Huawei outs 'first' Android 3.2 7in tablet
Confirms Honeycomb currently not good for seven-inchers
Chinese handset maker Huawei has taken the wraps off its latest tablet: the 7in, Android 3.2-based MediaPad - the first of its kind to run that version of the Google OS, Huawei claimed.
Huawei confirmed that 3.2 is the first version of Honeycomb to be "suitable" for 7in tablets - previous versions, 3.0 and 3.1, are not, said Victor Xu, Huawei's marketing chief - and the first designed specifically to support that size of screen.
Key features include a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU; 1080p HD output through HDMI; 15Mp and 1.3Mp rear- and front-facing cameras; 2.4/5GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 2.1; and 14.4Mb/s HSPA connectivity.
Huawei made a big deal out of the MediaPad's 217 pixels per inch display, comparing it to the iPad 2's 132ppi, the Samsung Galaxu Tab 10.1's 149ppi and the Motorola Xoom's 160ppi.
These rivals are all 9.7in or 10.1in displays so for a given resolution, of course they're going to be lower than a 7in panel. It's a lot lower than the iPhone 4 3.5in screen's 326ppi.
Huawei didn't state the display's resolution.
And the MediaPad is a chunky boy too: 11mm edge on, though it weighs just 390g, Huawei said.
There's a 4100mAh battery on board good, the company said, for six hours' video playback.
The MediaPad will be available in "selected markets" in Q3. Huawei kept mum about pricing. ®
COMMENTS
Odd
I am puzzled by this idea that the OS is designed for a particular size/resolution of screen. It does suggest some very odd assumptions in the early design stage. I wonder what other corners have been cut?
This is why Fitaly stopped developing for Palm
and Palm died. ;-) And afaik Fitaly isn't available for Android at all, yet. (Not legally. But I think not at all.)
Fitaly on-screen keyboard had to do some freaky things to pop up on top of the Palm display, I gathered: it wasn't designed with that in mind. But then each new device, almost, needed a different customisation of the Fitaly software to work. After one too many such changes, Fitaly's developer(s) declared defeat.
Well..
They also don't appear to check for dates that any user can set freely but will lead to bricking the device
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=16899
hope ths price is good
the market is heating up but at the moment things like the Xoom or Streak are just too expensive... for a second rate iPad why pay iPad prices?
I'm really looking forward to a pockatable Android that I can use for books, music, maps and as a web companion and simple note taking in meetings (though the lack of pen input on any of these devices is IMHO a huge failing) but I don't really want to buy into the Apple ecosystem (I've bought apps in the Android market so want to continue to use them rather than re-purchase for a new platform)
So far none of the Android tablets have really impressed. They fail on a number of counts - too slow, too think, huge bezel, require seperate power bricks, not enough battery life
The only way for an Android slate to be the iPad challenger is actually apply the same fanatical engineering to the problem, and not assume it's something that's only got a 6 month life span
Title...
Currently working with enginers from Huawei so will ask them for a full spec tomorrow I think, if it's competatively priced then this could be a winner
