The most beautiful tablet you'll ever own comes with an Audi Q7
Audi teased its tablet at last year's CES, but then went completely quiet until its press event at this year's show. The quick demo we were treated to focused on how well the tablet is integrated into the Q7; the specs were clearly an afterthought. Audi has this dead right: Sure it's a 10.1-inch tablet being driven by a Tegra 4, but we didn't care about that at all. We were wowed by its beautiful design, and how well thought-out every little thing is. For example, the matte display is designed to reduce micro vibrations passing through the car -- and as we saw in a demo, they are incredibly distracting. The display was also tested to ensure that during an accident, it wouldn't shatter -- from your face hitting it -- and have the shards cause further injury to the people in the car. The tablet's housing is a solid piece of beautifully sculpted aluminum with curved corners and smooth edges.
While the primary purpose of the tablet is entertainment for passengers in the backseat, the Audi Tablet also controls most of the car's electronic functions. Passengers in the Q7 can have a look at the current route in a map app and can even set a new waypoint and pass it to the main stack in the front via WiFi. Also on tap: music choices, media access, speed and even data showing if your driver has been keeping up with the maintenance. Charging and a serial port that interfaces with the car's CANBus -- for communication with the auto's systems -- are on the back of the device and a standard micro-USB port and headphone jack are, too. The Audi Tablet is without question the nicest example of one we've ever held. Was the OS fast and responsive? Absolutely. Is the touch response top-notch? Indeed it is. Would we buy one to have at home? No, not likely, but the experience in the car is exactly right and we think that's precisely what Audi was aiming for.
Aaron Souppouris contributed to this report
