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Augen demos new family of caffeine-inspired tablets, teases dual-booting Android and Ubuntu slate

It's baaack! Yep, that up there is Augen's next version of its Gentouch 78 (you know, the Kmart tablet) -- henceforth known as the Gentouch Latte. But Augen isn't stopping there, it has a few more tablet treats coming, and we got a chance to check 'em out in Vegas. Hit the break for the lowdown on the company's four new tablets and don't forget to stop on by the gallery below to peruse the hands-on shots.
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  • Gentouch Latte - Just like the original, the next version of the Gentouch 78 has a 7-inch resistive display, 800MHz TCC 8902 processor, 2GB of storage, and no Android Market access. So, what has Augen improved exactly? Well, the tablet will run Android 2.2, has an accelerometer, and as you can see from the picture above, the buttons have been moved from the back of the device to the front. We don't need to tell you that the resistive screen makes this thing a real pain to use, but obviously, at $150 Augen is still aiming at the low-end here.

  • Gentouch Latte Grande - Boy, these coffee names are already starting to confuse us. The Grande version is the same thing as the one above, it will just grab a capacitive multitouch display. This one should be around $269, which actually seems like too much when you consider the Archos 70 is around the same price.

  • Gentouch Espresso - But Augen doesn't want to just make bargain bin tablets forever, and the Espresso is its first step to making something a little better. This one is still of the 7-inch variety, but it's been given a capacitive touchscreen, accelerometer, 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 CPU, front-facing cam, 8GB of storage, and a more sturdy build. The unit Augen had on hand wasn't working, but the mock up looked a lot like Acer's 7-inch tablet with chrome edges and a plastic back. It will also be available with a keyboard dock. According to the Augen rep on hand, it'll retail for around $270.

  • Gentouch Dolce / Doppio - It's in the 10-inch space that Augen seems to be getting pretty amped up on the caffeine. The Dolce is going to be a dual-booting Android 2.2 and Ubuntu tablet. (We're specifying "going to be" since the one on display wasn't close to working.) Powered by a 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor, the specs sure do seem interesting, and while the tablet will have a 10.1-inch, 1024 x 768-resolution capacitive display, Augen will also be selling a keyboard dock known as the Doppio. The dock will have a 160GB hard drive as well as a built-in 6000mAH battery to give the entire package 15 hours of runtime -- the tablet alone is said to run for 10 hours. Obviously, this one seems pretty far out considering Augen had only a very glossy plastic model to show off, but its promising the entire thing for $569 -- the tablet part will be just $369.

Augen sure does have a lot brewing, but while the ideas may be interesting, the execution has to be pretty darn close to perfect for this company to compete with the loads of Android 3.0 tablets and netbook / tablet hybrids coming down the line this year. Let's hope the coffee helps...