Hands-On With Nvidia’s Tegra Prototype Running Android

We shot by the Nvidia booth and fought a crowd to get a quick glimpse of its Tegra-powered Android prototype. The prototype itself looks similar to the one we originally saw back at CTIA in the fall, but it’s running Google’s much more enticing operating system instead of the sluggish Windows CE we originally saw it on. While we miss Nvidia’s mock-up 3D user interface that really showed off the power of Tegra’s 3D rendering, we did like Android running on a much larger screen than we’re used to. Interactions with the icons were smooth, and we liked that we could see more at once instead of scrolling through many pages as you would on the G1. As it did on Windows CE, the device has the ability to output 720p video to an HD television. This is perhaps one of those more enticing features of the device, as we’d love to be able to bring our entire movie collection everywhere in our pockets, and plug into a TV to watch them on the big screen. The onscreen keyboard looked roomy enough for quick typing, too. It’s far too early right now to decide whether we like Nvidia’s Tegra technology over Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, but we can say we’re drooling for devices from both to hit the mainstream market in the United States. Check out our hands-on video below for a quick look at Android on Nvidia’s  Tegra prototype.