Acer Aspire One D250-1613 (Android) Netbook

PC World - The latest model in the Aspire One netbook line is fairly nondescript. The D250-1613 has the same 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, plus 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a tiny keyboard, and a microscopic multitouch pad. With its cookie-cutter netbook design, it fits into the crowd somewhere between the Fujitsu LifeBook M2010 and, say, the Lenovo S10. The only real difference is that, for a $350 asking price, Acer is offering a dual-boot system, with both Windows XP and Android tailored for a netbook. Regrettably, throwing in Google's OS gratis isn't enough to make this netbook a winner right out of the box.

Still, Android is the big draw of this netbook, so we should examine that first. Upon your first boot-up of the D250-1613, it goes into Windows XP, as just about every other netbook does. It's loaded with all the trials and shovelware you've come to love (games you won't play, security software you don't want...you get the idea). Nestled somewhere among those shortcuts, however, is the Android configuration tool. Once you complete the configuration and reboot the machine, it loads up the Acer flavor of Android in about 18 seconds.

The main interface is clean--no arguments there. By default, a few apps line the bottom; you can drag and drop others from a pull-out menu that sits on the right side of the screen. Of course, it has hooks into Gmail--the biggest draw for this netbook--so you have access to all your contacts, calendaring, and e-mail offline. It's a huge benefit for anyone who doesn't have an Android phone (or a Palm Pre, for that matter) but needs offline access to their online contacts. Change any information locally, and the next time you get online (whether through an optional 3G connection or Wi-Fi), it syncs up with your Google account. Unfortunately, this brings me to an annoying quirk that I discovered while typing an e-mail on the bus: In offline mode, you can type with no problem, but the infuriatingly tiny touchpad (more on that in a second) made me hit 'Send' accidentally. "No big deal," I figured, "just go to the outbox and open the e-mail." Wrong. For some inexplicable reason, I couldn't get it to open.

Another big disappointment for me is the lack of useful software out of the box. No word processor. No notepad. No file browser. Maybe I like tinkering with a portable too much, but to me those are all basic functions that I've come to expect with a netbook. The ability to browse a USB thumb drive would be nice, too, and so would printer support. I could brush all that off by telling myself that at some point in the future I'll be able to install Android apps. But Acer doesn't make it easy. A link to an Acer Android storefront would be great; I had a chance to take a look at the Archos 5 Internet Tablet recently, and not only does that have a storefront, but the device also comes loaded with a raft of handy apps like Twitdroid. I'd like to have that!