Asus Eee Pad tablet to favor Android over Windows Embedded OS

(PhysOrg.com) -- ASUS announced in May it would be producing two Eee Pad tablets, a 12-inch version running Windows 7 Home Premium and a 10-inch with the Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system. It now seems likely the smaller tablet will use Google's Linux-based mobile operating system Android instead.

Android is growing in popularity for smartphones, and so it makes sense for ASUS to adopt an operating system for its tablet that will be familiar to users, and according to Netbook News, this is precisely what ASUS is planning.

The version of Android that will be used on the tablet is unclear as yet. The prototype is running Android 2.2 (Froyo), but it seems likely ASUS will wait for version 3.0 (Gingerbread) for use on the production units, which are expected to be released next January at the earliest.

The smaller ARM-based Eee Pad tablet, the Eee Pad EP101TC, was demonstrated in June year at Computex 2010 in Taipei, and at that time was running Windows Embedded Compact 7.

ASUS has been a close partner of Microsoft for a long time, but in February announced its Android-based Nuvifone A50, developed in partnership with Garmin.

ASUS is not the only tablet maker dumping Windows. Lenovo has announced it will be running Android instead of a Microsoft operating system on its tablets, Dell has also opted for Android, and Cisco's Cius tablet, which is aimed specifically at business users and is slated for release in the first quarter of 2011, will also use the Google OS. HP has chosen WebOS (dubbed Palm) for its own tablets.