Android Eee Pad to debut in June, could ship as early as July
We have more details on that impending Eee Pad for y'inz. Interested? Of course you are! Speaking at a conference in Taiwan, Asustek Computer chairman Jerry Shen recently announced that the device will get its official introduction at Computex 2010, the first week of June. With any luck, the thing will hit retail channels the third quarter of this year -- possibly as early as July, a DigiTimes' source reports. Shen said that the device is meant to be all the things that the iPad is not: expect Google Android, USB, an integrated webcam, and Flash, for starters. The aforementioned source went on to state that, after wireless provider subsidies are taken into effect, the thing should cost around $15,000-16,000 TD (or about $480-510).
























A bit too expensive. Most of Chinese knockoff tablets are 1/2 cheaper (too bad the majority of them never get to the production stage). I bet that the build quality of those Eees' is not much better.
@N900 I'll take a Pop Tart, thanks.
And, if you follow the link: "The sources estimated that Asustek's Tegra-based Eee Pad will be priced at NT$15,000-16,000 (US$479-510) after bundling with telecom carrier services, and total shipments will reach 300,000 units in 2010."
They're only planning to ship 300,000 units in all of 2010. This is what happens when people jump to conclusions and don't take the time to figure out what the hell they're talking about.
In my opinion, this just doesn't cut it.
yawwwwwwwwwn...
*waits for Dell's tablets*
Almost every day, a tablet is announced or the prototype is shown. But no one making it to the market. I am not an iPad fan; but this delay in competition is making me think that a good tablet is really hard to made than we think. Though iPad dont do a lot of thing, but atleast its in the market.Wish this shown/speced/prototype/preorder phase ends so that i can buy an android tablet.
@rehan716 I completely agree. The Apple haters are quick to grab on to anything, sight unseen. Android on an ARM chip will find a place, but Windows 7 on an Atom has got fail written all over it. HP Slate I'm calling you out.
Coming up with an unsubsidized product for a lot less than $500 is going to be tough. Apple put the rest of the tablet makers between a rock and a hard spot by setting the entry price at $500. Apple's got the ecosystem of music, video, apps and books. Android is the only other solution in the discussion, but it's gotta be a lot less than $500.
@InfoDave
big deal $500 for entry level- dongle this (that doesn't work) dongle that etc etc. Does anyone buy the base model- they are like drug dealers. They should advertise the box for 10$ and Macfanboys would come in running- then when they get in the door they offer a shinier box for $300.
Apple is notoriously proprietary and it hasn't worked for them(iTunes). Subscription based software ends up costing more than the unit itself. So open-source is the way to go and spending more money upfront is a bargain if you look at 2 years of subscription service. The mobile internet has to become cheaper. $800 is nothing compared to $60 a month extra for content. NO USB no connection no options for content upload. Windows will be the eventual way to go for sure- its the same OS as 95% of the computers out there. The processor speeds just need to catch up and they are. Give me Windows 7 2.2ghz processor and 2gb of ram and an ssd. That is all that would be needed.
Viliv has the 7 inch and 5 inch and the 10 inch - I tried the 7 inch and it was fine. The 10 inch has ssd and a 2ghz processor (just to expensive right now- it will come down)
TD? Don't you mean NT $?
@grahamj New device, new currency, I guess TD is: Tablet Dollars
@grahamj I think we can let it slide:
"The New Taiwan dollar (traditional Chinese: 新臺幣 or 新台幣; Hanyu Pinyin: Xīntáibì; Tongyong Pinyin: Sīntáibì) (currency code TWD and common abbreviation NT$), or simply Taiwan dollar""
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Taiwan_dollar
...besides, how long can the moniker "new" last for :D.
A successful product is all about R&D, the iPad has been in the works much longer than the iPhone itself, a lot of these new tablets are basically being thrown together with terrible build quality, and they all basically anchor on adding in features that the iPad lacks.
@MattsZ I think it's somewhat unfortunate that you are categorizing the early goers as indicative as the whole of the market. First, by years with Apple, do you mean 10+ years like the sensationalized stories? Or are you just thinking 1-3 years of some good, real, hard work.
Also, from your comment, I think you are giving too much credit too Apple into a gloried device when it's got the same software as a phone - sans voice plan. Given that interpretation, why can't we think that HTC can use it's same "years of development".
To think that HTC or Samsung can't put together some great hardware, a great form factor and a good bundle with Android is, IMHO, treating them too much like Fusion Garage and drinking the Kool-Aid. But, perhaps, you didn't mean the comment the way I read it.
@juanvaldez Yes, but where are they? Where is the HTC and Samsung tablet? They already have the expertise in building quality and current phones, so they should already have some 10" "droid incredibles" out on the market, no? What's the holdup?
@darksharpie I think it goes to the point of trying to get it right, perhaps they are doing innovation or perhaps they are trying to make some deals before announcing. Perhaps they have other priorities, but both are in development. So, the fact that Apple announces, then all of a sudden one comment screams "all these guys are copying Apple, trying to rush things" the next says "where is all the competition", well I think it's somewhat fair to say that you have to outperform Apple in this product class to have a good shot, so give them a couple months and a summer or holiday release date.
@darksharpie
there has been no market for tablets like these- really MIDs. The functions have been split between phones and media players like Zune etc. So people had 2 devices. Steve Jobs' own plan is this sell people different devices with unique uses. He doesn't want to sell one do all device- probably because they wouldn't make any money after that. Tablet pcs have been sold in the business market. People use them for inventory, on the field, in warehouses, and a few in board rooms. So HP and IBM/Lenovo have cornered the more visible full on Tablet PCs but there are a slew of other companies who make tablets- just not for media consumption. Now there are several companies making MIDs and have been for years and no doubt Apple has tapped those models for ideas. If you remember there was a big UMPC push a few years back and still remains somewhat.
lets make this clear Apple is not innovating whatsoever. They are simply releasing there model first. Netbooks have been extremely successful. If you want innovation beside is the field of marketing take a look at Acer and ASUS amount others. In the phone world it was Samsung, and Nokia etc. NOT Apple. They did decide to use touch screen which was someone else's idea and they just slapped it on a phone.Mac fans are notoriously undereducated when it comes to tech- which Apple is targeting with the ease of use of there products. But it amazes me at how willing they are to just repeat the Steve Jobs' slogans. Its like a propaganda war. Apple is just the squeaky wheel. They initial launches have all been crap (people still buy) and they use their fans as guinea pigs- its shocking.
Dorothy would like to know when the tablet Hurricane will be over so she can go out and start playing with Toto again.
Wait you are telling me that I have to sell my soul to the phone company create another monthly bill that I do not want just to get my hands on this at a price that is about the same as a telcom free Ipad? First let's deal with flash had the ipad since day 1 and have not run into any problems not having flash (love the ABC app) Front facing camera wow when was the last time I video chatted with someone I think it was back in like 2005. Sorry Asus you just do not make the grade.
@hawknj Well, it's great that you have not felt a loss from not having Flash, but a lot of people would (including myself). I also don't see why you criticize a feature that Asus is adding that iPad is looking. I like the OPTION of video-chatting, and I'm sure an add-on or iPad v2 will support this as well. That said, I think ASUS is completely missing the boat with their pricing, and for the most part I think the iPad is a fantastic product.
@tosvus
has the real pricing come out? no and like ASUS always does-within 6 months it will drop again.
@hawknj
you dont have a phone?
Price fail... Why netbook without keyboard has to be so expensive? What's so special about it. Even Apple sell iPad for $500. I would give them $300 top.
@Klikerko
Touch screen
real computing power- tegra II
connected to the rest of the world
iPad? could for your dog to piss on ... while you watch a movie of course. Wait that would be 2 things at once . The iPad cant do 2 things at once. Oh well your dog can still piss on it.
@hated one
adding "USA" at the end of every ignorant statement doesn't make it sound any less ignorant
Also out of the 500,00 iPads about 400,000 of them are for sale on my local craigslist.
@yulebellow What kind of prices are they getting? More than retail or less than retail?
y'inz! what are you from Pittsburgh or something
The PC - IT Industry have been very efficient putting out the "Multitasking/Flash/Connectors" limitation with the iPad. Every computer freak you meet comes out with the same phrase. Talk about anti-hype!
We won't miss Flash when it goes the way of the floppy disc.
@Alex McKenna I won't purchase any tablet's that don't support these
http://www.newlaunches.com/entry_images/0808/22/zip_250mb_usb_drive_media.jpg
@Alex McKenna
lets just say no connectors and leave it at that- so they can sell us there Apple proprietary crap- then when we buy all the extras they come out with a new model... with something missing. Go to a used electronics shop and you will see a shitload of Apple products. You might say oh they have a great resale value or you could say they dont have possibilities to upgrade and have a short life. batteries we cant remove? dongles? iTunes? please waste of money. "you should switch from PC to Mac so you can run Mac OS and Windows on the smae machine" Why? when I can just get some work done with Windows (and entertain myself ) for 1/3rd the price.
Asus makes cheap shit. And trust me, thiswill fail LOL. General population in US doesn't know Asus LOL. I have both iPad and Droid. Android OS is no where close to iPhone OS based on my personal experience. So much snappier, it puts my 1.2 ghz Droid to shame. Microsoft courier or Google tablet will compete not this cheap shit from China/Taiwan. Some fanboys might hate this but just my personal experience
@jkwakopo From when droid have a 1.2ghz processor??
@jkwakopo
I think ASUS now holds 1/4 of the North American market and soon 1/3. If you don't know about computers (read macusers) then you wouldn't know that there are the innovator of the netbook, gaming notebooks, and amazing motherboards.
http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2010/1/7/rise-of-asian-tiger-asuse28099s-ascension-to-market-dominance.aspx
what the heck is taking all these companies so long ?????
They KNOW what we want. We've made wishlist after unanswered wishlist.
Don't you want my $ 500 bucks ???? Just build it and we will buy.
Hurry up already
@Stone632 By "we" you mean geeks that post on forums, and perhaps that's not enough of a market to share among all of the companies claiming to be making one. OR, it's just not as easy to make a decent tablet as people think- it's not like they can just install unmodified Android on a 10" screen, step back, and say "done!"
@darksharpie
keep your negativity to yourself.
@Stone632 I wasn't being negative actually. I was even including myself (obviously) in those "geeks".
It's just silly to think they can just slap something together and release it just because you want it NOW. You want them to hurry up and release crap?
@darksharpie
I take technology very seriously
there is no need for you to try and crush my dreams. And yes, I want it NAO.
DELL, Gemini, Notion Ink, Google, HTC
you hearing this ????
@Stone632
Here is the problem. You think they want $500 ? why they want the business world because that is where the largest turnover is. Businesses buy lots of computers an individual buys 1 at a time. And they spend a year thinking about it. Businesses actually need computers we just want something new.
@tinsol
bro, i get it. I know it's gonna probably take about a year for a viable option to the ipad to come out. I just wish I had one sooner thats all.
The first EEE (701) was $400 (linux). My second EEE (901, with XP) was $250. I found a 10" EEE for a friend for $250. First gen products are always pricey. And I'll never sign a 2 year contract.
@hated one
What's wrong with plastic? For one thing, it actually lets wireless signals get through properly. For example, Apple has had long standing issues with their metal casing, latest being the iPad.
notion ink...you watching??