Hey look, a tablet post that isn’t about a TouchPad — it must be Thursday. In fact, it’s also IFA, which means the device announcements are coming faster than I can keep track.
Things kicked off with Sony officially branding their new tablets, with the codenamed S-1 becoming the S, and the very cool S-2 now the Tablet P. For those that don’t remember, the now-known-as P is Sony’s hinged Dual Screen tablet. We’re waiting on word of a price though, which is really the key factor.
Also, what if I get my finger caught in that? Will it hurt?
Screens were a big story this week, with news that the Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi would be joining forces to better combat Samsung and Apple in the area of screen manufacture. Right now, Samsung has the biggest advantage — they make the screens for their tablets and Apple has some pretty solid deals with them. Will banding together help these three otherwise giants get a toe-hold? Doubtful. Still, good to see everyone playing nicely.
Huawie, a manufacturer you may be utterly unfamiliar with, has a 7″ tablet coming to T-Mobile this year. Not much details beyond that. With T-Mobile’s last tablet, the Dell Streak, tanking so hard that it hurt to watch, this may be a potential upset if Huawie can avoid making Dell’s mistakes — underpowered, overpriced, crippled with a skin that took functionality away from Android — this might make their mindshare go up.
The long-rumored HTC Puccini is official as the HTC Jetstream. I’d talk about specs and the like, but you’re not going to buy this. Sure, it’s great and powerful, but it also costs $699.99 on contract, and an insane $849 out of contract. At that price, you may as well go out and snag, well, anything else, really.
For that price, it better be able to fetch my pipe and slippers.
This is particularly egregious for being announced the same week that Apple started running refub iPad 2s. Sure, it’s not 4G, but you can get online much cheaper on the same network. At that price, you might even stick it to your shopping cart.
If you were looking to save money on an HP TouchPad (oh hush, you knew I’d mention it), you may want to read this FAQ. Also? Stop messaging me. I don’t know where you can get one.
Speaking of under-appreciated tablets, one day after announcing that the Thrive would be shipping to the UK as the AT100, Toshiba wows us with the AT200, a thinner and lighter Thrive. At 7.7 mm thick, I absolutely dare anyone to whine about this one being heavy. As with the first Thrive, the specs are great, including expandability options like microSD. There’s a Micro USB port as well. Will it have USB-host like the original Thrive? Will the price not be insane? Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, Samsung has treated IFA like a coming out party, releasing tons of cool devices. Of particular interest is the Galaxy Tab 7.7, the first AMOLED tablet. If you’ve ever used an AMOLED screen, then you know how awesome this is. This may make Samsung the maker with the most size options. You have the original 7″, the 7.7″, the 8.9″, and the 10″. You could even argue that the Galaxy S Note, technically a phone, is more of a tablet with it’s 5.3″ screen and stylus.
Samsung reps, this is totally on my Chanukah list.
Meanwhile, Viewsonic showed of a 7″ tablet that was, interestingly enough, running Honeycomb. Even more fascinating, the 10po they showed off has Gingerbread instead, but it also dual boots to Windows. Even so, the 7x, with built in GPS, seems like an interesting buy.
That is, until you get to our closing number, Lenovo. They were late to the party but they’re impressing the heck out of me. Now meet the Lenovo IdeaPad A1. The specs are all solid, but it’s the price that gets me. Outside the US, an 8 GB model is $199. Sadly, in the US the 16 GB is the starting model and priced at $249. It’s still a good deal, and it’s a tad more powerful (and we assume stable) and stable than a rooted nook Color.
It's no 7' TouchPad, but it'll do just fine
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