Android_Quick_menu

The last 2 weeks we have been inundated with news about Google Chrome OS and what it could mean for the market place. Then yesterday it was found that LiveAndroid was also announcing that it had a PC compatible version in beta status. Of course there is skepticism on both sides of this argument but today I was able to get LiveAndroid working and had some time to play with it.

To begin you will first need to download the image files (Torrent is best) and then either burn the image to a disk or use a Virtual Machine to boot it. The downloaded image is about 174 MB and as such makes for an easy download. The operating system is currently in Live format so it means that you can use it without having to install it. This is especially useful with LiveAndroid as the OS is not 100% functional or bug free yet.

My own personal computers were unable to boot the image and I had problems trying to use VMware but thankfully VirtualBox works just fine. Once booted to the operating system, which takes about 45 seconds, the first thing you will try to do is move the mouse cursor. Due to some of the settings the cursor is almost the same color as the theme that Android is using and it makes it very difficult to see. It is very easy to think that the mouse is not working at all because it is almost invisible.

While the overall operating system still carries many components of its mobile counterpart, it is obvious to see that it has just as much potential as its big brother. Some of the operations are still slow, which is expected as this is early beta software, but it is also easy to imagine a Netbook running this operating system.

When browsing the Internet one of the first things you will notice is the scrolling ability does not seem to be the greatest and arrow keys seem to be the only way to navigate. Large sites do not have too hard of a time displaying correctly and overall it feels more like the desktop version of Google Chrome rather than Android.

As is expected when using a beta/alpha operating system there is some lag and general sluggishness to the OS. Some things also do not function in my setup of VirtualBox such Calendar, Camera, and Camcorder but they are trivial things right now.

Keyboard Shortcuts:

Menu Key (This is the rarely used key next to the Windows Key) =  Quick Menu
Windows Key = Settings Menu
Esc Key = Back
Arrow Keys = Navigation (Up, Down, Left, Right)
Alt + F1 = Console view
Alt + F7 = GUI view
Alt + F3 = Call Log

As this project continues to get closer to a full release I expect that we will see this Linux distribution reach the market long before Google Chrome OS does. When it comes to operating systems which would you choose, one with only an Internet Browser, or one with regular applications including a browser? The more I used this little OS I have found myself on the side of LiveAndroid. Why have just an Internet Browser when you can get the whole operating system?

Menu

Check It Out> LiveAndroid