Apple's iPad maybe the hottest thing on the hip-happenin' trendy tablet block, but Asus isn't that behind with its own version, currently dubbed the Eee Pad.
Up for show in Computex this June, then on sale in the months proceeding - likely July, according to our source - the Eee Pad is built using an Nvidia Tegra chip and runs Google Android OS. To further differentiate it from the iPad, there's at least one USB port, a webcam and support for Adobe Flash.
We couldn't get hold of details of the storage or clock speeds of the Nvidia Tegra CPU inside to see how it'll shape up to the 1GHz Apple A4 inside the iPad. We've not seen any images of how Google's Android OS - typically used on smartphones - will look when "oversized" to run on a tablet - all details we're keen to find it all out!
Digitimes got a few details when it talked to Asus Chairman, Jerry Shen, who claimed that the Eee Pad will not be a cheap plastic looking tablet, but instead will feature a more "industrialised" design. If that attracts people to it and if Asus take on board the criticisms of the heavy iPad, remains to be seen (or if the two are in fact mutually exclusive since metal construction and a big battery will always mean a heavy device).
Asus expects to shift 300,000 of them this year alone - which is a low target when you realise that the iPad shifted that in its first day of sales.
Expected to be priced at around $500 for the 3G version, it's certainly not as cheap as the Eee name would imply and we think Asus will have to create an extremely attractive product to get more normal folk to part with that cash.
Are you in the market for a tablet? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
Up for show in Computex this June, then on sale in the months proceeding - likely July, according to our source - the Eee Pad is built using an Nvidia Tegra chip and runs Google Android OS. To further differentiate it from the iPad, there's at least one USB port, a webcam and support for Adobe Flash.
We couldn't get hold of details of the storage or clock speeds of the Nvidia Tegra CPU inside to see how it'll shape up to the 1GHz Apple A4 inside the iPad. We've not seen any images of how Google's Android OS - typically used on smartphones - will look when "oversized" to run on a tablet - all details we're keen to find it all out!
Digitimes got a few details when it talked to Asus Chairman, Jerry Shen, who claimed that the Eee Pad will not be a cheap plastic looking tablet, but instead will feature a more "industrialised" design. If that attracts people to it and if Asus take on board the criticisms of the heavy iPad, remains to be seen (or if the two are in fact mutually exclusive since metal construction and a big battery will always mean a heavy device).
Asus expects to shift 300,000 of them this year alone - which is a low target when you realise that the iPad shifted that in its first day of sales.
Expected to be priced at around $500 for the 3G version, it's certainly not as cheap as the Eee name would imply and we think Asus will have to create an extremely attractive product to get more normal folk to part with that cash.
Are you in the market for a tablet? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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