Remember that $150 Android tablet from Augen that’s supposed to arrive at Kmart this week? The Android Blog found one, and was quickly turned off by its poor display quality and responsiveness.
Tag Archives | Tablets
More Dell Streak Details
Dell still isn’t saying precisely when it’ll ship its Streak 5″ tablet, but it’s taking preorders, and has released a few additional tidbits: The phone device will come with Android 1.6 but be upgradable to 2.2 later this year, and won’t work on T-Mobile’s 3G network. It’s $299.99 with an AT&T contract and $549.99 without one–pricey given that people in the UK who sign up for a contract can get one for free.
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Augen's $150 Android Tablet Coming to Kmart This Week
While most major hardware makers are still getting their tablet acts together, Augen is sneaking in with 7-inch Android tablet, supposedly due this week in Kmart stores for $150.
The specs aren’t half-bad, either. According to Augen’s website, the Gentouch78 runs Android 2.1 and has an 800 MHz processor, built-in Wi-Fi, 256 MB of RAM, 2 GB of memory and an SD card slot holding up to 16 GB. It also supports 720p video playback, has USB input for data transfers and comes with a leather carrying case. Augen’s website claims Android Market support for 70,000 apps, which is surprising because Google reportedly prohibits access for devices that lack smartphone-like hardware, such as cameras and accelerometers.
If a cheap Android tablet interests you, but sounds too good to be true, there’s not much harm in finding out. Engadget heard from an Augen representative that the tablet will be in Kmart stores this week, and it’s already showing up in circulars. With any luck, you’ll be able to try the tablet before buying. You may also be able to take it home for a while, as I don’t see any exceptions for computers in Kmart’s 90-day return policy, but I’d double check in the store if you’re serious about it.
Companies that have promised or at least considered Android tablets include Asus, Acer, Lenovo, LG, HP, HTC and Toshiba. Archos already sells a 7-inch tablet that’s stuck on Android 1.5 and costs $200. Dell’s about to launch the 5-inch Streak Android tablet, and may move up to larger sizes, but so far, there isn’t much you can buy stateside.
So here’s to one of the first actual iPad alternatives to actually reach a retail store, and for cheap. Strange that it’s only available at Kmart and comes from a brand you probably haven’t heard of.
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A Windows Phone 7 Tablet? It's Possible–and a Good Idea
There is a lot of speculation about what the agreement announced today between chip designer ARM and Microsoft actually means. Some pundits predict that it is a signal that Microsoft intends to deliver Windows or Windows Phone OS tablet and slate devices, while others foresee an overdue overhaul of the Xbox’s architecture.
I’m keen on the idea of a tablet based upon Windows Phone 7. For too long, Microsoft has relied upon grafting Windows onto smaller form factors: “Oh wow, a stylus.” The success of Apple’s less feature-rich iPad proves that it was the wrong approach. Customers want an operating envrionment that works well for their devices, meaning it should be designed with the device in mind. A tablet-friendly version of Windows Phone 7 would fit the bill.
Microsoft very boldly hit the reset button and abandoned all elements of Windows with the Windows Phone OS’s “Metro” interface. I’ve used it, and like it very much. Metro was compelling enough that I was tempted to see whether I would actually give up my iPhone if I started to a use Windows Phone powered device.
If Microsoft focuses on Windows Embedded Compact instead of Windows Phone, it will be making a big, big mistake. It’s time for a consistent and quality mobile experience from Microsoft. That means apps that work across devices and an interface that works. Windows Phone uses SIlverlight; those apps should work on Windows tablets with little adjustment on the part of developers.
The glaringly obvious problem with that scenario is that I can buy an iPhone today, and Windows Phone 7 is still many months away from production. Let’s hope Microsoft learns from past mistakes,. I just hope it’s not too late .
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The $35 Tablet PC: Not Buying It Yet
How many times will we be burned by the promise of ultra low-cost computers, like the $35 touch screen PC the Indian government just announced?
India has a prototype of the cheap computer, and plans to roll the real thing out to Indian schoolchildren and higher education students in 2011. It’ll have a Linux-based operating system, a USB port, a 2 GB memory card and other unspecified specs, the Guardian reports. But as fascinating as the super cheap laptop concept may be, there’s always some snag, gotcha or fatal flaw that prevents the promises from matching up with reality.
In the case of One Laptop Per Child, the goal of a $100 laptop was never achieved. Even in the second-hand eBay market, asking prices are closer to $200. Earlier this year, a website claimed to offer $98 laptops running Windows CE, but that site is now defunct. Another company called Cherrypal has tried making a name for itself with dirt-cheap laptops, like the 7-inch model running Android for $100, but getting one can be a hassle, as one customer has documented.
The $35 tablet’s problem is already clear if you read the AP’s coverage: India wants to get the price down to around $20 in order to sell the tablet at home, but to do that, the country either needs to subsidize the cost itself — a tall order with 110 million kids targeted in the initial roll out — or convince manufacturers to set higher prices in the developed world.
In other words, the $35 tablet’s manufacturing cost alone would be more expensive outside of India. Let’s make the grand assumption that manufacturers would even want to deal with thinner profit margins than netbooks; I wonder whether consumers in the developed world would be willing to pay for a tablet with no memory, an unknown operating system and other specs that apparently can’t even be mentioned at this point in time.
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Flipboard Launches, Gets Overwhelmed, Regroups
Flipboard, the “social magazine” which I wrote about on Tuesday, remains a really cool, clever application–but its servers are struggling to keep up with all the iPad owners who want to check it out. For awhile, that resulted in some users simply being unable to get the app to work at all. Now the company has instituted an invite system: It says that the app’s standard content streams should now function smoothly, but that it’s letting people get access to their Facebook and Twitter feeds in groups.
If the standard hot-Web-startup scenario pans out, Flipboard will beef up its servers enough to make the app function well pretty quickly. It’s fascinating, though, just how hard it seems to be for companies to get this stuff right before they launch..
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The HP Slate Lives. Maybe. At Least It's Not Dead
Engadget is reporting that HP will “make a determination soon on the next steps” for its Windows 7 slate PC–the one that I declared dead a few weeks ago. It’s not entirely clear what that means, but it’s the most the company has said about the product in several months.
I’m not going to eat my words until it’s on the market, or HP at least announces a price and release date…
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Whither HP Android Tablet?
Forget about the HP Windows 7 slate–All Things Digital’s John Paczkowski says that the company is having second thoughts about its Android tablet. too.
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iPad Alternatives
[UPDATE: Looking for an up-to-date list of iPad alternatives? I tried my hand at compiling one here]
Yes, the iPad has competitors. Sort of. CrunchGear’s Matt Burns rounds up its rivals–the available, the delayed, and the dormant. (The JooJoo–the device formerly known as the CrunchPad–isn’t on the list, even though it’s among the most iPaddish tablets that’s actually for sale. Maybe it’s taboo to mention it on TechCrunch network sites…)
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HP Windows 7 Slate: It's Alive?
HP still hasn’t said boo about its slate plans since the company acquired Palm, and Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer didn’t mention HP during his Worldwide Partners Conference keynote this week, when talking about Windows 7 slate PCs.
So why was HP listed as one of many companies releasing Windows 7 slates this year?
The image here was screengrabbed from the live feed of Ballmer’s keynote, and tipped to Engadget over Twitter. Microsoft doesn’t have the recordings of its keynotes online yet, so I can’t validate this myself. If it’s accurate — and not just an oversight by whoever put together Ballmer’s keynote slides — it opens up a couple possibilities:
On one hand, perhaps the HP Windows slate is not dead, as rumored and generally suspected due to HP’s silence on the matter. Maybe HP just went back to the drawing board after seeing what the iPad could do, or put the Windows 7 slate on the backburner to fast-track a WebOS tablet.
On the other hand, the images above Microsoft’s list of partners includes a swiveling tablet with a keyboard. HP has already built one of those, running Windows 7, the Touchsmart tm2. I wouldn’t be shocked if HP updated that laptop in the fall, and Microsoft called it a slate for the sake of promoting Windows 7’s touch-friendliness.
In any case, with more than 20 companies building Windows 7 slates this year, debating the mortality of an HP entrant is moot. The idea was novel when HP was the only major company openly talking about an iPad competitor, but that’s hardly the case anymore. I’d be more interested to hear about a WebOS tablet at this point; at least it’ll stand out from the crowd.