Viewsonic intros £350 7in Android tablet
Not just a tablet, it's a phone too
Viewsonic has introduced its 7in Android 2.2-based tablet, as expected. It claimed the gadget is a world first - thanks to the device's "phone functionality".
Dubbed the ViewPad 7, the tablet's full specs have still to be published, but Viewsonic did say the device will sport front (0.3Mp) and rear (3Mp) cameras; have Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity; assisted GPS; and Micro SD storage.
The company confirmed the 3G link enables text and multimedia messaging, plus VoIP and "standard voice calls".
Alas, Viewsonic hasn't specified the ViewPad 7's screen resolution - at 7in, 800 x 480 seems most likely, but we'll see.
Viewsonic did say that the device will ship in October for £350. ®
COMMENTS
iPhone 4 design
Funny, when I saw the new iPhone I only thought "Nokia released a new phone???"
It might not *be* an eBook reader
I like my general purpose computing device to be capable of doing general stuff, and as this isn't going to be much use for creating media it should at least allow me to consume media in an efficient fashion. Scrolling around badly rendered PDFs just won't cut it.
Until someone comes up with a device that's not tied to the devil's own reality distortion field I think I'll stick to my trusty laptop. This fashion for widescreen displays is nice for watching movies, but website viewing and document reading is less than optimal.
Android shmandroid, I'd have something like a Viliv S5 but with half the weight and a sensible aspect ratio, then I can choose whether to run Windows, Linux or whatever and not be tied to a marketplace or be trapped by some megalomaniac's idea of what the web should look like.
I have to agree.
When anyone suggests that these things are copying an iWhatever I can't help but recall that this is exactly how I imagined a touchscreen device would look back when mobile phones only had numeric keypads.
OK, so having a black screen border and metallic sides is a bit of a design decision -- but blandness is always going to be part of the design of something with no buttons.
Next
I was tempted, then I realised I probably want the 10in model, especially as that one has Windows 7 and Android. Leave it running Android and turn off the phone+GPS to keep the battery topped up, then you have a laptop about in reserve when you need it.
Bugger the iPad, that an Android+WINtel tablet really is a laptop replacement. Just hope it isn't horrendously expensive.
