New Dell leak shows Android-based Athens, Sparta smartbooks
updated 04:15 pm EDT, Sun April 25, 2010
Dell to make ARM-based smartbooks with Google UI
Yet another Dell roadmap today has slipped out plans for full smartbooks. The convertible tablet Sparta and conventional Athens should both use ARM chips and either Android or pure Linux. Unusually, they may have 4:3 ratio, 11-inch 1024x768 displays, although they should have the usual options for 3G and Bluetooth.
If the Android Central info is still up to date, the Sparta would ship first and would be ready sometime in July, which Dell considers part of its fiscal 2011. Athens wouldn't be ready until sometime in January or February of calendar 2011.
As part of the schedule, Dell also explained that the 7-inch Looking Glass tablet will have a staggered launch, where the standard version would arrive in August or September and an updated "Pro" model would bring a higher resolution screen and the known TV tuner by February. The Mini 5 (Streak) is slated for May while the Thunder Android-running smartphone would arrive in November or December.
