ASUS’ EEE Pads to Quadruple-Team the Tablet Market
I’m sure Technabob himself will have more information on ASUS’ new tablet offerings when he goes to CES next week, but for now we’ll just have to be content with these pics, specs and speculation from Tech in Style and Engadget. It seems like the company that popularized netbooks will be releasing not one, not two but four different devices with tablet form factors.
First up we have the Eee Note EA800, a cross between an eReader and a tablet. It has a non-backlit TFT display with 2,450 dpi, 768×1,024 resolution. It’s powered by a 624MHz CPU, has a 4GB SSD, micro SD port, a camera, built-in mic, and Wi-Fi. As you can see, the EA800 has a stylus, and is clearly meant to be used as a digital notepad:
Tech in Style was lucky enough to spend a week with an EA800, and they say that writing on it is a pleasure. The fast refreshing TFT screen and the CPU combine to minimize the lag in the device. The inclusion of a camera and mic means that you can take not just written notes but images and audio as well.
On the software side, the EA800 has a browser, a music player, a calculator, and support for a plethora of documents: ePub, PDF, MP3, JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx and possibly more. ASUS claims that the EA800′s battery is good for about 13 hours, which is on par for tablets but not as long lasting as dedicated eReaders.
Next up we have this mysterious device pictured above, which has at least one USB 3.0 port, a built-in keyboard, and what seem to be Android buttons. Below is another tablet; Engadget bets that this one has a keyboard that slides out, but we won’t be able to confirm that until next week.
Finally we have a teaser clip from ASUS itself, this time outlining the capabilities of the Windows 7-based ASUS EP121 tablet, which seems to be ASUS’ main bet against the iPad and other current mainstream tablets. Unfortunately it’s all in (digital) chalk; there are no shots of the device itself.
Since we don’t have all the information yet, it might be possible that the EP121 is one of the two mysterious devices pictured above, but the thing is, the teaser doesn’t mention any keyboard, slider, swivel, detachable or otherwise. Check out the links below for more pics and info. Which tablet would you like to own in 2011?
[via Engadget & via Tech in Style (1) (2) (3) via Akihabara News]
(technabob) |