Built around the 1GHz
Tegra 2 SOC, the 11.2-inch ICD Gemini should provide comparable
endurance to Apple's
A4-sporting iPad, while besting it in the grunt stakes with its glorious ability to chew through 1080p video when required. If that wasn't enough, the rest of this thing's spec sheet reads like a wishlist. Headlined by a 3G connection that allows cellular voice calls (crazy, we know!), it also includes a user-replaceable 40Wh battery, an SD card reader, FM radio, GPS, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, MicroUSB connectivity to PCs and USB peripherals, stereo speakers,
and dual webcams -- a 2 megapixel front-facing unit and a 5 megapixel autofocusing snapper on the back. Multitouch displays will be available in both resistive and capacitive flavors, with the 1,366 x 768 resolution being filled by Google's snappy
Android OS. Oh, and did we mention it will run Flash? Because it will. Full specs and a comparison to its direct competitors await after the break, though we've yet to find out when this JooJoo killer will be making its arrival or at what price.
Update: We've come across a couple of real (i.e. not rendered) pictures of an earlier prototype for the Gemini, which looks generic as hell but should give you a good idea of the dimensions and scale of the device in question. Yours after the break.
posted April 6th 2010 2:29AM
@facethefire Don't down rank this guy....obviously asking for it or promoting our geekish love of sarcasm. Either way, let's leave it, love it, and laugh at it. Hypedreams rule!
@VanillaSperm For a start, an iPad with multitasking and USB ports would mean a lot for real life productivity.
@VanillaSperm hater much?/?
@jmcburna
The wow is due to the fact that this tablet is the best there is (on paper) so far and I would buy it in a blink of an eye without 1/10000000 of a thought. Hope I clarified that!
@RonDMC well... that and having a good OS. I was getting excited until I read "Android"
no thanks.
@DopeyFish er. go go engadget put replies under wrong person!
@DopeyFish
I like android, though it does have its issues and faults. I would love to get some hands on time with the N900 and its OS though. No OS is perfect, but I'm hoping that android will continue to get better.
@hero785 haha i have no idea why that replied to you.
@DopeyFish Android is the only OS I'd be interested in on such a device.
Let the games begin.
@jmcburna
Now this is what the iPad specs sheet should've looked like..
@jmcburna
I LOVE this tablet competition. Regardless of whoever "wins", I still get the best device. I was leaning towards the iPad (my first Apple device ever) then the Slate specs dropped so I started to shift, now this thing looks awesome too. I'm in f**king consumer heaven!! God bless capitalism. :')
@GamerTechAdrian Word. Now that we've covered the deuce deuce (Apple/MS) let's just hype the hell outta this thing and pray to the good gadget gods that thing's software kills because this thing could hopefully do just a bit better than Butler did against Duke....almost made it. (Though this one needs to make it.)
I'm an iMac owner and I'm waiting for something to knock Apple down a peg or two. Their quality control is in the pits and they are running on the American Hypedream. If the quality of the products gets better (software aside) then no harm done, but they've been slipping for a couple years and we've been watching (some worshipping). Not this owner. Gemini ftw!
@jmcburna
512mb DDR? lolwut?
Come on...
@ThundaChunky
Agreed. With this many companies competing the consumer wins. Fanboyism can go to ****. This is great for the consumer and good for the economy.
@jmcburna I think is could be the "ipad-killer" as funny as that sounds, but it will all come down to availability and of course the asking price. I own an ipad but with these specs, I could get another!
@n0ne That means nothing when set against claims that it will do 1080p video and the fact that it contains Tegra 2. I don't subscribe to any one thing, but going by "512mb of whoha" is not a route I go when talking smack about this machine or that. It comes down to integration of the software and hardware. If done well enough, you can have some questionable numbers on the board. My 2008 iMac agrees as it pushed out some serious fps on COD4 (near max) w/ WoW still running strong w/ near max settings as well. Don't let numbers fool you: Let's translate already!
@n0ne this is Tegra and Android - not Windows7 and Atom!
Android runs quite ok on 128MB (Samsung Galaxy I7500). Better on 256MB. Everything above 512MB is probably a waste of money since it isn't the bottleneck.
@n0ne Hello Mr. Clueless.
@dieterk Mo Ram = Mo Multitasking.
@n0ne
That's way more than adequate for a -Tablet- running -Android-. It's not enough for running Windows with PC-spec applications like Photoshop or x86 games, but it's double with a lot of other Android devices have, and they run a web browser just fine...Which is the primary function of this device.
@n0ne
For reference, the iPad has 256mb of RAM. So far we haven't seen multitasking on it but it seems to do just fine with everything thrown at it so far, including some pretty nice 3D games.
@jmcburna
IF ONLY I could get this with Win7......IF ONLY, I could then die happy knowing I bought one.....but I prolly will buy one anyway, just cause its so damn awesome!
@ThundaChunky I've been itching for a tablet for a while now... all I know for sure is I'm going to wait until Chrome OS hits to see what the playing field is going to look like.
@jmcburna
JooJoo's killer? You can't kill what already is dead.
@jmcburna
Tech news is just on fire today!
All these tablets/slates!
Im in heaven....noone please wake me.
....this is all mainly a response to the iPad though...this pretty much looks like vaporware (vaporware I WANT SO BAD!) with no real product, but hopefully it will come to be..
@McPOW
dont hold your breath man, the iPad alone took years for it to come true..no one knows how long Chrome OS will take as of now.
@McPOW Chrome OS will be free, why wouldn't you just root this device once it's available? I do hear you if you think there might be an OEM that puts out some very good implementation, but I think you'd be better off a year after launch in that kinda case. This is a delicious appetizer that you can hand down to a loved one or keep in the living room/kitchen.
Be still my beating heart.
So sad HP. I might just have to pass on your Slate.
@jmcburna Ok I'm going to call it... total vapor ware!
40Wh battery? In a tablet... thats nearly the same size battery is in a macbook... if that is true that thing would last like 2-3 DAYS, not to mention weigh over 3 pounds 0_0! I dunno thats just a little too much to believe.
I bet they cut all those specs done to 'typical' specs by the time (if it ever) ships.
@jmcburna
Now THIS is what I'm talking about! The HP slate is shit (seriously, why do geeks think it's a good idea to run a desktop OS on a mobile device?) but Android is where it's at. I'm hoping they put a good skin on top of it The only other thing they need to fix is the storage options. There should be a 64GB built-in memory option with SDXC expansion. Otherwise where am I gonna find space for all my games and movies?
@abedinthehouse yea I don't really care if it's a Gemini or made by LawlGeeks Inc. Whatever device has specs of this nature and comes in the form of a B. A. Baracus "realtail" item would be a complete win for us (pending performance). I hope this keeps getting better. I'm not hating on Apple, but I would definitely laugh if something comes up in the form of a real device that was ultimately created by Apple's love to be first, and their lovable iPad got huge price drops like iPhones did. It's reminiscent of how engadget comments used to be. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that it was "the thing to do" to be first to comment, so much so that they had to announce "First!" (Sounds like a popular company I know lately)
@jmcburna
@jmcburna I want to see the Adam in that comparison - a screen that can be used in e-Ink mode is a very useful feature.
@jmcburna
It's just a Photoshop picture and wishlist spec..
Serious , any company can hype, but please release a real product.
Apple release iPad in Jan 28 with real sample device for testing.
Common, guys don't wet your pants just for Photoshop picture.
@benny90
2-3 days battery? IPAD..anyone??
@GamerTechAdrian Why? This is still a low memory cellphone hardware based device.
It doesn't run a full operating system in a insy-winsy form factor, which is what made netbooks so popular.
The only advantage of these humongous cellphones is that they'll have around twice the battery life for their weight, but you really have to ask yourself if you really need to work 10 hours at a stretch away from a power jack or if 5 hours is plenty.
@GamerTechAdrian And the Gemini's weight?
@zetman ummm^^= iPad 10years ago. By the time I'm done wetting over this, I'll have one and be in adult diapers haha, still getting one, j/j.
Thanks Gemini for showing us what the tablet market should and will look like soon. And if nobody can do better than iPad (insert crowd noise) yet keeps products in competition, then I'll go get me a laptop that will be cheaper due to a new market. These tablets are awesome even at their crappiest.
@n0ne iPad has 256MB
@dieterk
Until you are running several apps at once. Too much for a phone perhaps, but not for a tablet.
@nswprop Let me go ahead and clarify that comment for you...
2-3 days of heavy use
@jmcburna
Hang on doesn't the IPad have a compass?
@jmcburna
Competition is great indeed. I only hope that tablets are here to stay and expand the way we consume content AND be productive. HP's slate and iPad seem to have counter design philosophy and fall short in one way or another.
My greviences for the two "other" tablets:
iPad- there is no excuse for lack of expandable storage, HDMI and multitasking.
HP Slate- battery life is poor and it lacks wifi.
Granted these are my annoyances, it would seem as though the Gemini would like us to forget about slates and pads. Bring on android market place and Amazon kindle and ill have zero reason to look back.
@abedinthehouse
It could be vaporware but then again we could all get lucky and it come out soonish.
My question- is ICD a design company? If so, who would buy the prototype and manufacture it?
Everyone remember the Nvidia mystery tablet? I believe this is said tablet.
@blindfromthesun
I'll believe in this thing once I see proof from Mr. Blurry Cam himself.
@Techno1q
No, it's not dead; It was still in the gestation period and received an abortion. They must have thought fetus = baby.
@jmcburna Now, this is an interesting and promising device. Not some Joojoo nonsense. I just want to see price and weight.
@GamerTechAdrian
Ageed
@GamerTechAdrian
Could not agree more. IPad is setting a new class of devices. However, Apple has a loyal fanbase this will be very interesting. My choice is the HP Slate.