Acer Aspire One D255

Intro - Design - Android

The Acer Aspire One D255 is a 10-inch netbook from Acer’s Aspire One range. There’s nothing new in the Acer Aspire One D255 netbook compared to its 10-inch predecessors -- Acer Aspire One 532h and Acer Aspire One D260 -- in terms of hardware. Only it comes with Android 1.6 dual-booting with Windows XP SP3 Home Edition.

The Acer Aspire One D255 has a very good battery, lasting close to 9 hours.

Design and Build
The Acer Aspire One D255 netbook has the exact same shell, chassis design of the Acer Aspire One D260. The Acer Aspire One D255’s glossy screen lid is red in color, attracts fingerprints but they aren’t readily visible. Like the AOD260, the Acer Aspire One D255 has "Aspire One" etched across its screen lid, relegating the company’s logo to the top left. All in all, the Acer Aspire One D255’s a very good looking netbook alongside the MSI Wind U160, Dell Inspiron Mini 10, and Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3 netbook in our Top 5 Netbooks list.

The Acer Aspire One D260 has a nice two-toned color scheme, and its screen lid color extends to the netbook’s palmrest and touchpad. However, the Aspire One D260 netbook’s palmrest has a shiny surface -- sans gloss, though. The 10-inch Aspire One D255 netbook weighs just 1.25-kg with a six-cell battery and is quite slim and well-built for its form factor.

Dual-Boot Android 1.6
Of course, the Acer Aspire One D255 dual-boots into Android and Windows XP operating systems. When you first turn on the netbook, the Acer Aspire One D255 instantly boots into Android 1.6 first -- before proceeding to the full-fledged Windows XP OS, whenever required.



The Android 1.6 OS is like an alternative to Splashtop -- found on Asus Eee PC 1201T, HP Mini 210-1095tu, etc. The full-fledged Google mobile OS is a useful inclusion on the Acer Aspire One D255. The netbook boots into Android within a few seconds, and is a great way to get online without wasting any time. If you’ve used an Android smartphone, you will be right at home with the Acer Aspire One D255’s Android interface -- if you haven’t, there’s a bit of learning curve involved. However, remember that the Android OS is meant to complement the Windows XP -- not challenge it -- on the Acer Aspire One D255 netbook.


Usability
The Acer Aspire One D255 has the exact same screen as on the Acer Aspire One D260. The 10.1-inch widescreen display is glossy LED-backlit, and it has a 1024x600 pixel resolution. The Aspire One D255’s screen is well-lit and both watching movies and reading text go well for indoor use. The netbook’s 1.3MP webcam is good for videochats.



The Acer Aspire One D255 comes with large, flat-top chiclet keys on its keyboard. The keyboard deck doesn’t flex while in a typing frenzy on the Aspire One D255, and after the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3 and Dell Inspiron Mini 10, it is the next best netbook keyboard to type on.



The Acer Aspire One D255 netbook’s touchpad is identical to that of the D260. It is wide, has a smooth matte finish that’s very responsive, and it’s great to use overall. The touchpad is gesture-enabled -- pinch to zoom, two-finger scroll, etc. -- and makes life easy while working with images or scrolling through long pages.