Texas Instruments' Blaze tablet coming to developers this August
Back in February when Texas Instruments announced its ARM-based OMAP 4 system-on-chip 'Blaze' dev platform, we sort of figured it might be tablet-bound. And, here it is -- Blaze is going to be a tablet! Not a shocker, but we're glad to hear it, of course, since the tablet wars are hotter than ever and we love a good fight. So, what do we know about TI's entry in the game? Hardware wise it's going to be a 10.4-inch XVGA touchscreen LCD with two USB ports. Internally, we hear it'll boast a 1GHz OMAP4430 cpu, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS, and FM, plus external camera and pico projector modules. The tablet is not set for retail release, but for developers, but we're still pretty excited to see this one come out to play.























What does this have to do with the iPhone 4? I don't get it
@Xtole I don't know, This must have been posted by accident.
@Xtole
???? you an iSheep?
@Son Of a Gun But on another topic, what ever happened to the Skiff eReader that was supposed to come to Sprint? That thing looked awesome.
@Laura June
"since the tablet wars are hotter than ever..."
what war?
what are you talking about?!?
I love the idea of having accessories like a pico projector wirelessly "attached" to the tablet that serves as the file/media server. It would be even better if someone develops a USB dongle that can be retrofitted to existing pico projectors with an USB port like the AAXA P2 or L1 and achieve this functionality!
This is a little more advance than my Texas Instruments calculator
That is all well and good but the question still needs to be asked?
Is it Magical?
Why only 1ghz?
Couldn't they overclock it some?
A tablet should be far more powerful than a high end smartphone, atleast that's what I think.
@Bearpowers battery life. 1Ghz should be enough.
@Bearpowers
urhurhguadbasdbjk
There's more to processors than clock numbers. Compare a 3430 clocked at 1ghz to a 3630/3640 clocked at 1ghz, or a snapdragon clocked at 1ghz. What comes out faster? Why aren't they all the same?
Now look up the 4430 and tell me why it's not a great choice?
@Bearpowers
Oh and btw, the clock speeds are per core (duh).
The cool thing is, according to ARM anyways, the A9 instruction set will eventually allow for 4 cores.
@Bearpowers TI OMAP4430 is a Cortex A9-MP-based chip. Cortex A9-based processor core is faster than A8-based processor cores (current Snapdragon, Apple A4, etc.) running at the clock speed. And, TI OMAP4430 has TWO cores.
@Bearpowers
It's dual core... Engadget may have wanted to mention this, we aren't all up on our ARM processors.
@Bearpowers
Not only is it dual-core, but the Cortex-A9 is far more advanced than the A8 core, being an out-of-order processor.
Im so sick of all these tablets supposedly coming out.
STOP TEASING US AND COME OUT WITH ONE!
@CJisohsocool
EXACTLY!!
apparently, i wasn't aware of the war among the hundreds and hundreds of tablets out there that involved in this so-called Tablet Wars.
@Phucpholuc
More like a tablet cold war.
But what operating system?
Sounds cool but what about the price? And not to mention, any specific apps or anything? I might still wait for one of the MeeGo tablets to come out!
@uavtech well then, I change my views, iPad isnt that bad after all! LOL
I am pretty disappointed that even with the examples set by the iPad (battery life, A4 performance), no other manufacturer has released a proper Android, Windows7, webOs, MeeGO, etc tablet as yet? :| (8+ hour battery life bitches!)
@One Love True, the technology to beat the iPad is available yet no manufacturer seems to even try it.
@MaTdg
They ( whoever "they" are) always say it's easier to criticize than to do. If the hardware is that common, and iOS is that plain and boring, then where are the dozens/hundreds of alternatives?!
@One Love
All those tablets are just vaporware and pipe dreams. It takes money to build high-quality tablets and you can't just give them away for $300 otherwise you've got that cheap netbook situation all over again. You think companies want to invest a whole lot of money and get nothing in return when they can't sell them. It isn't some sort of a game using Monopoly money. In this economy the risk is too great. One look at the DJIA should tell you that much.
@Phucpholuc Isn't that what I'm saying? They are not even trying and only releasing some mediocre products to keep average joe satisfied. Not (much) worse than the iPad but also not better.
There is only 1 tablet at the moment that gives me a "wow, I want it"-feeling and that's the notion ink adam. Not released yet, so the feeling is only based on the specs and early demo video's.
I'll consider the "tablet" wars started when some of these other companies actually release their hardware. Right now we are still in the build-up phase.
In this metaphor, Apple is Nazi Germany, and they've blitzkrieged their way into a lead, JooJoo is France (small opposition, but they got rolled by the iPad)...
Once other companies join the fight, we'll have a war on our hands (and I'll continue the metaphor). In the end, there will be windows based tablets (russia, for argument's sake) and android based tablets (we'll go with america for them...)
Anyways... not a war yet when only one side is firing.
@TMoney2007
MeeGo is America, real freedom, not some iFascism scheme. A real all out OS, not some crippled linux / virtual machine. MeeGo will come and the nuke will fall.
@TMoney2007 No mention of MeeGo or WebOS? MeeGo could bring some change to this tablet war by eradicating all the oppositions. Of course, W7 and WebOS will be around but I guess MeeGo (Great Britain or America I guess) is more powerful here.
@statickeith I didn't want to go that far... Maybe either webOS or Meego is England...
@TMoney2007
What tablet war? The tablet war has already ended. Apple already launched a preemptive strike of MIRV'd hydrogen iPad warheads and there's nothing left except an empty wasteland with no countries in any position to even build weapons. In fact, most of the countries have already been nuked clear back into the stone age.
In actuality, this economy is honestly not conducive to new product launches for iffy products. Too much financial risk involved.
@MosesusedaniPad So the iPad caused all of these companies to stop developing their products?
Some have fallen (RIP Courier, HP slate, et. al) but there are still many on their way to the front.
Lets see what actually happens before we declare iPad the winner.
Yes, but can it play Speak & Spell?
cortex a9 baby baby
It should run Andriod, Symbian, MeeGo, WebOs and perhaps others. It has interchangeable cellular modems that can run HSPA or LTE. It can be charged via USB and USB On The Go. It's price is still cheaper than some of the "rugged tablet pcs" that are available today. This should make it easier for manufacturers to test and design their own tablet with OS of choice...or someone to download open source OS and get started on it.
At least it is approaching a usable screen size.
All these seven inch tablets are nuts.
Too big to carry around in a pocket and too small to be too useful.
Is it some custom OS from Texas Instruments? I hope - no.
a tablet named after me?? best b-day gift ever!
OS?
There is no "war" No company aside from Apple has released a commercially successful tablet....
The JooJoo failed both as a product and in the market.
The courier was vaporware as most of us expected.
The HP Tablet appears to be either cancelled, on indefinite hold, or in the middle of a major shakeup (switching from windows to webOS possibly?)
And every single day an android tablet is announced it seems. Yet not a single one of them has made it to market.
Meanwhile the longer this goes on the tighter Apples grip on the fledging tablet market becomes.....
let me guess... iPad Killer?
@rage55 Correction. Entry into the tablet market. Nothing more, nothing less.
@rage55 It's a dev platform, not a retail device so I'm gonna say no.
@rage55 You're an idiot. Learn how to read properly first.
"The tablet is *not* set for retail release, but for *developers*..."
shoulda put android on it
@big nazty
Yea - I don't know why they even bother putting their own garbage on it, just put something that's proven and that actually has an active app market.
They should launch this under a different company and get that outdated Ti logo off the pad.
@Ethan Austin Exactly. I see that and think this is just a big-ass calculator.
@Ethan Austin it's a dev platform, nobody cares about the branding.
@Ethan Austin
Screw that. I'll take this -with- the TI logo. Bonus points if they emboss a giant "OMAP4430" into the plastic on the back. I'll etch the flames around it myself if I have to.