Tablet Phone Seekers, Here’s Your ViewSonic ViewPad 7

By  |  Monday, November 1, 2010 at 5:00 am

When I asked you all for questions on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, I was surprised by how many people wanted to see a 7-inch tablet that doubles as a phone. Since the Galaxy Tab won’t have voice service, tablet phone seekers may consider ViewSonic’s ViewPad 7 instead.

ViewSonic announced U.S. pricing and launch details for the 7-inch tablet today. The ViewPad 7, running stock Android 2.2, will be available in November or December for $479. ViewSonic also announced the ViewPad 10, a 10-inch tablet that dual-boots Windows 7 and Android 1.6, coming in January or February for $629.

The 7-inch Android tablet has a SIM card slot for voice and data. Adam Hanin, ViewSonic’s vice president of marketing, couldn’t give me a firm answer on whether the ViewPad 7 will support voice and data on both AT&T and T-Mobile, but he personally has used the device for AT&T voice calls. The company is talking to wireless carriers about distribution, but Hanin couldn’t provide specifics. Given that Samsung cited “discussion that we have with carriers” as a reason the Galaxy Tab won’t support voice calling in the United States, I’m skeptical that ViewSonic will get much traction.

As for other details, the ViewPad 7 has a Qualcomm MSM7227 600MHz processor, an 800-by-480 capacitive touch screen, a 3-megapixel camera in the back, a 0.3-megapixel camera in front and a mini-USB jack. Built-in storage is a mere 512 MB, but there’s a MicroSD card slot for up to 32 GB of expandable storage. ViewSonic claims that the tablet’s battery lasts 10 hours on a charge. The Android Market is supported, which means the ViewPad 7 will subsist on blown-up smartphone apps, but unlike Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, ViewSonic’s tablet won’t come with any first-party apps optimized for the larger screen.

The ViewPad 10 is more like netbook, with a 1.66 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, a 16 GB solid state drive (with MicroSD expansion) and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. The tablet comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, as opposed to the hobbled Starter edition. On the Android side, there’s no Android Market support, so you’d have to rely on other sources, like GetJar.

I haven’t laid hands on either tablet, but I hope to try the ViewPad 7 in a few weeks.

(Story updated to included processor specs)

 
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2 Comments For This Post

  1. Doug Says:
    November 5th, 2010 at 9:04 am

    what the hell? Android 2.2 on the 7 in Nov/Dec but only Android 1.6 on the 10 in Jan? Oh wait, the 10 will also have Microsoft Windows on it so Microsoft dictates what else can run on the device.

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    July 2nd, 2011 at 6:56 am

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