ASUS planning a 'killer product' for June, Eee Pad noise grows louder
By Vlad Savov 
posted February 10th 2010 9:22AM
posted February 10th 2010 9:22AM
posted February 10th 2010 9:22AM
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interesting product but this devises just live through their ecosystem. iPad will be successful because it benefits from the apple ecosystem laid down with the iPhone/iTouch devises.
I like my droid but the market ain't nearly same developed or easy to use. the beauty of itunes is that you can get everything from there and i don't have to screen XY sites/stores for my apps/movies/music + soon books. if this android based eeePad manages to create a similar experience/convenience it'll be a success. else it'll be a opensource geeks dream come true device with only a limited customer base
@theswiss Didn't you hear? google is trying to create the biggest digital book library known to man. They already have an app store and they don't have a centralized Music+Video store so that consumers have a choice and can go to somewhere else with cheaper or DRM less media and choose their own desktop software. iTunes is overrated IMHO
@Eternity If there's a store with DRM-less video and music, it's very likely that video and music will work on the iPad as well. Just like plenty of iPod owners shopped at Amazon's music store before iTunes went DRM-free.
Lets hope they arent estimating their price point the same way they did with the original EEE eh?
The main market for this are the droid/nexus one type users. I guess Asus could be looking at the niche tech geek market. Those who care about the spec more than usability. There are a couple of hundreds of thousands of consumers in the US. Apple is going for the soccer moms, doctors, lawyers, bankers, nurses etc etc.
I am wondering who will succeed? LOL.
Phone OS on Tablet = SUCKAGE!
Give us Win7 please!
@JudgeDredd Good luck asking Steve to give you an ARM version of Windows 7 ;) Well wait I think they have one- but yes- it's a "Phone OS".
Some people would rather have a more directed, task based device that's *designed* for a small screen and has apps that are designed for multitouch. Not apps designed for a mouse and keyboard crammed into a small screen device that features neither a mouse nor a keyboard- which is what you'll get with a desktop OS on these things.
Honestly Apple set the hardware bar pretty high at the $500 price point. Any other similar tablet that comes to market at the price better also be packing a 10" multi-touch IPS glass screen, aluminum unibody shell and wifi N card with bluetooth.
Everything else Asus could include would be icing on the cake. But they need to at least match the Apple hardware and build quality if they plan to sell at that price. Tegra 2 is a good addition.
I also recommend they use Android and a custom GUI similar to what HTC has done with SenseUI but geared toward a larger tablet.
Stylus support would be a bonus. :)
@roxics
I don't get it.... at first you claim they need to blow the iPad's specs away at the same price point as a bare bones iPad, then at the end you claim they merely have to match specs, build quality and price with apple.... which is it?
I believe ASUS can easily beat apple when it comes to specs and build quality. After all, rumor has that apple is going to be using Pegatron (formerly part of ASUS and the OEM of choice for newly split ASUS) so when it comes to build quality, ASUS and apple products my be manufactured in the same plant by the same OEM.
Plus ASUS has been highly competitive in pricing their products lately. Example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220696
16" screen w/LED backlight, CORE i7, USB 3.0, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 all for a grand. Pretty darn price competitive if you ask me.
I think ASUS has a good shot at taking a big piece of the tablet market. Their biggest problem on this side of the Atlantic is they do not market themselves.
@roxics
Slight disagreement from me.
A 10 inch screen isn't mandatory for me. If it's kept around the 7 inch mark, I'll be happy. 10 inches is too big for a portable "slate" device IMO.
Though I could be in the minority once again.
@KC
What I was saying is that they have to AT LEAST match the hardware and build quality of the iPad if they plan to sell for the same $500 price. But being that Apple always put a significant Apple tax on their products it shouldn't be too difficult for a company like Asus to do all of that and more at the same price.
So I think that if Asus really tried they could have an aluminum and glass tablet with 10" IPS display, WIFI N and bluetooth, plus a tegra 2, USB 3.0 ports and a camera for $500 running a modified Android OS.
@BigJayDogg3
Yeah personally I would disagree with you. I don't think 7 inches is nearly big enough. But then I'm of the opinion that a tablet shouldn't really be a pocket device. That's what a smartphone is for. Especailly now that some of those are coming with 4" screens.
But then I even think 10 inches is kind of small. I'd rather see a 12-14" tablet that's nice and thin. Something you use on the couch or in bed or stuff in a backpack to take with you. Something the size of a real life print magazine or for browsing the web in the same scale you would on a laptop.
Of course who says we have to limit the sizes. Why not 7, 10 and 13 inch tablets.
@roxics
I agree 100%, really wish someone would release a 12" or 13" tablet to view a 8.5x11.5 page. I don't have any issue with portability, carried around many laptops over the years and this would be no different, already have the bag for it :).
I also hope that Asus as well as other manufacturers can deliver something other than "netbook" spec'd tablets. They can add all the USB slots they want, if someone other than Apple doesn't create a OS specific for a tablet use we will just get more disappointment like the Archos 9. Trying to navigate and read menu's on such a small screen with high resolution is not something I see everyone wanting to do. I've used the Archos 9 for a few days and while I have 20/20 vision, it's a bitch to read some of the text. If they decide to just drop Win 7 on a tablet at least make the damn thing 12" so we can read text on it.
ipad, eepad, any other vowelpads?
I have sever doubts that they'll call it the "Eee Pad." Only apple could be stupid enough to call their tablet a "pad." My money is on the "Eee Tablet" or "Eee Slate."
At lest it won't sound like a woman's hygiene product then.
@Prevacator Apple already had a product called the MessagePad. And somehow I don't think of "feminine hygiene products" when I use them...
Are we talking Android here? I'm not an Android user, so I may just be ignorant, but I simply don't understand why consumers would want a tablet with Android. The main reason I want one of these is for multimedia. I want a portable video player that supports lots of codecs and has HDMI out, I want something that would make a good ebook and comic reader, and of course, it would be used for web browsing and some light document editing.
Can Android do all that? That's why I would actually prefer Windows 7 on a tablet. Yes, I know it's mainly designed for a mouse and keyboard, but that's not the way I would be using it. I just want the freedom to download and/or install whatever I want on my portable device, not to be locked into some app store or marketplace.
@mamoore1982
They mentiton google, not android. Google has two OS's that would work on this. Chrome OS is also suppose to support multi touch and would work great on a tablet.
@mamoore1982 Android will do all that but much faster and with longer battery life than a comparable windows 7/Intel combination. Yes you can install any android app you want, it is not locked down like iPhone OS.
@Eternity
But, for power users, Android is mediocre at best. For example, the lack of codecs and the virtual machine is slow. Indeed, you can do much task with Android but no more than cellphone like task, such play some games, play music and such.
After all, Android is a Linux's small cousin.
@magallanes
Codec support is on the device manufacturer. If ASUS wants this product to ship with wide codec support, they can make it happen. Doesn't the Archos Android tablet thing support most common formats?
@magallanes I know, but I was answering his question. Judging by his statements he doesn't seem like some1 who will be able to toy with Linux and unless we get a confirmed Maemo tablet, this is the next best thing for mass market appeal. Android is also being pu$hed by frickin google so it is a good step forward in terms of breaking the mediocre Wintel dominance in these small "netbook" devices.
A gun?
@Sarcasme
lol, good pun.
I want an webos slate with the looks and performance of the iPad.
@DCISPAIHASP Maybe the looks but surely not the performance of the iPad.
@Sarcasme
Personally, I'm not too fond of the iPad's looks given that there's really nothing to the thing, and that 4:3 aspect ratio makes it look like some left-over prototype from 1995.
obviously it will multitask and is that a camera top left side?
Size matters, and it matters more on the smaller side in the mobile internet tablet game. So how big is this thing? If it's another iPad-sized monstrosity, I don't see the point. ereaders are a niche product, not a game changer. MIDs will be as ubiquitous as laptops soon. With detachable keyboards and screens, MIDs will replace laptops eventually, but they'll be bigger than a iPhone, because the phone is not the most important mobile application by a long shot. The killer mobile apps are email, web browsing, GPS and some yet to be discovered apps. I want it in a pocket and in the palm of my hand, but I don't want it as small as my phone.
If they follow the EEE formula, with user replaceable battery, easily updated ram and SSD, this will go on my coffee table.
Even the best netbooks running windows 7 can't seem to do hili well and running any app along side a browser slows it to a crawl.... The tablets will sell for one reason only - low price. If you want usability you'll end up with an ipad.
At the same price as an ipad these won't be successful in my opinion.
Huh? I thought ASUS had no interest in the tablet market? LIES!