The core of this 3 part system is an high end Android smartphone. Sporting a 4.3-inch AMOLED display, a Qualcomm dual-core processor, running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), Bluetooth, a 8-megapixel camera, a second VGA shooter around the front. Inside, Asus put Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, up to 64GB of built-in storage.

The interesting part is the phone fits into the back of a tablet, giving access to a 1280×800 screen with its own battery. Further, this connects to a keyboard, with its own battery as well, that extends the over life of the system even further. Now what is even more geeky is the Bluetooth-enabled Padfone Stylus Headset.  I do not see where you are suppose to doc this thing, so may need to put some Velcro on this guy, but still, very inventive.

Check out the video below, pretty cool, although its clear the woman giving the demonstration is still not that smooth with the device yet. I’ll look for a better Vid in a bit.

No details on pricing or when (or if) it will come to the US. I will be watching..

{update}

Ok, found the promo vid, which mean it will DEF be released in the US at some point.  However, I’m going to include the first link because like ‘most’ promo vids, this on is annoying.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrh_EwFaZ7I

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj2vAFNCp3k

As predicted, the flurry of inexpensive tablets (in all its forms) did very little to hurt iPad says, but instead feed off its own as cheaper Android tablets grabbed market share from more powerful tablets trying to compeat with the iPad. As we enter further in to 2012, already there are signs that a sub $100 tablet is going to hit the market, followed later by the sub $75 tablet thus creating a race to the bottom to create an inexpensive yet still functional tablet.   We have already seen a start with the $35 Aakash.

Although there will still be a market for larger more powerful android tablets, there has been no evidence so far that any device has put up a challenge to the iPad dominance in the 10″ category; although the Galaxy Tab did make a good go of it. And with the iPad3 about to enter the market, Apple’s dominance will only become more entrenched for the near future. But that is not the only device Apple has on the drawing board, they also have a 7″. What does this mean for the current players slugging it out in the low end market? Not a thing. The Apple 7″ tablet will not be an inexpensive device, but instead it will try to match or exceed the specs the first iPad, so odds are you will not see it in every 5th graders hands in some of the more social economically challenged area’s. Instead I’m looking forward to the sub $100 tablets.

I remember when I was young that only the rich kids had nice calculators, but within 2 years, it seemed everyone had one, and a few years after that, it was required for classes in middle and high school. This is going to be the same thing with tablets. There will be a time, perhaps in the next 2 or 3 years, that it will be expected that your child will have a tablet to access and turn in homework, in class assignments, textbooks (or at least content not in the textbook) as well as access online libraries, educational apps, and yes, calculators. This will cause an interesting shift in how children are taught, but that is for another post. This does not mean there will not be plenty of iPads in the classroom as well, especially at the collage level, but one can expect a shift to the lest expensive devices and since there will be a mix between OS’s, we can also expect most content to by HTML5.

However, do not think this will happen without a fight. There is a whole industry that is highly invested in printing very expensive text books. What I’m waiting for is a simple way to take notes using a tablet, so far I have not seen a good inexpensive tablet that has good pen input.  So don’t though away your paper and pens just yet.  But you may want to get a good scanner. BTW: I’m fully aware that the kids in the picture are holding TC1000 tablets.  How do I know?  Because I own one

From VentureBeat

Last month I said it would believe it when I see a sub $50 tablet, well know I’ve seen it from VentureBeat.  It costs around $45 to build, but with a $10 discount from the government, we have a $35 tablet. Now this is just for India keep in mind and targeted for some of the poorer villages where kids may not have access to any technology (and thus information from the world) much less something they can take home.   Although its VERY underpowered, as we all expected, it still can be used.  3 hour battery life unless you play video, which is surprisingly good.  The only way they can pull that off is dedicated GPU chip that only renders video.

When you watch the video below, keep in mind that this is running what seem to be out of the box Android 2.2.  Powered by a 366 mhz CPU and 256k mem, such sluggish performance is not unexpected.  I would think that once someone stripped out Android to run thinner, or take android 1.2 and update that OS, you could have something usable. Keep in mind that this device is targeted for education, not playing games or for use quickly on the fly where speed really matters.  I would expect the only things really needed to do is created and read documents, research on the web, and education videos. This device does come with a custom browser but that was not tried since the battery died by then.

When you watch the video try to remember the days when we used to work no 386 computers with 14.4 and 28.8 dial up modems.  We were able to survive then, so if the speed of the AARASH could be say doubled, I would say this is real and shows great promise.

and now… some specs..

Aakash stats at-a-glance

Screen: 7-inches; 800-by-400 pixels; Resistive touchscreen

Operating system: Android 2.2, Froyo

Processor: 366 MHz Connexant; HD Video co-processor (both with graphics accelerators)

Memory: 256MB RAM (internal); 2GB Flash (external)

Storage: 2GB card included, expandable up to 32GB

Ports: Two USB 2.0; 3.5mm audio out jack; 3.5mm audio in jack (No built-in speakers)

Connectivity: GPRS; Wi-Fi 802.11 a,b,g

Power: Up to 180 minutes on battery; AC adapter, 200-240 volt

Weight: 350 grams

Check out the video below from VentureBeat

The ASUS Eee Pad. Strange name I know, but a very straight forward offering. Its a tablet that can convert into a netpad. Sweet. Now waaaaay back in the day, there was another machine that could do this, it was called HP’s TC1100. A Pen based tablet computer that had a removable keyboard. I still have this machine and still love it, and now ASUS has revisited that simple concept for the 21st century.

I have not played with this myself so I cannot attest to how responsive it is. Typically, every tablet I have played with (except the iPad) always had that very slight hesitation when interacting with it. Since the Eee runs Google’s Honeycomb Android OS, and seems to be pretty powerful with its dual core CPU offering, perhaps that will not be the case. But based on some of the
video I have seen, I’m not fully convinced. However, based on the video is the best I’ve seen.

Still, I would consider this since not only do you have a nice simple snap in keyboard, the keyboard also extends the battery life. Nice! The price point is comparable with the iPad as well as feature sets except this guy offers. The $150 keyboard includes two USB ports, an SD card reader, and its own battery.

Ok, so check out the Vid below

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-dqx0Q260Y

According to reviewers, the biggest problem with the PlayBook is that it requires a Bluetooth connection to a BlackBerry phone to access your email, calendar, contacts, memo pad, and the popular BlackBerry Messenger chat. Without the phone connection, which RIM calls BlackBerry Bridge,  those apps are greyed out and completely inaccessible from the PlayBook — that means you’re left out in the cold if your phone runs out of charge. It also means that none of that seemingly basic functionality is available to users of competing platforms like the iPhone and Android. RIM says that standalone versions of those apps will be available this summer.

Mind blowing. Who in the right minds would release a product that ONLY blackberry users can use and ONLY if they phone is nearby.  That has to be the most insane thing I have ever heard.  So not only do you have to complete with all the other slates out there, you are asking your customer to make sure their phones are nearby.  And if you lose power on your phone, opps, your bad.

Gezz.. worse if you are the type that wants to carry this around then hold up because  the Bridge feature is also the only way for the PlayBook to receive mobile internet access — the device doesn’t ship with 3G or 4G cellular radios, though RIM mentioned that mobile broadband support will come in future versions of the PlayBook later this year.

So what can we conclude?  There will be a VERY soft launch of this device.  In fact, we should just call it a beta launch because with so few apps, 3,000, no 3G and dependance on a blackberry phone, its not something I would call.. launch ready.

We not ‘ME’; I’m actually dieing to get my hands on one and play with it. I really liked the WebOS when I first started playing with it when the Pre came out (did not care for the phone), but instead I think most of the public does not care. When HP first bought Palm, then dropped their first slate, I had a feeling they were looking towards a slate / pad / tablet and here its is. Its Grrreatt!!

And I dont care..

But wait, you can select multiple email messages to delete all of them at one time with gestures as well as make your virtual keyboard larger or smaller.. I dont care.. Its supports flash in the web page AND

multitasking. I dont care… It can run your desktop, Mac and linux box all from the comfort of your sofa. I dont care.. It can support all 4 major cell networks and 2 more for 5G and 6G international that does not even exist yet! I dont care.. You can place it on your cat and by generating a static electric field, will remove all the hair and dandruff and install a language translator so you can talk to your cat. I dont care.. Sounding familiar? If you have not figured this out yet check the Video at the end of this post.

So what is my point here? The next time someone says this is a iPad killer, my brain will explode with the temptation to shove a hot poker in their face. As cool as this slate is; I think its a little late. The iPad owns the mindset of the general public and everyone else is fighting over the margins. And you think Microsoft is not going to come out with a tablet of some sort? Dont be silly. Given Apples lead, and the inroads made by Android, AND the fact more programmers write for Apple or Android, I think the WebOS is going to have an uphill battle to get people to write for it. And Apps is what people want, not cool features and functions that are not ground breaking. When the day comes that we have a write once deploy everywhere arch like Java and Flash tried to give us (think HTML5 containers), THEN we have another story, but that day is still far away.

I know its old now, but have another look at this video and the following one. I think it make a really good point. People dont care how cool a technology is (unless its ground breaking) they only care what they can do with it, and has it been proved out by their friends and/or network.

Ok check out the post iPhone and HTC Android fan boys do battle via salesman cartoons.

And here is the NSFW Video..

Well the tablet still exists, and they are still trying to push it.  And they had one here at IDF. (Intel developers conference)  Although it looked REALLY sweet and has to be the largest ‘pad’ I’ve ever held, it just did not seem to work very well. I tool a video with my droid (sorry about the quality) and you can see its just not quite there yet, but still, pretty nice platform.  Put Android on that bad boy and then we are talking!

So check out this video below. Even when they get the OS working, I think its too late.  They should really explore putting Android on this thing.

So who is left?  Google.  I have not heard much on the gSlate, but as far as I know its still in development. I can understand HP killing the tablet since its really not an appliance like the iPad is, but I guess they decided there was not enough market between the current tablet market (which is small) and the appliance market that the iPad owns.

So now what?  I decided not to buy the iPad because I wanted to see what HP does.  I guess I could wait for the Google tablet, but from what I understand, and TC also comments, that the Google tablets is suppose to be stripped down and cheap.  If that is the case, the touch screen  may not be good enough for high fidelity pen input.  Well… I was planning on getting an iPad when the price comes down, so unless Google really surprises me, I guess I will get the iPad.  Oh and the JooJoo?  Ha!  no.

Click on the image to see full size

On Engadget (who else) we have a leak of the new HP Slate.  And the specs look great. We have been hearing rumors for awhile, but this is first with some teeth. Its going for $549, an 8.9′ 1024×600 mutli-touch display.  We have a 1.6 g processor and UMA with accelerator for 1080p video playback. Nice.

Now, look what new weapons this HP brings to the battle.  TWO.. count them TWO cameras!  A SDHC slot, USB port, Sim slot for the 3G.  GPS! (why?) Dock connector of course. The battery is 5 hours, 1/2 of the ‘claimed’ 10 hr ipad – now really… 1o hours?  Anyway,  we have windows7 installed.  That a big point because that mean pen support, AND that means you can write as an input.  For anyone who has used a windows7 tablet/slate, the handwriting recognition is action pretty good, so but win there.

Now for those of you questioning running Windows7 on a 1.6g processor, I have an old HP TC1100 with 1.2g and 2 g of ram with a SSD and its runs great!!  I’m sure the Atom will hold up as well if not better.  The real key here will be the graphics card and the speed of processing touch screen response.  It has to equal if not exceed the glossy feel that I get with the ipad.  Had to be THAT fast. Anything less, and this could be a short battle indeed.   So let the clash of titans begin!!

Now check out this video…