As someone who is actually looking for an alternative to the iPad….I’m sitting here mid-July and so far I haven’t seen any news regarding when/if any of these supposed android tablets are going to ship.  Wasn’t it back in January that bunches of these companies promised ship dates of mid-summer?  So far the most promising of the bunch looks like the Notion Ink Adam.  Rumors are all over the place on this one.  I read one blog that claims it’s shipping late July to mid-August.  Frankly, I’m starting to get antsy to get a tablet.  I know some folks have been so irritated at having to wait that they’ve just gone and gotten the iPad.  At the moment I’m annoyed at Apple (what else is new).  I downloaded the ios 4 update to my 2nd gen ipod touch and apparently there are some features they’ve left out for the 2nd gen….home screen wallpaper, bluetooth, mutli-tasking…uh why even allow the thing to update? Is this some ploy to make me want to buy new hardware? Well ok, it makes me want to buy a non-apple tablet. Let’s get real…the 2nd gen ipod touch is absolutely capable of doing home screen wallpapers.  Then again I digress.

So far I’m hoping the Notion Ink Adam will come into being since that’s the tablet I’m looking at purchasing.

This tablet has great specs though pricing claims anywhere from $400 – $800.   Since I survive on a tight budget I’ll probably be looking for the less pricey model which just an LCD display.

Some Adam Features are:
Pixel Qi transflective display
NVIDIA Tegra T20 chipset
180 degree Swivel Camera
1080p Full HD video playback
integrated WiFi, Bluetooth and UMTS/HSDPA
So anyway, to all you tablet developers…please please please bring something to market so we as consumers have an alternative to the iPad.

Thank You, Thank you very much!

TekkieFreak

So after watching the keynote address from Steve Jobs yesterday regarding the iPad…I’m feeling a little bit on the fence.  Sure, I understand their naming convention (iPod, iPad)…but seriously iPad? I dunno it’s just a bad name.  Sorry Steve.  And yes, I am drawing conclusions on a product I haven’t even seen, touched or used yet.  But it doesn’t multitask, there’s no flash and as far as a music device: my iPod touch is just the right size.

Enter HP’s Slate.  I’ve been having trouble finding lots of specifics on the slate.  But it looks like it’s a nice size, and should make a great ebook reader/web browser/video player.   Due out sometime in 2010, I think this will be an awesome addition to the new lineup of tablets.

So Apple just announced it’s new iPad tablet.  It will be available for purchase in 60 days (That puts us right around March 27, 2010).   Cost will be $499 for 16gb, $599 for 32gb and $699 for 64gb.  Tablets have wi-fi built in and you also have an option to get them with 3G capabilities for an extra $130.   3G can be purchased via AT&T for $14.99 for 250mb and $29.99 for unlimited data and there is NO Contract required.  You just pre-pay and away you go.

Looks like the iPad has a 9.7″ screen and multitouch.  No camera, no flash, and I’m not sure about multi-tasking.

Enjoy!!!

Thanks to one of our forum members, Ben, I’m posting about this great looking Android Tablet.   This looks like a great device, has the nice large screen so you don’t have to give yourself a headache from looking at teeny tiny fonts on your cell phone.  And, it’s running android.  If you guys haven’t noticed I’m a little bit biased toward Android….it’s a great open source OS and I’ve been reasonably impressed with my Android-based myTouch.

The tablet should be available in 7, 11 and 15 inch screen sizes.

There’s no information on cost, but it sounds like this is going to be sold through one or more of the cell phone carriers and subsidized.  It should be coming out the first half of 2010…so I guess the rest remains to be seen.

Here’s the link to the original story.

http://mashable.com/2009/11/12/vega-android-tablet/

Mag+ (video prototype footage only) from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Here’s commentary from one of the developers:

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Here’s a link to the story:

http://gizmodo.com/5428619/mag%252B-concept-from-popular-science-publishers-shows-thinking-outside-the-tablet-box

And so I guess it is true.  The Crunchpad is dead.  This is a major bummer, because this is *the* tablet that I was watching and waiting for.  Anyway, here’s the link.  You’re best of just reading the post from Mike Arrington himself.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/30/crunchpad-end/

Here’s a great video of the Archos 5.  It gives you a great idea of what the tablet can do and the touch screen looks amazingly responsive and fabulous.

Enjoy!!!

Archos 5 32 GB Internet Tablet with Android
Price: USD 258.99

22 used & new available from USD 290.00

Ok, so I just couldn’t help myself with the headlines this morning. Unless I’m missing something (which is entirely possible) there is no Apple tablet. This looks promising…really promising.  This is the Microsoft Courier “tablet” and rather than an ebook reader (though I’m sure it can do that) it’s more meant to be a “journal/agenda”…think Dayrunner on steroids?  It looks like they’re going for the female demographic.  Apparently this baby is running windows 7….so it should be really interesting to see where this goes.  This is getting much closer to my vision of being able to have a thin/small tablet type device that’s large enough for my aging eyes to see and allows me to “read” a magazine in full-color with it’s full formatting.

And honestly, I’m still a bit bitter!  I’m a self-described Trekkie who has thought someone should make a 7″ or 8″ tablet since the days of Next Generation (remember their tablets).  It seems like all these companies are scrambling because they’ve somehow realized there actually is a market for this sort of thing.  I’ve been waiting on this kind of thing for 20 years.

Here’s a video that I found on youtube.  Looks really nice, but I’d love to see a bit more of it’s functionality (ebook reading, surfing, media) if there is any at this point.

At any rate, my faithful readers…enjoy looking at all the new technology coming out!!