HP Slate lookalike spotted in China, might beat the real thing to the market

Once again, China has proven to the world that it's the place to be for all sorts of gadgetry miracle. Just look at this 10-inch Windows 7 tablet here -- it may not be a full clone of the forthcoming 8.9-inch HP Slate, but it does come with a couple of interesting features: a 1366 x 768 resistive multitouch display (ideal for tackling the complicated Chinese characters with a stylus) and a webcam. You'll also find a handful of regular tidbits on this 1.66GHz Atom N450 device: a regular USB port coupled by a mini version, 3.5mm headphone jack, VGA port, LAN port, accelerometer, Bluetooth, WiFi and 3G. Oh, and you'll get a free stand, too, but we'll be minding our own business until this no-frills tablet gets a price.

[paul34 Posted Jul 23rd 2010 10:02PM]

@DaHarder

"I have purchased 23 different styli for my iPad"

sounds like you have bigger issues to work out than a stylus

[DaHarder Posted Jul 23rd 2010 10:23PM]

@paul34

Unwarranted Snark (on your part) notwithstanding...

When it's your 'business' to purchase and evaluate these items for future implementation, it's not an issue at all.

[VAVA Mk 2 Posted Jul 23rd 2010 10:32PM]

@DaHarder
To his defense, how much difference can there be amongst 23 stylus pens? The purpose of a stylus kinda puts a limit on product differentiation in terms of unique design features.

[DaHarder Posted Jul 23rd 2010 10:38PM]

@VAVA Mk 2

Examples: Ergonomics, Sensitivity, Construction, Durability, etc...

By your 'logic', I guess there should be just one world manufactures of pens and/or pencils given that they all essentially perform the same tasks.

There are notable differences in styli, and they do matter to those using them.

[KlassiK Posted Jul 23rd 2010 9:39PM]

Looks like it has.

[silaslang Posted Jul 23rd 2010 9:42PM]

Needs capacitive touch and 2GB ram, to be much use

[Wag Posted Jul 23rd 2010 10:03PM]

VGA output=No. HDMI output=Yes.

[Nickmate Posted Jul 23rd 2010 10:03PM]

Add a capacitive screen to it, one as smooth as the iPad, a better battery if it hasn't got one already, an sd card slot and hdmi out since it has a hd screen. Sell it for $400 and wait for someone to release a custom ui that is really quick and smooth and can playback hd mkv and vobs!

[Michael Scrip Posted Jul 23rd 2010 10:35PM]

@Nickmate

I think lots of companies are trying to.. but no one has come up with one yet.

We saw the first glimpse of one in January by HP... then it was gone... then it came back. And since then we've seen lots of blurry photos of future Windows 7 tablets "coming soon"

Android is another option... but the companies who make decent Android devices are cell phone manufacturers... and they will make much more money making phones... not 10" tablets. So, they stick to what they know.

I'm not saying it will never happen. But we do live in the greatest technological time in history... maybe it really is that hard to make a smooth-running Windows 7 tablet.

[Sicarius123 Posted Jul 23rd 2010 10:34PM]

Isn't the HP Slate only using the old 1.6 atom? Not the new 1.66?

If it has 2GB of RAM it smashes the specs of the HP Slate besides the resistive screen.

[blink4ever87 Posted Jul 23rd 2010 11:07PM]

I full fledged OS like win 7 won't work on tablets.

[blink4ever87 Posted Jul 23rd 2010 11:08PM]

A full fledged OS*

[IMarius Posted Jul 23rd 2010 11:13PM]

Good resistive screen like on my N900 really are great,
and i would not mind seeing bigger versions of them
plus people should realize resistive screen are really a must have in places like asia , where people need to be able to write special asian characters with a stylus .

[Ducman69 Posted Jul 23rd 2010 11:25PM]

@IMarius Be nice if everyone just used hanyu pinyin so you could type out "ching chang chong" in roman characters.

[Anh Posted Jul 23rd 2010 11:41PM]

I was actually surprised when I saw "multitouch" resistive screen. I haven't seen any consumer product applying this technology (http://www.umpcportal.com/2009/02/multi-touch-comes-to-resistive-touchscreens/ ). It's not that easy to design and manufacture a resistive that can recognize more than one input so this China Slate must be something.
Also, I do think resistive screen has it owns advantages of letting users to use any pen/stick to write and to lay their fingers down when they type instead of merely poking (can be quite tired over time).

[DS1495 Posted Jul 24th 2010 2:38AM]

i agree with everyone else. i was like "oh, well this is good" until i read -resistive-

:/

[TheJason Posted Jul 24th 2010 3:11AM]

Resistive Fail

[Amourmaitre Posted Jul 24th 2010 5:05AM]

I prefer a resistive touchscreen if it means I can use an active digitizer stylus. Capacitive touchscreens are nice, but completely useless for styli. And since a tablet without a good stylus is pointless, give me resistive.

My fear is that since the HP Slate is advertised as having a capacitive touchscreen it's going to have a crap stylus.

[timmyjan Posted Jul 24th 2010 5:38AM]

that is a nice looking tablet

[HKCally Posted Jul 24th 2010 12:04PM]

"but we'll be minding our own business until this no-frills tablet gets a price"

The iPad has no frills either (in fact it's an Apple Inc slave device it's so locked down) and that's doing OK at a preposterous price. What's your problem?

[MaTdg Posted Jul 24th 2010 12:53PM]

@HKCally I don't see 'iPad' in the article? What's your problem?

[HKCally Posted Jul 24th 2010 4:22PM]

@MaTdg

I didn't see Engadget "minding their own business" before the iPad lauch.

[Steve2000 Posted Jul 24th 2010 6:34PM]

@HKCally This thing isn't in the same league as the iPad.

[MaTdg Posted Jul 25th 2010 5:07AM]

@HKCally I did.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/18/dell-xps-720-specs-pics-revealed/

First sentence.

[HKCally Posted Jul 24th 2010 12:08PM]

Back to iPad comparisons, are we? OK.
stylus, resistive -> work
finger, capacitive -> toy

Next.

[Apothecary Posted Jul 24th 2010 6:57PM]

@HKCally WOW, these comments are great, your so funny! Everybody must think your a joke.