing video from Netbooknews today. It’s known as the Dynabook AZ in Japan but it’s the same device as the AC100 were expecting.
Some important things to note from the unboxing and the article:
1 Opera Mobile (not Mini) is included. Opera Mobile is not generally available for Android but Toshiba appear to have had it built specially for the AC100. Opera Mobile sounds like it is providing a better internet experience than the stock browser. I’m certainly a fan of Opera Mobile and will be interested to test it out.
2 There are indicator lamps on the outside of the device. Useful for notifications when closed (and online) (via JKKMobile, see fun video below.)
3 Toshiba are working on Android version 2.2 ‘soon’ which is excellent news.
Update: We just got a shipping notice. It should be here in 24-48 hours!
I took a second to check an Amazon.co.uk order for the Toshiba AC100 this morning and alas, there’s no exact delivery date estimate. Checking over on the German Austrian comparison site Geizhals, it was a different story.
German website Geizhals reports that one reseller is ready to send within 24hrs.
No that’s a surprise! 2 other resellers are reporting delivery soon too. (See here for latest)
This is the Non-3G version (Model number PDN01E-001016GR,suspected UK version with QWERTY keyboard) that we’re looking at but even without 3G, we think it’s worth a shot to get the first retail Tegra2 device so we’ve ordered one and have put the MiFi on charge! If we’re lucky, very lucky, we might get it before the end of the week. We’ll keep you posted on progress.
