Check out this 14mm-thin contender: built by
Pegatron and still at the prototype stage, the MasterPad looks to be the embodiment of
Steve Ballmer's incoming armada of desirable Windows 7 tablets. It sports an 11.6-inch IPS screen, which accommodates a 1,366 x 768 widescreen resolution, a 1.3 megapixel webcam plus mic,
two USB ports, a memory card reader, an accelerometer, mini-HDMI port, 3G connectivity, and 32GB or 64GB SSD options. All that hi-tech goodness is wrapped up in a magnesium and aluminum alloy body, weighing 990 grams. There are some less cutting edge specs, like the disappointing 2-cell battery that will only get you 5 hours of use and the
1.66GHz Atom N450 CPU -- but we're being promised 1080p video playback and Flash compatibility are ready to roll, and our machine translation hints at an additional HD video-processing chip. The early hands-on experience seems to have left the Israeli journos impressed, and their homeland can expect the MasterPad to arrive "in the coming months," with an Android version also in the works. See it on video after the break.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Image courtesy of Nitsan Saddan, Ynet
posted August 2nd 2010 6:07AM
nice homegroup ftw
@briguy266
agreed. Win 7 & homegroup with the ability to play 1080p video is golden. the only thing that would make this better is WiDi minus the box you have to attach to the TV.
I want to be able to watch Dexter on my flat screen while a constant loop of piano cat is streamed in the PIP from my tablet/slate. Why? because Dexter just gets so serious and bloody sometimes that it helps to look at a the hilarity that is a cat playing piano so I can recenter my Chi.
make it happen you faceless, greedy companies!
@briguy266
THE iPad competitior has arrived.
(iPad owner speaking here)
@SolidSnake
I think it would be better if it had MeeGo. Win 7 is just not a good idea for a tablet. It isn't built for a finger use. Btw, a tablet should at least have 7-8h battery life, anything worse than that doesn't have a point.
@briguy266
LOL - what a dumb name - try saying MasterPad 3 times fast and see what happens.....
@C72 Meego? How about the more widely supported Android OS...maybe you have heard of it, you know, the one actually used by other manufacturers besides Nokia....just sayin...
Anyways, I'm actually all for a W7 tablet. Why would I not want to use all the apps I already use on my pc, but now in a smaller form factor? It's better than using dumbed down versions from app stores. Plus, full flash? Hell yes!
@briguy266
Feel the force choke Ipad?
These little things like: usb, build in webcam, card reader - they all just small fraction of your production cost, but in the end become great deal on how "well educated/no sheep brains" customer pull their decision.
If only you could listen Mr. Jobs
@grummy I'd hold my breath until seeing that it doesn't run jittery. If there's anything that we've learnt its that people like their interfaces smooth and I'm all for that. IMO we're past the acceptance that sometimes things may judder, and now its more of a 'on the odd occasion' acceptance. Anything less than that just doesn't cut it anymore.
@C72 just install meego, or some other linux pda distro on it then. hell, just run it in a vm(burns battery maybe some % faster, but not by that much and you'd get the drivers for whatever). that it can run windows 7 is not a newsflash when it's x86, but that it can run windows 7 also means that it can run pretty much any os you please that's been updated in the last decade(yeah, might have problems booting original beos).
just a x86 tablet. but all the hype nowadays goes in to sw, i guess it's hard to dfferentiate when there's little to innovate in manufacturing.
@grummy Its "built-in webcam". It's ok, too many years of windows use can rotten your mind.
Sent from my iPad.
@SolidSnake
The iPad is literally an iPod Touch with a big screen and huge battery. Its running iOS. Its cellphone/iPod components with a cellphone/iPod operating system.
This is a tablet computer with a full feature multitouch operating system.
Aside from being about the same size, they couldn't possibly directly compete with one another. Thats like saying that a Schwinn bicycle can compete with a CBR 600RR motorcycle. Anyone shopping for the former would not be interested in the latter, and visa versa, even though they both have two wheels.
@C72 Not built for finger use? have you tried the Latitude XT or Acer 1820ptz? Crazy talk, or are you repeating what you've 'heard'. Set the Display DPI to 125% and its EASY for fingers
@Ducman69
Nan it's more like the iPad is a bike that does 90% of what the motorbike does, but better - and 95% of users don't care about the 10% missing features that comes with the cruddy motorbike that only lasts half the distance of the iPad bike.
@Excalibur Yup, Windows 7 was designed from inception for multitouch tablet use. It IS a tablet OS (and more). =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBtEhQqS1dw
@Ducman69 This has fail written all over it. Te iPad succeeded due to it being an appliance and not a full blown tablet computer. Tablet computers have failed for the last 5 years, very few people want them. I can't believe companies haven't learned any lessons from the years of failure.
@wilvo so what you are saying is there will *never* be a full function tablet PC because a bunch of them failed in the past 5 years? Are you serious? Lets all give up when it doesn't work out first time!!
You can't even *print* on the iPad, therefore it is useless to me as anything other than an over-grown iPod.
@grummy I am sick and tired of this insinuation that somehow if I like Apple products that I am stupid. "Dude".....What is your definition of "well educated/no sheep brains"? I have a Masters degree in Computer Science. Of course that doesn't automatically give me the license to call myself well-educated (and I don't --- unless provoked by dimwits like you); but at the same time I don't go around calling others stupid. How well educated are you?
@C72
Really...how many idiots are going to say this? It was built specifically WITH touch use in mind.
@Ducman69
> Aside from being about the same size, they couldn't possibly
> directly compete with one another. Thats like saying that a
> Schwinn bicycle can compete with a
That's utter nonsense. An iPad already directly competes against a
desktop PC. If this thing delivers it's promises, it could easily fill
whatever roll you have for the iPad right now
@SolidSnake
Oh really?! How old are you man? Like 16?
Are you forgetting that MS has OEMs in the thousands and they produce the same shit? So, ipad will be going against literally thousands of fucking tablets running the same OS.
Like big wow!! OMFG! I think I saw a putty tat!
Moreover, those competitors will suck the profit margins out of one another until you have the same damn situation as the pc.
A cheap ass glut tablets.
@pspitts REall Win7 slates may only come out in Mid 2011. MS is screwed again. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/what-microsoft-isnt-saying-about-its-ipad-compete-strategy/6963
@Kiwipoweredkiwi
90%? The iPad does 90% of what a normal OS tablet can do? I don't think you understand percentages.
@Ducman69
Why do you keep repearting this over and over again, in every tablet topic. Windows 7 is *not* a tablet-OS, because Windows 7 applications are all made for mouse/keyboard control. End of story.
It's completely irrelevant if it has API's for multitouch if no existing applications make use of it, and the 'advantage' of having Windows 7 on your tablet completely evaporates if every application needs to be rewritten to make it touch friendly first. It's a catch-22 and the only way Microsoft can escape it, is by using something other than Windows 7 for their tablet business...
How hard can it be to separate 'technically possible' from 'useful in practice'...
@wilvo Id be more inclined to think tablets have failed for a number of reasons such as touch screen technology, mobility and pricing. All of which have improved dramatically over the past couple of years.
@C72 Actually, Windows 7 was built for "finger" use. Multi "finger" use, actually
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/touch
Are you guys serious?? How can anyone praise this thing? It's almost like all the other vaporware tablets we've seen... it's really sad. Like always, the stats/specs are "epic" but FFS!!!!!!!!! Let me say this clearly....
WINDOWS 7 ON A TABLET = FAIL
It is a desktop OS! As soon as I saw the video, it was fail. The keyboard was in the middle of the damn screen. Oh, yes, you can move it off to a side or something but whats the point if the whole thing isn't visible or if it's blocking the field/area you want to type in???
No one is getting it.... and it just boggles my mind that companies are still trying to do this. Tablets need an OS that is specific to the platform. Not a full blown desktop OS with blown-up icons... FFS, get a clue.
I'd really like to see Microsoft set the standard but... ugh, don't know WTF anyone is thinking these days. They keep screwing around and the iPad just keeps getting further and further ahead of the pack.....
@Kiwipoweredkiwi
I've got a worse problem. First thing that keeps coming to my mind is MaxiPad
@briguy266 Looks nice spec'd but windows 7 is not the way to go for touchscreens and tablets, it's meant to be used by mouse on a large monitor with Mac-like specs, (2.x ghz, 4+ gb ram, at least 250 gb hdd, and for usb ports, 2 is fine, as laptops generally have 2, but my pc has 9, and it's not custom in any way) maybe this will surprise me, but I'm not expecting many sales or popularity or anything, and also not expecting it to even be good is what I mean by that, obviously a tablet by a not very known company wouldn't get popular knowledge
@Jordus
Yeah, you can use it with your fingers, but that's a feature. It's built primarily for mouse and keyboard. I can use Symbian^1 with fingers too, but it's built for phones with keypad. My point is, i think it's better to use an OS which is built from scratch for finger use like MeeGo (for tablets) than OS which is mainly built for mouse and keyboard. Btw, when you use OS built for portable devices, it has for ex. better battery management.
@Plazmic Flame You haven't used a windows 7 tablet then, based from what you've put. The keyboard can be docked, slide from the left or right, floating, re-sized and basically moved all over the place. Mild multi-touch typing can take place if the screen will let you.
Have a try first... These oems are showing off their items with straight out of the box installs which is a bit sad really.
@hapalibashi
Lmao stfu and stop being a fanboy. You can wirelessly print on an iPad, and its easier to set up than most net books or laptops that I have to set up for idiots everyday. Jesus people are getting so desperstrr to bag on the iPad they just make things up.
And yea, this tablet will be THE killer with it's USB ports ( because I want to carry around a portable HD with my mobile tablet), sd card reader (so, unlike apple "douches" I can make a spectacle of pulling out my tablet and loading up pictures instead of just showing them on my phone / camera), and flash ability ( LOL ), just like all the rest of em.
Ducman if these things are so solid, why don't you own one?
@Kiwipoweredkiwi Ah but you have to understand this is Israel so everything is an argument. They call it Masterpad because, well lets face it, its not an Ipad.
@Plazmic Flame But you have to look at it both ways. There's your point, but there is the fact that you don't have to specifically tailor Windows 7 to a tablet. It's kinda half baked in. Plus the HUGE backlog of Windows applications. I see your point: If I were a tablet maker, Android would be my first choice for a flagship product, but I would also offer W7 tablets as to increase my customer base.
@Firehazel -- "If I were a tablet maker, Android would be my first choice for a flagship product, but I would also offer W7 tablets as to increase my customer base."
Increase by how much though? Do you think that the tablet market will be divided the same way as computers are? 90% Microsoft, 8% Apple?
I think it will swing heavily in Apple's favor for tablets... even if the iPad is considered just a big iPod Touch. People like it. It's fun. It's got apps and the WIFIs. Android will be interesting to keep an eye on too.
Who knows, though. Maybe all the people who bought iPads just wanted a shiny toy... and there are actually tons of people who are dying to get their hands on a Windows laptop that is missing a keyboard.
There seems to be a strong demand for a Windows tablet on Engadget... but geeks are a tiny fraction of the market. Mom & Pop probably don't want another Windows device.
@Michael Scrip I'm not sure. I'd like to see the marketshare of tablet OSes maybe a year or so from now to judge. I can't really say more than that. Apple's growth may continue, but Android's recent momentum may keep it going.
@element4life3 "Why would I not want to use all the apps I already use on my pc, but now in a smaller form factor? "
Because its going to be frustrating as all hell trying to use any of those applications without a keyboard or mouse. The advantage of all those "apps" is that they are designed from the ground up for finger based touch input.
@OverDriven Windows 7 itself may have been. However, how many Win32 applications were? Not a whole hell of a lot. And definitely not most of the programs that people are all clamoring to run on a device like this (Photoshop, Office).
@SolidSnake
Seriously. Master(bator)pad is just about as abad a name as ipad.
@Kiwipoweredkiwi maxipad, maxipad, maxipad....
Allow me to hijack this comment thread to say that IPS is FTW.
Also, the iPad may be a true computer in the Turing-complete sense, but that doesn't mean it isn't unnecessarily crippled by the OS. If all you care about is media consumption, then by all means, buy an iPad, but if you want the flexibility of watching movies in your bed AND using the device for content creation, get this and a Bluetooth keyboard and go to town. Good luck writing a computer program on an iPad.
@grummy
You still hoping that 11 times is the charm for a Win 7 tablet. A Windows 7 tablet will always be a failure as a consumer product, no matter how much you want one. You'd better start your own company if you think the masses out there are going to buy some pig OS in a poke of a tablet. The concept is OK, but the reality makes little sense.
iPad is better
@kb24istrash
i dont know what the big fuss about the ipad
i mean its nothing the ipad can do that the ipod or iphone cant
@kb24istrash
Your absolutely right, it's better at not displaying the web correctly.
@kb24istrash
No it's not.
Different devices for different people. I was in the market for one of these before my parents got me an iPad.
This has USB, a webcam, full multitasking.
Some people don't need it, some people do.
So, kindly STFU.
@SolidSnake STFU little boy.
@Taller
Huh?
I thought you were the little boy, from the way you speak..
Go find something better to do.
@cdf74dc9 The main thing that i'll give to the ipad is its javascript performance appears to be better than iphone 4
@hamoor The iPad has a larger screen.
A 2-cell battery? Kinda makes you wonder if they completely missed the attraction of smaller machines? Part of the reason I like the idea of a tablet is that you can carry it around all day, not have to worry about it being too heavy, and not have to worry about the battery dying. I really don't want to buy an iPad, but dammit why do no other manufacturers get it!?!