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Matsunichi's MarquisPad MP977 tablet tempts us with $249, dual-core Android 4.0
You might remember Le Pan's tablets from CES this year, of which only one was truly ready at the time. The company is now ready to hit the US in earnest, but you'll have to forget the company name along with the earlier designs: it's now Matsunichi, and it's planning to kick off its US-ready makeover through the MarquisPad MP977. The tablet shares the 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 display of the Le Pan II, but it's now running a slightly speedier dual-core, 1.2GHz TI chip (likely the same OMAP 4430 as in the Droid Xyboard), ships with Android 4.0 out of the gate and comes in a sleeker -- not to mention browner -- shell. Storage is being cut in half over the Le Pan II to just 4GB between the internal memory and a bundled microSD card, though, and the battery is good for a very modest five hours. Nonetheless, the $249 sticker and a May release will put the MP977 in the running with the slower but more capacious Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Matsunichi also teased us with a roadmap for a pair of future tablets in the process. The 10.1-inch MP1010 will keep the resolution, but it'll run on a quicker 1.5GHz TI processor and carry a total of 10GB of space when it appears sometime between June and August. If those 0.4 inches of extra glass are just too much to bear, an MP979 will bring all the extra storage and speed of the MP1010 to a 9.7-inch screen sometime between August and September.
Le Pan III hits l'FCC
There's a good chance you don't remember the Le Pan III. The Ice Cream Sandwich tablet succumbed to the deluge of fellow Android slates when it was announced back in January during CES, but perhaps it'll get a bit more attention now that it's gotten the FCC's governmental stamp of approval. Perhaps. In the meantime, the 1.5GHz tablet is still listed as "coming soon" on Le Pan's site.
Le Pan rolls out a trio of Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich tablets for penny pinchers
Ice Cream Sandwich on a budget? That's what Le Pan is promising at CES today, with a trio of new tablets. The higher end of the two is the Le Pan III, an Android 4.0-laced slate that's powered by a 1.5GHz, dual-core TI-OMAP 4460 processor, with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. This Bluetooth 4.0-enabled device also comes with a five-megapixel rear camera and a two-megapixel front-facing shooter, and supports 1080p video output. Joining the Le Pan II is the TC978, which features just about the same specs, save for a slightly lower octane (1GHz) processor, and the lack of a five-megapixel camera. The Le Pan II, meanwhile, ships with Android 3.2 Honeycomb rather than Ice Cream Sandwich, but can make the jump to 4.0 with a simple upgrade. The device features a 9.7-inch display at 1024 x 768 resolution and is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, but the rest of its specs are just about identical to those of the TC978. No word yet on when the Le Pan III and TC978 will hit the market, but the Le Pan II is already available on Amazon for $300. You can grab it now at the link below, or head past the break for a spoonful of PR.
