HP Slate priced at €400 for June launch, Atom CPU confirmed?

Reputable Spanish publication Clipset has the first concrete report on pricing and internal specs for HP's Slate. Seemingly obtained from HP itself, the €400 ($546) price tag positions the Slate a notch above netbooks and bodes well for the expectation that it'll undercut the iPad's entry level pricing. Straight currency conversations are inadvisable in such situations, so we'll just have to wait until official stickers for the iPad in Europe are known or HP announces US prices for the Slate. Further info includes an Atom CPU, Flash support, USB connectivity, a memory card reader, and a back-mounted webcam (see it after the break). The launch of this Windows 7 device is slated for June, while retail availability in Europe is said to be expected at some point "before September." It's not clear what all that means for the US, but we doubt HP will be making its home turf wait longer than the rest of the world. Rest assured, we'll be reaching out to HP HQ before they've had their first cup of green tea to find out.

Update: HP's response to our queries has been typically tight-lipped. The company refused to discuss Clipset's specs and pricing, which would suggest that -- even though they may be spot on -- they are not yet official.

Source

Read more »

EAFT Magic Tile and Compal tablets shown in India, Tegra 2 and Android in tow

We heard earlier this month that half a hundred ARM-based tablets would be launching this year, and it's pretty safe to say that these will be two of 'em. Shown off recently in Mumbai, India's own EAFT spurred interest with its Magic Tile, a presumably Billy Mays-endorsed Tegra 2-based tablet that runs on Android. We're told that it's equipped with a 7-inch touch panel (1,024 x 600 resolution), a front-mounted 1.3 megapixel webcam for video chats, 1080p video encoding / decoding abilities, optional 3G, a battery good for 8 hours of usage, inbuilt accelerometer, Bluetooth, HDMI output and a USB socket to round things out. All told, it's a pretty well-specced machine, though we're certainly hoping that the design gets a little TLC before it's launched in Q3 for an undisclosed rate. In related news, a Compal tablet was also on display, boasting a similar 7-inch layout, a Tegra 2 chip within, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, a 3 megapixel camera and a complete lack of WiFi (gasp!). Head on past the break for a hands-on vid.

Update: We thought this thing looked familiar. If you had the same feeling, it's probably because the Magic Tile is actually that ICD Ultra tablet we played with a little while back. Still, "Magic Tile" has a catchy ring to it.


Source

Read more »

ICD's Tegra 2-powered Gemini is the most feature-complete tablet we've seen yet

Built around the 1GHz Tegra 2 SOC, the 11.2-inch ICD Gemini should provide comparable endurance to Apple's A4-sporting iPad, while besting it in the grunt stakes with its glorious ability to chew through 1080p video when required. If that wasn't enough, the rest of this thing's spec sheet reads like a wishlist. Headlined by a 3G connection that allows cellular voice calls (crazy, we know!), it also includes a user-replaceable 40Wh battery, an SD card reader, FM radio, GPS, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, MicroUSB connectivity to PCs and USB peripherals, stereo speakers, and dual webcams -- a 2 megapixel front-facing unit and a 5 megapixel autofocusing snapper on the back. Multitouch displays will be available in both resistive and capacitive flavors, with the 1,366 x 768 resolution being filled by Google's snappy Android OS. Oh, and did we mention it will run Flash? Because it will. Full specs and a comparison to its direct competitors await after the break, though we've yet to find out when this JooJoo killer will be making its arrival or at what price.

Update: We've come across a couple of real (i.e. not rendered) pictures of an earlier prototype for the Gemini, which looks generic as hell but should give you a good idea of the dimensions and scale of the device in question.

Source

Read more »

ExoPC delayed till summer, getting specification upgrades to dull the pain

Now that the tablet PC revolution is upon us (for the second time in as many decades, if you'll recall), there's bound to be a few that really stick out, and a few that get left in the dust. ExoPC is doing its darnedest to be grouped in the former, and it's choosing to hold off on rushing things out in hopes of delivering a superior product to the world this summer. If you'll recall, we heard that the 8.9-inch slate would originally be out and about this month, but the company's own Jean-Baptiste Martinoli has informed us directly why the ship date is being pushed back a few months. For starters, production has been shifted from China into Canada thanks to a freshly signed deal with CiaraTech. And if you're wondering what you'll get in return for waiting just a few more months to get your hands on one, we've excellent news. Here's the good word straight from the outfit:

"With [CiaraTech's] help we are improving the specs: better processor, graphics, better battery life, thinner, better screen and touch panel. We should hit FCC soon. As we have more time we are adding more features in the ExoPC UI Layer (ex. an app / media store)."

We aren't exactly big on waiting, but we'll let that other tablet keep us company until this one finally gets its shipping papers. Summer ain't too far out, now is it?

Source

Read more »