The
CrunchPad may be
dead, but with devices like this on the docket forgive us if we're not shedding any tears. The
mystery tablet from earlier this week is the Vega from Innovative Converged Devices, or ICD. Available in 7-, 11-, and 15-inch sizes it's a simple but beautifully svelte design, and with that
Tegra processor should have plenty of muscle. The resistive nature of those screens may be a bit of a bummer for some, but naturally it'll do everything Android does -- though without a GPS sensor we're guessing
Google Navigation is out. The only questions left left now are when, how much, and who will be pumping the bits to its cellular antennae? Those are answers we hope to bring you from Vegas in two months' time.
posted Nov 13th 2009 8:09AM
And here I am just wishing with all my heart for a wacom variant. Heck, maybe even with a little hardware switch to choose between pressure sensitive pen or resistive touch finger... *Dreams away..*
Yea, I'm one of the guys who loved the tablet idea, but hated the actual products :P
It enables and disabled the finger friendly screens when it detects the pen. No switch required for the newer devices.
>>> "...without a GPS sensor we're guessing Google Navigation is out..."
USB and Bluetooth GPS dongles are really cheap now.
From what I can find this'll have 512MB DDR DRAM, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi (no N), Bluetooth 2 and MicroSD, 4 hour battery life.
reminds me of HTC
as soon as apple was rumored to bring out a tablet this year, we can now see the fruits of every other company's labor to imitate them. as soon as apple comes out with theirs, they are gonna blow everyone out of the water.
Looks great to watch Movies on but the battery life could be improved.
Looks like they're practising that already, isn't that Jason faintly printed on the screen?
Android 2.0 Eclair
373mm x 254mm x 16mm
15.6" Touchscreen
NVIDIA Tegra
512 DDR / 512 NAND
1.3 MP Web Cam
Micro SD
Bluetooth 2.1
Wireless 802.11 b/g
USB 2.0
2g/3g Data
Cellular
3.5mm Audio Jack
Magnetic Docking
Tablet/Dock Charging
Accelerometer
Ambient light sensor
Dual digital microphones
Docking system looks like the one on my conceptual (Apple) tablet:
http://visionaforethought.wordpress.com/2009/08/23/if-apple-dont-launch-a-tablet-equal-or-better-than-this/
(Mine lacks finesse, being conceptual only of course.)
Minus the camera and the inductive charging idea (which is a hugely ineffecient and at times dangerous, btw), what you'd drawn up is basically an HP TC1100.
Just want to make it clear to the world that once apple make a tablet, i'm not going to be one to claim afterwards that there were alternative products all along, i'll do it now.
This form factor (with the rotating dock and screen rotation etc) has been around for years now, it's just that it's been abandoned by HP even tho it remains the best tablet design out there.
Also, this Vega tablet thing looks pretty nice, really needs a wacom pen so notes can be taken properly, otherwise you'll basically be left with is a netbook with an on-screen keyboard.
I was kinda excited about these, until I got my droid. Now I dont see the point in a tablet, just get a netbook.
Right...because nobody has ever made a tablet PC and I'm sure nobody was working on these new ones until Apple rumors started. If it weren't for Apple we would all be doomed. Doomed I say!
Apple copied the CrunchPad, Apple always copies someone elses idea and improves it. People are just blind to the obvious.
Just waiting for a Tegra based smartphone running Android 2.0. The day something like that comes out on Sprint I am breaking out the wallet.
@The Flyin' Hawaiian- Imitation occurs when a company brings out a 'me too' product with almost identical similarities to an existing one. This term is used in derogatory sense. Especially, with regard to firms that imitate with gross violation of patents and copyrights.
Even if one were to use the term loosely, as you have in this case, ICD's Vega tablet has come out first...so guess who would be the imitator when Apple brings out its own.
so... based on that "logic".... when apple 'ripped off the lg prada' it only took them a matter of months to create the iphone...?
good work holmes... you'll make detective yet....
dude, the apple tablet rumor has been flying around now for at least 10 years prob. I know it was when i bought my 333 MHz ibook new.
I dont understand how all these people can be "imitating" Apple since their tablet is completely VAPOR right now. At least these guys have a working prototype to show off.
Get off the your Apple high horse. Competition is good, not bad. How many times does this really need to be mentioned? Sheesh.
So... nobody else noticed Jason from Friday the 13th in the display?
so thats what the little image etc I keep seeing everywhere.
That's why I love Engadget on Friday the 13th!
Jason is everywhere!
beautiful...
Kinda hard to imitate what hasn't even been seen yet. At least this, the courier and others have promo videos displaying practical use and applications.
Hey, has anyone noticed that this thing only displays 262,000 colors? Is that enough for HD video (720p) and high resolution graphics?
Nice sleek and simple design, and looks like it's not going to be too expensive. I'm a bit sceptical about screen quality, though, and at these sizes multitouch sure would have been nice (as you can easily use both hands).
Also, "plenty of muscle"? Sure, it may have a dedicated video processing unit, but for other uses, especially on the 11" and 15" ones, an ARM11 and 512 MB RAM seem rather weak.
This looks like the tablet that was shown off at the Nvidia CEO interview!
7-inch sounds perfect for casual web-browsing around the TV. Hopefully we're talking multi-touch.
"but it'll naturally it'll do everything Android does"
Does anything seem bad in this sentence Engadget ?
The device itself looks beautiful. But somehow tablets give me a feeling that they are too feeble to be carried around as computers. And I just cannot think of a comfortable situation of usage. Again, its just me. I know the whole world is waiting for the Apple tablet.
I wan't a notebook replacement in a single piece not a netbook! I don't believe apple or any else will sell many of these stripped down e-readers. I already have an Iphone 3GS and that has limitations on it I can live with because its a phone, but I would love to get rid of my bulky laptop in favor of a machine i can do any thing with but in a new form factor.
Looks a lot like what Apple will sell.
Case in point: remember, there was a smartphone before the iPhone, it was called the Neo. It was horrible in speed, had Edge and no 3G and no carriers supported it, BUT it was a true touchscreen smartphone out 6 months before the iPhone (Edge service too, mind that). Of course Apple just clearly marketed and created a more polished device than the Neo (The Neo was really, horrible).
I'm sure there will be a company that has the same thing Apple will sell, out first, but will likely have the same fate as the Neo, where as Apple will release the iTablet, or whatever it's called, they will take all credit and it will be a smashing success...
I've never heard of the neo, but smartphones were out a hell of a long time more than 6 months before the iPhone. Blackberries had been around for years, and Palms had as well, and incorporated touchscreens with two different OS choices. There were a slew of full touch screen Windows mobile phones as well. In fact, although the iPhone is powerful, sleek and easy to use, I would say it was actually pretty far behind typical smartphones when released. It wasn't smart enough to copy and paste, and it was to restrictive to let you tether. In fact pretty much any other phone that had previously called itself a smartphone supported some sort of push email, and had for years. It wasn't until a year later that the iPhone got it. So yes the iPhone maybe a smartphone, but it was way at the bottom of the curve at release for capabilities associated with smartphones.
Now that's just freaking creepy.
Of course what a lot of people fail to realise is that the Apply will likley have much the same restrictive OS as on the iPhone where as one would assume it possible to get Linux onto a tablet like this. Something like Moblin is a lot more suitable to this form factor than the iPhone OS, well when it has matured a bit more, but 2.1 is dandy!
-faps furiously-