Asus Snapdragon-powered Eee PC running Android hands-on [Video Round-up]

Asus has given hints in the past that it was considering releasing an Eee PC powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip (based on ARM). It has now shown off a prototype a day before the Computex show is set to officially start.

This smartbook (note: not netbook) has a fanless design given the very low power consumption. The prototype runs on a 1GHz Snapdragon chip and is capable of HD 720p video. The chip also has embedded 3G and GPS. This allows for an “always connected” experience, very similar to a mobile phone.

The design is reminiscent of the Seashell style used in the Eee PC 1008HA and 1005HA. As the ARM-based chip cannot use Windows XP or Windows 7, this prototype is running on Google Android. Laptop Mag says that it was running the Cupcake (v1.5) version of Android with the performance typical of a smartphone

Qualcomm is showing off smartbooks from other vendors at Computex, but none are likely to be as high profile as this unique Eee PC. Whilst this Eee PC is based on the 1GHz Snapdragon chip, Qualcomm is also launching a newer 1.3GHz chipset, the existing 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon chipset should be happy with 1080p video and may find itself a home in future smartbooks.

This Snapdragon Eee PC is expected to be launched by the end of the year according to Qualcomm. A number of publications (JKKMobile, TweakTown and NetbookNews.de) managed to gets hands-on with the device and we’ve attached three videos below.