Unfortunately, we don't know much about this new Marvell powered tablet, but we couldn't resist sharing our impressions of the very svelte 10-inch device. We only got a few minutes to play around with the slate at the Netbook Summit, but we can tell you that it has a brushed metal back and there's an opening on the front for a camera. As for the internals, it's based on
Marvell's Moby reference design, which uses its Snapdragon-class
Armada 610 processor, and will run Android 2.1 Eclair. The rest will be up to whatever Marvell customer is bringing this bad boy to market -- the Marvell executive that let us catch a glance at the device wouldn't turn it on as he feared we may see the mystery customer's logo. We told you we didn't know much, but from what we saw today it sure looks promising. Now, if only
we felt Android was ready Google would give us a tablet-ready version of Android...
posted May 25th 2010 4:37PM
Is Android ready for tablets?
@Almo
as long as it has flash, im sold!
hulu ftw
@Almo
android has always been ready for tablets ;P
@Almo
The sad truth is Apple simply loaded up it's iPhone OS on iPad, simply expanded the screen size, with no noticable differences at the core, and the world went head over heels for it...
Android can scale as well...Now if only Google allowed Android Marketplace for devices other than smartphones, and introduced an "HD" section for the Apps...accompanied by a specific SDK for the new HD Apps...
@dark star It could be the biggest piece of crap but as long as it has Flash its ok? Is Hulu really that important? Amazing!
@Almo How is that the iPhone OS is deemed ready and WebOS has people drooling, but Android has a big fat question mark?
@Almo
aparently not. Not having thr android market alone would turn a lot if people off. And seeing how poorly flash works on snapdragon class hardware, I'd guess this won't turn out too well once reviewed. 2.1 isn't all that and a sack of potatoes to sell well.
@BecauseItsNotGoogle
Empty comment is pointless
@Good Times
Actually, Armada 610 is claimed to have a much more powerful dedicated graphics chip, and it comes with separate media encoders/decoders...so Snapdragon's got nothing on this...Armada 610 is only a Snapdragon-class chip, meaning it runs in the 1 GHz+ range, and uses the ARM Cortex family with the ARMv7 architecture for its main CPU...other than that, not many similarities between the two...
Think of it this way...You have a netbook with Atom N450,...and then an Netbook with N450 and ION2 (but similar battery life)...
@kapanak Snapdragon, along with just about every other SoC in this class, uses dedicated logic for video encoding/decoding. The current phone variant (8650 and 8250) only do 720p while the upcoming 45nm ones are set to do 1080p.
The only real advantage is the use of a custom Scorpion CPU instead of stock Cortex A8 and the integrated 3G baseband. The graphics side isn't really competitive for now.
@Almo
sure, almo! there's always more fragmentation to spread to the masses!
@Almo - i'm-sayin... Where can I buy a Tegra 2 powered, flash enabled, Android Tablet today? Exactly! All of these "just around the corner" tablet makers need to NUT UP OR SHUT UP!
@metafor
But this is better at graphics encoding/decoding than the Snapdragon is.
@BigJayDogg3
Why the double standard? Android is and always was a more capable OS for tablet devices. I don't understand how the iPhone OS was or is (according to Engadget) more "ready". If you ask me an OS with real multi-tasking and widgets functionality along with a finger friendly yet desktop like OS which allows to to replace native apps with third party apps. I just don't understand how android isn't ready for tablet prime time. I just don't get why the pundit journalist over here are so skeptical when it comes to android.
@Almo I think android would actually work better on a tablet, since a tablet will be bigger and more powerful. Android is pretty buggy.
@Almo Was iPhone OS really ever ready for the iPad?
@Almo
Can't be any less ready than the iPhone OS, right?
@kapanak
Didn't Apple create a dedicated marketplace for this new form factor?
@dark star
Oh it will have Flash alright, maybe if you're really, really lucky it will even have he accelerated Flash. Eventually. If Adobe finally finds some time trying to get their turd running on yet another different spec of Android hardware.
Seriously, I'm starting to really enjoy all the different Android devices coming out. Going to be Interesting how Adobe will pull of supporting Smooth Flash on 1001 different Android devices *and* the desktop versions. Especially seeing that they already struggle to get more than one desktop platform working efficiently right now. Someone remind me, how is Flash ever going to actually make money like this?
@HoldenMccrotch
Exactly and NOW it is READY more, thanks to Android 2.2 Froyo + Adobe Flash 10.1
My Nexus One flies with Froyo, and I can see any video I want.
Thanks Google and Adobe
@baltwade
Biggest problem is no Android market for tablets. That is a total deal-breaker.
Google doesn't want to move Android to tablets yet, I think originally they wanted Chrome OS to be the one for tablets (with a heavier focus on cloud computing), although now it is not so clear (given for Google TV they chose Android instead).
@baltwade
People dont want to understand their device, they just want it to be shiny, and to work.
That is the #1 reason Apple is still alive.
@kapanak +1 I love Android and it's more than ready for a tablet but Google needs to loosen the restrictions on the Market for these types of devices
@BecauseItsNotGoogle
why BecauseItsNotMicrosoft?
@baltwade The issue is that Google disables support of the Marketplace on tablets because they aren't certified devices. Thus the Android may not be ready for these devices comment.
@Almo Yep, and the best prototype so far is the one coming from Google. http://j.mp/google-chrome-verizon-tablet -- Hopefully, this marvell tablet will add multitasking as well.
@wookieecrisp Yea, see sales figures.
@All:
Android? iPhoneOS? WebOS?
FTW!! Use full OS (linux) on it, please!!
Are none here want a tablet that can do computing? Err.. I mean, real (like a netbook/notebook) computing!!
Looking good...less bezel is always best...
@kapanak
I disagree. Try holding a bezel-less tablet.
@BigJayDogg3
if the tablet can't distinguish between grip finger and pointing finger, there's a room for improvement, for example simple stripe on the backside could be an option.
@detonator
What a wonderful idea! Let's waste a finger contact point just because a few people don't like the way a bezel looks.
Form > function
/sarcasm
@BigJayDogg3
Not to mention the fact that you're now wasting screen real estate...and basically turning it into a large bezel.
Just like all the other tablets.
*POOOOF*
@xNamelessNeko You said it!
So is this coming pre-loaded with Comics?
@Johnny Rockets
The second 'L' prevents that from happening...
@kapanak It comes preloaded with comicss
Looks nice, could we get the Android market on this thing?
@AlienSix
No, because the fully Open Android market is managed by the most Open company Google which forbid access to the marker to everything but mobile phones.
@majipoor
Android market was never deemed "Open" by anyone...and not all of Google's softwares are Open...Google Maps isn't open, Google Earth isn't open...I could go on...
Android Market requires Google to certify your device, but as far as I know, they don't charge...
@majipoor: No, because the few Android tablets to ship so far don't meet the minimum component spec for the SDK, meaning half the apps on the Market wouldn't work on them. Which makes the decision not to allow the Market on those devices a good one, I'd say.
@StringMon
You mean tablets are less powerful than Android mobiles? But AFAIK any Android mobile is allowed on the market and all tablets are forbidden. I guess it's more about screen size, but how can Android be ready for the tablet and the market not? And when is it going to change?
@majipoor Dell streak. Tablet, Android, Market. QED.
It looks as thick as a Mac Air. I wish it was only as thick as the first rounded aluminium band.
Then, I'll get a tablet.
10inch is cool though.
Oh and why do you feel Android isn't ready for this tablet Joanna?
@Johnny Rockets
It is more that Google isn't certifying tablets. Nothing with a Cellphone capability has certification yet.
Without the Google blessing, you don't get official access to Android App market, and apparently you stuck using older versions of Android (note all the tablets running 1.5 and 1.6).
Google needs to certify tablets and they really need new official higher resolutions for tablets.
Unfortunately, I don't think we will see this until Google is ready to ship their own tablet.
Damn no edit. Nothing WITHOUT cellphone has been certified.
@Snowdog
Hmm? That's not correct.
There have been many articles showing tablets with Android 2.0 or 2.1.
Here's two:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/03/aigos-surprisingly-sexy-7-inch-n700-tablet-packs-android-2-1-an/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/21/dell-looking-glass-tablet-leaks-tegra-2-coming-your-way-in-nove/
@Johnny Rockets
Android is open-source, so anyone can use it...Android Marketplace, on the other hand, requires Google certification in order to grant a device access...as well as other Google Apps, such as Maps, Earth, etc...