ICD's Tegra tablet officially dubbed the Vega, headed to T-Mobile UK
It's been a long, strange trip for this particular tablet, but it looks like ICD's once mysterious Tegra tablet has now finally found a home at T-Mobile UK, where it will soon be offered as the Vega. Somewhat interestingly, T-Mobile is now positioning this one as a tablet for the whole family, and says that the device is designed primarily to sit in the kitchen to let families keep watch on the household calendar and manage their schedules -- although it's also of course still capable of things like 1080p video playback, and just about everything else you'd expect from a 15-inch Android-based tablet. Otherwise, it seems to be mostly unchanged from what we've seen in prototype form, although T-Mobile is still describing it as a concept "in the final stages of development," so some things could still get shaken up before it rolls out sometime before the end of the year.
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T-Mobile and ICD Reveal First Mobile Connected Tablet Made for Busy Families
LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwire - January 07, 2010) - Consumer Electronics Show (CES) -- Innovative Converged Devices (ICD) and T-Mobile today unveiled a new family hub tablet which will be available in the UK later this year. Visitors to CES were given a sneak preview of the first Android-based tablet with multiple mobile connections which will be featured in a new T-Mobile family package.
Exclusive to T-Mobile in the UK, the centrepiece of the family hub is ICD's new Vega, a 15" touchscreen device designed primarily to sit in the kitchen which T-Mobile research identified as the heart of family life. The tablet offers one-touch access to a household calendar so families can organise their busy schedules in one place that everyone can always reach. It can be accessed by the whole family, wherever they are, via the web on a mobile, work computer, home PC or other devices with an Internet connection. The calendar automatically sends SMS text reminders to the family's mobiles, putting an end to scraps of paper and nagging phone calls. And because it comes with a T-Mobile SIM on-board, it's easy to make a quick hands-free call at the touch of a button. The family hub is a full-featured tablet with Wi-Fi web browsing, on-demand TV, access to social networks, video chat and games, as well as an FM radio for the complete kitchen set-up.
The concept is in the final stages of development by T-Mobile UK and ICD and was created following extensive customer research and close collaboration over the past 18 months. The team wanted the most responsive experience available so the ICD Vega tablet is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 250 mobile web processor to provide uncompromised Internet browsing and full HD 1080p video playback even while the tablet is undocked from its base.
Richard Warmsley, Head of New Proposition Development, T-Mobile, said: "We spoke to over 1,000 families who told us they often found it a hassle to organise a busy family life without nagging or forgotten appointments. They said that something simple and affordable to help with this would be invaluable. We took this as a challenge to do something new with technology that would be relevant to the average person, not just gadget lovers. We're developing a fantastic package to meet exactly these needs -- by creating a family communication network -- using ICD's exciting new Internet and entertainment tablet, with T-Mobile's award-winning network connections at its heart. We look forward to bringing it to market later this year."
"Bringing a high-end, well designed and engineered device to shelves at a mass market price has always been a Holy Grail for the consumer tech industry," said David Hayes, CEO of ICD. "The close collaboration between T-Mobile UK, ICD and NVIDIA has allowed us to work quickly to integrate insights from consumer research directly into a compelling product with supporting services, solutions and content."
About T-Mobile UK
T-Mobile is one of the world's largest mobile operators with more than 150 million customers worldwide and is the service provider of choice for 16.6 million customers in the UK. T-Mobile offers a range of innovative products and services, such as Solo, the SIM-only plan, Combi, a traditional minutes and text package, and Flext, the UK's first flexible tariff. T-Mobile continues to innovate with new devices such as the Android™-based smartphone, the T-Mobile G2, and the T-Mobile Pulse, the UK's first Android™ handset available on pay as you go. T-Mobile has pioneered the mobile internet, and operates an award-winning 3G network with speeds of up to 4.5Mbps. As a pioneer of deep network sharing in the UK, T-Mobile is continuously improving population coverage for 3G services and will operate the best 3G network by the end of 2010.
For more information about T-Mobile UK, please visit www.t-mobile.co.uk
About ICD
With offices in the US and UK, Innovative Converged Devices (ICD) brings high-end, cost-conscious products that add value to both consumers and partners through a delicate balance of design, engineering and a shortened development cycle through a unique process, including the right mix of hardware, software and technology and decades of experience in understanding what consumers want. ICD is responsible for award winning products such as the Momento, one of the world's first wireless picture frames and Velocity Mobile phones.
