Neofonie announces WePad 11.6-inch Android slate
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 20th 2010 9:31PM
posted March 20th 2010 9:31PM
Another day, another Android tablet render. This one, the imaginatively titled WePad, is as ambitious as its name might suggest. (You know, because "we" is plural of "I"? Yeah, it's a stretch.) Dwarfing the iPad with its 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display, a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, GMA 3150 graphics, webcam, two USB ports, flash card reader, UMTS modem, and a mooted six hours of battery life, we could see ourselves picking one up -- provided the price point is decent. But that's just the beginning! The manufacturer, Neofonie, also has designs on a WePad app store and, if all goes according to plan, this thing'll sport genuine Google Android and the Android Market. The company also mentions something called the "WeMagazine publishing ecosystem," the basis of a turn-key operation for getting your own branded device out on the e-reader market, so if you're looking to get into the biz just hit the source link to begin your adventure. As for us, we'll wait to see a final product before we jump to any conclusions.
[Thanks, Dan Z]
[Thanks, Dan Z]
@69camaroSS
Thank you very much for your concern. Just go out there and enjoy life, dude.
@69camaroSS
Yeah, great idea. You can buy the next Ipad, and jump on the bandwagon when its successful.
A tablet next year will be better than the tables this year. Imagine that, eh?
@pukerocket
I don't pay 600$ to be on the bandwagon. I work too hard for my money.
@69camaroSS
It's not just a case of Apple convincing people they want a tablet, a fair bit of the interest will come from the ebook and netbook markets as people want to upgrade and a change of form factor is the way to go since performance upgrades wouldn't be relevant for the ebook or possible for the netbook.
@69camaroSS
You described the iPad as cobbled together tech, but it strikes me as well thought out. Every computer is a compromise, and the iPad is not for everyone because it's lacking many features. On the other hand, it's also thin, light, has a great battery life, quality screen, good finger-input GUI, is reportedly fast and responsive, and should have excellent developer support. No tablet so far has had all of those attributes and it's intriguing enough for me to reserved the $500 model (I'll try it in the store before buying it and I can always sell it later if I want a different tablet).
Notice one of the differences between our statements: You're throwing around assumptions and framing iPad buyers as impulsive and brainwashed by Apple's marketing. The reality is that I'm interested in the iPad in spite of Apple's marketing (if I hear them say Magical and Revolution one more time, I'm gonna puke) and I've been wanting a tablet for years, but have patiently held off because every one I've used so far has sucked.
More to the point is that Apple users are stereotyped as smarmy know-it-alls, but you're the one here telling people how to spend their money.
the idea of its own app store might mean that android marketplace might not be available, plus, i would rather have flash web apps
@masta vaan Not really. Since its not an android tablet but a linux tablet, it makes perfectly sense to offer their own app store because you wont find any linux apps on the android marketplace. Android apps will simply run in an emulator, though.
@69camaroSS Ok, let it be June. But a two months start for a big company like Apple (which can push its product very well) in an industry in which a device becomes obsolete after a year is not so bad. And on April 3rd Apple would be the only one to ship this kind of device.
Reasonable set of specs for a windows tablet, having it running android is rather an odd choice, you end up with the drawbacks of both android and windows with this hardware and os combo.
stupid name but nice hardware, nice software
i've calculated it guys, its a win!
@fokka When you say "it's a win", are you implying that the weePad will shift more units than the iPad?
Since it's x86 it won't have many Android apps available, right? Most the apps aren't open source so you can't just auto recompile them like on Debian and Ubuntu.
@JesusFreak Wrong. They havent provided many (actually none at all) details on how they plan to do it, but its fairly obvious: Its an android emulator running under linux (hence, its not an android tablet)... simple as that.
Did you guys check into this deeply. We are so close to April fools day that a product from Neofonie (neo-phony) has to be suspect. (sorry if this has been mentioned before but, seriously, who reads ALL the posts if they are not paid to?
@churchdennis You dont seem to be all that familiar with april fools. You dont start a hoax like that more than a month (they started guerilla marketing with a facebook group weeks ago) in advance...
Furthermore, neofonie is selling iphone apps and has been for more than a year. Look up WeFind.
this stuff is calling for install windows 7.
Read my lips... "THIS IS A HOAX". The launch date is scheduled for April 1st (am).
@69camaroSS
that is hilarious.
u ll be waiting... and waiting... and waiting
@69camaroSS Basically, we must not listen to Apple, but to you?
Ipad FTW
*Sigh*
Its not an android tablet. It runs a linux drivate. It will sport some sort of android emulator to allow android apps - thats as much "android" as you get. That said, its much more than "another android tablet".
@ddddd Blah blah blah. I'm a self-important ahole who likes to post all over every post on Engadget and spew my hatred and misinformation far and wide...
It has one absolutely great selling feature...
it's NOT an Apple....
Is he using his finger nail?? And that should be a capacitive touchscreen??!! o_O
Sorry! Wrong Browser Windows :)