ASUS prices 10-inch Android Eee Pad under $399, 8-inch Eee Tablet at $300, other tablets too

ASUS just dumped Windows Embedded Compact 7 for Android for its lower-end tablet devices, and CEO Jerry Shen is passing along the savings. He's pledging that the 10-inch Eee Pad EP101TC, due to ship in March, will cost under $399 -- and if the Notion Ink Adam is any indication that means it'll be $398. Then there's the EP121, a 12-inch tablet running Windows 7 that's positioned rather higher up in the market, as indicated by its $1,000 price tag. Shen says this high cost is due to that docking station able to intriguingly transform it into a laptop when it ships around December or January. Next is yet another Eee Pad due around January, one that will run Windows Embedded Compact 7 on a 10-inch screen and at a price somewhere south of $499. Finally, there's the grayscale Eee Tablet e-reader thing, formerly rumored to be under $599 but now priced at a solid $300 and, supposedly, shipping in October. Surely we're mere months away from tablet saturation at this point.

[Wesscoast Posted Aug 13th 2010 11:13AM]

Windows 7 on this...?


*shakes head.......

[wave4 Posted Aug 13th 2010 11:52AM]

@Wesscoast Not Windows 7. Windows CE7. The same thing WP7 is based off of.

[easyone Posted Aug 13th 2010 11:41AM]

Does anyone knows if the ASUS Eee Tablet is working pdfs? editin them?

[wave4 Posted Aug 13th 2010 11:51AM]

Windows CE 7 was the only thing this tablet had going for it software-wise. Now it's just gonna be another piece of hardware that superior to the iPad that's gonna fall because of some company's bad decision. Haven't they ever heard " You need to spend money to make money?"

[AlwaysThere Posted Aug 13th 2010 11:52AM]

I wouldn't mind an Asus tablet. They make better than average products.

[Ducman69 Posted Aug 13th 2010 12:31PM]

I have been a huge fan of Asus products of late. Great build quality and attention to detail.

Can't wait to get a feel for the Windows 7 dockable version! I hope they price it right though. *crosses fingers* :D

[blackapple Posted Aug 13th 2010 12:34PM]

This is the way it should be! I mean, W7 compact edition. What exactly that is, who knows? But, seriously with the iPad! It's just a big iPod. It should be a more like a macbook than an iPod.

I don't get the iPad and why it's such a huge deal... Make it into a mobile pad with an actual operating system on it and I'm sold, until then, I root for the guys that can make something like the Android Eee Pad Happen.

http://www.macprogress.com

[IRJ Posted Aug 13th 2010 12:37PM]

March 2011......:(

[cpd5c45 Posted Aug 13th 2010 12:43PM]

@IRJ You wish

[Narutogrey Posted Aug 13th 2010 1:03PM]

@cpd5c45 Asus is pretty good with releasing products on time since they own much of their supply chain, so I wouldn't worry about launch delays.

[sohvet Posted Aug 13th 2010 12:41PM]

looks good, but I'll wait till i get to play with it before i ground a solid opinion. to many tablets with "coming soon" but soon seems so far away. Between this, the Adam, Expo, Dell and other android tablets, i hope these companies are trying to distinguish themselves in some way than just a generic tablet running android.

[cool8man Posted Aug 13th 2010 12:49PM]

The EP121 is the only one I could see myself buying. That docking station makes it a full laptop replacement. I could see this becoming the standard form factor for computers in the future. It doesn't make sense to expect most people to buy both a laptop and a tablet. Why not just merge the two devices so the consumer only has to buy one product and get the functionality of both? The problem with convertible Tablet PCs was that you couldn't remove the screen from the keyboard and had to lug around all the heavy parts.

[Narutogrey Posted Aug 13th 2010 1:02PM]

iPad killer?

[radarskiy Posted Aug 13th 2010 4:09PM]

@Narutogrey : Can't kill iPad until it's for sale.

[kimagurealex Posted Aug 13th 2010 1:10PM]

All,
I am in Hong Kong and Shen Zhen in the past couple days. As I said in another post, I will plan to make an Android Tablet myself here since I will stay in here for 3 months. I have 1 good news is after searching in the past couple days, I find a company can do what I have in mind. However, the cost is the main concern (I bring all my housing down payment with me) and I need to see if I can get some kind of support from others. The price should be around 279 USD with the following spec


Product Features
•7" 800x480 WVGA Capacity multi touch screen. It is quite nice in my eye. (I own a motorola milestone XT701 phone)
• CPU: 1 Ghz Freescale ARM Cortex-A8-based i.MX51 SOC
• Ram: 512MB DDR2
• Internal Memory: 2GB
• Expansion Slot: microSD card up to 32GB
• Wi-Fi and 3G (WCDMA) Connectivity
• AGPS and Bluetooth
• 1x Camera (2.0-5.0MP, still debating)
• 1x 3.5mm headset
• 1x HDMI 1.3 1080P playback and output is very smooth
• 1x USB Host port
• Rechargeable Lithium Battery (4500-5000mAh capacity, around 8-9 hours continuous web surfing)
• ~13.5mm Thick
• Around 3 physical buttons
• Android 2.1 and can be upgraded to Android 2.2 in 2 to 3 months and should be compatible with Android 3.0 with this kind of spec.
• Accelerometer

So, who will want to order this machine? If we can get enough people, I can even try to talk to QuickOffice to give us a special deal. or Other App you pick.

[Ed T Posted Aug 13th 2010 2:57PM]

@kimagurealex

Did Fusion Garage pay you a decent severance after the joojoo flopped? Don't waste your money tilting at windmills.

[avalanche33 Posted Aug 13th 2010 1:26PM]

nice is that the jason vorhees game on it or just his wallpaper of him standing under the apple tree waiting for steve jobs to appear.

[TPAYNE87 Posted Aug 13th 2010 2:14PM]

Thats Jason under the tree huh, I guess its where's Jason day.

[TehDeeJ Posted Aug 13th 2010 2:26PM]

GJ it's good to see other Tablets out there.
I'm happy with my iPAD.

[ohnoitsaspider Posted Aug 15th 2010 4:30AM]

@TehDeeJ The world needs something to compete with the iPad. One player in a revived market is not good for anyone except Apple.
Android has massive potential for tablet PCs, as it has many of the features of a normal PC in an easy-to-use phone style UI.

[ZAP Posted Aug 13th 2010 2:47PM]

MARCH?!? What the sam hill is taking so effing long! I am actually tempted to buy a bleeping iPad.

[Rosco911 Posted Aug 13th 2010 5:17PM]

YEAH JASON!!!

[thehui Posted Aug 13th 2010 5:55PM]

the wait is too long and u gave me a choice of jump ship to an !pad :/

[kenny goo Posted Aug 13th 2010 6:06PM]

Please people, don't give up on WinCE and Win7 tablets. Android, iOS, MeeGo, and BB tablets are cool and all, but once I get a smartphone I'll have no need for them. If I ever get a tablet, it would be on the technical level of a netbook or ultraportable and it would replace my laptop with a full on operating system, not a stripped down mobile OS.

[vistet Posted Aug 14th 2010 4:59AM]

"..a cheaper product with more features"

So what are these features ? So far all we know that it´s 10 inches , runs Android , and .. well , that´s it.

[technomom Posted Aug 14th 2010 2:50PM]

It doesn't need to be BETTER than iPad.

It's a zero sum game. For the iPad market, it's all Apple's share to lose at the moment. They won't lose market share necessarily to better products, they'll lose it to the product that is good enough at the right price.