We knew at Computex that tablets were on track to completely take over the world, but now it's official: a German internet provider has just revealed that it'll soon be offering a branded tablet PC of its own. You heard right -- a German ISP is making a tablet. The delightfully named SmartPad is a 7-inch, touchscreen-based slate that'll eventually support Android 2.2 (v1.6 will be pre-installed), and there's also inbuilt WiFi and an optional 3G module for those looking to "stay connected." It seems as if the company is still hammering out the final specifications, but we are told to expect an SD card reader (2GB will be included), a USB socket, a 500MHz ARM11 processor, 256MB of RAM and a proprietary app store that'll undoubtedly enrage you. According to the promotional video hosted just past the break, it should ship later this month for precisely nothing so long as you pick up a data plan to go alongside of it. 'Course, getting one outside of Deutschland is another challenge entirely...
HAHA! I love how, ever since the iPWN 1G came out in '07, all these new smartphones, tablets, etc.. seem to want to mimic and rip off the iPWN icons and dashboard overall design. LAME.
@iPwn Owner Haha ipwn, ipwn 4 pwns, saw 1st one in public today at a red sox game seat in front of me, from 10 feet away at an angle, the screen looked pretty good
@Shalabi That'd cause they aren't made by google, there made by random companies in china, and they aren't huge organized press releases, the only way the world knows about them is random engadget posts
@tombeck To be better than the iPad it would at least need a 1.5 ghz processor to make the speed close to or equal to iPad with ios, and the screen would need to be 10 inches, and it would need to be $50 with 120 gb memory, and anything else crazy specwise to make up for bad software and not particularly good hardware
would be nice to see a Vanilla pre-rooted android tablet for a change. I doubt it will happen soon or until Gingerbread (Android 3.0) is out with it's much improved stand alone UI. At the moment all I am seeing is want-to-be Apple clones that really offer the consumer nothing new. As Android improves I can see hardware makers dropping re-skinning like HTC's touch sense as they become poor cousins to what is already available on Android by default.
We currently don't plan to launch the 1&1 SmartPad abroad, as it has been specifically designed with the home network devices of our German DSL customers in mind. But of course you never know, our US staff based near Philadelphia have already expressed greatest interest ...
We've presented a pre-production series of the SmartPad to journalists and bloggers in Munich two days ago, and the first devices will be shipped to customers in about 2 to 3 weeks.
You can have a first glimpse at the 1&1 SmartPad in live action at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17z_NgoR0Wk, recorded (as you might expect from a German tablet) in a beergarden :) Internet access came from a Google Nexus One turned into a mobile access point thanks to one of our visiting bloggers.
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posted July 2nd 2010 1:44PM
BTW, it's already available for free if you sign a broadband plan for at least 2 years.
I'll take 2
French ISP "France Telecom / Orange" already try to make a tablet : the "Tabbee". No wonder why people are committing suic...
I'd like you to meet my new 7" handheld friend... his name is "Brick."
HAHA! I love how, ever since the iPWN 1G came out in '07, all these new smartphones, tablets, etc.. seem to want to mimic and rip off the iPWN icons and dashboard overall design. LAME.
@iPwn Owner Haha ipwn, ipwn 4 pwns, saw 1st one in public today at a red sox game seat in front of me, from 10 feet away at an angle, the screen looked pretty good
Day after day, we see stories about android tablets and we still haven't seen one on a store shelf.
@Shalabi That'd cause they aren't made by google, there made by random companies in china, and they aren't huge organized press releases, the only way the world knows about them is random engadget posts
Great. Once this boards the failboat 1&1 as my domain host will probably go tits-up.
It has an SD card reader and USB? So it's automatically better than the iPad? :-)
/sarcasm
@tombeck
it even has an infrared-port, which makes it even twice as good as the ipad;)
@tombeck To be better than the iPad it would at least need a 1.5 ghz processor to make the speed close to or equal to iPad with ios, and the screen would need to be 10 inches, and it would need to be $50 with 120 gb memory, and anything else crazy specwise to make up for bad software and not particularly good hardware
internetsurfen
would be nice to see a Vanilla pre-rooted android tablet for a change. I doubt it will happen soon or until Gingerbread (Android 3.0) is out with it's much improved stand alone UI. At the moment all I am seeing is want-to-be Apple clones that really offer the consumer nothing new. As Android improves I can see hardware makers dropping re-skinning like HTC's touch sense as they become poor cousins to what is already available on Android by default.
Like the Droid X, this thing is perfect for surfing........ The ocean
We currently don't plan to launch the 1&1 SmartPad abroad, as it has been specifically designed with the home network devices of our German DSL customers in mind. But of course you never know, our US staff based near Philadelphia have already expressed greatest interest ...
We've presented a pre-production series of the SmartPad to journalists and bloggers in Munich two days ago, and the first devices will be shipped to customers in about 2 to 3 weeks.
You can have a first glimpse at the 1&1 SmartPad in live action at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17z_NgoR0Wk, recorded (as you might expect from a German tablet) in a beergarden :) Internet access came from a Google Nexus One turned into a mobile access point thanks to one of our visiting bloggers.
Andreas Maurer, 1&1 Internet
I don't know about their ISP side but as a webhost, they rock. Cheap and reliable. I've got 4 domains with them.
I'd want one if the size was 8-9"
The front of it looks like a blown-up Droid... DroidPad?