NetbookTech

Another entrant into the reviving market of tablets and slates this year will be OpenPeak’s new OpenTablet 7 which officially debuted yesterday at  the Mobile World Congress.

Powered by the upcoming Intel Moorestown Atom platform (a SoC chip designed for small devices such as smartphones and tablets), the OpenTablet 7 features a 7 inch multi-touch enabled TFT LCD display with LED backlighting, Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, HDMI output, and dual cameras for capturing video and still images. 

On the stats side, OpenTablet 7 measures 9 x 5 x 0.59 inches and weighs a mere 1.15 pounds – comparable to the iPad although it does have a smaller display than the iPad.

Other notable specs include:

• Support for 802.11 b/g/n
• WWAN connectivity support
• USB interface
• microSD slot to expand storage

Now what about the all-important application support? OpenPeak supports Adobe Flash CS4 and will provide a software framework allowing developers and designers to create “highly interactive applications”. In addition, a “white label application shop” is planned which will provide revenue sharing models for service providers and developers.

Dan Gittleman, CEO of OpenPeak, states the “all-in-one device allows you to sync schedules, check movie times, listen to music, watch videos, get weather updates, and even monitor energy usage and home security, all from a single, easy-to-use device.”

The slate will be available with either a desktop docking station or a handset docking station. No word on the price point right now but OpenPeak claims the slate will be available at a “affordable price point”.

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While the primary focus of the upcoming Google Chromium OS is the netbook form factor, this doesn’t mean Google isn’t considering other form factors for the browser-based OS. If you head on over to http://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os/user-experience/form-factors, you’ll find a variety of possible form factors for the Chromium OS – everything from tablets to laptops to desktop systems to large-screen displays. For each form factor, Google outlines the changes to the user interface one might expect with the Chromium OS.

On the netbook front, one would expect:

• Full Screen, Compact/Classic/Sidebar UI
• Omnibox may autohide on devices with limited vertical height
• Docking panels
• Tabs and Windows

Tables with 5 to 10 inch screens, one would expect:

• Full screen, touch-enabled UI
• Docking panels
• Tabs only
• High-resolution display
• Visual exploration

Laptops with 15 to 17 inch displays, one would expect:

• Windowed, classical UI
• Overlapping, or tiled window management
• Floating or docking panels

Desktops with 24 to 30 inch displays, one would expect:

• Windows, classical UI
• Overlapping window management
• Floating or docking panels

And finally for large display sized 40 to 60 inches, one would expect:

• Full-screen displays
• Auto-hiding Omnibox
• Docking panels
• Split screen
• Tabs only

Since everyone’s just a bit crazed over tablets these days, Google decided to show off concept renderings of what the Chromium OS would look like on a Tablet form factor. Here are the renditions.

[Reprinted from Krunker.com]

A new study by ABI Research predicts up to 4 million tablets will ship this year growing to 57 million annually by the year 2015.

According to senior analyst Jeff Orr,”Apple’s iPad is not the first media tablet..But it does help define this new device category. The main focus of media tablets is entertainment.”

Furthermore, Orr expects tablets to remain as a “premium or luxury product for wealthy industrialized markets for at least several years” with units not expected to replace laptops, netbooks, or even mobile phones.

Of course things could very well change in a short order especially if additional third party vendors jump into the ring with cheaper, capable devices. We know Windows 7-based tablets will continue to grow but you can be sure Google Chome-based tablets will enter the fray within the next year or two.

On the flipside, Orr believes third party manufacturers will have a hard time generating awareness of their products among consumers/buyers.

“New entrants to this market are at a disadvantage since they lack the retail relationships and network operator agreements already built by the more mature vendors. Surprisingly, Apple may have done them a favor by raising the public profile of the whole media tablet category.”

It’s certainly not surprising when you consider what Apple did for the smartphone industry. Until the advent of the Apple iPhone, smartphones were relegated to the tech-savvy and business-oriented audiences. Now, it seems like everyone has an iPhone or at least some sort of touch-based smartphone.

In our heads, the real question isn’t how many units will ship. The real question is – does anyone actually need a tablet? Forget the price, or units shipped, or availability but focus in on purpose. Buying an iPhone makes sense since nearly everyone needs or wants a mobile phone. Buying an iPod makes sense since most of us enjoy the concept of portable music. A tablet? The case for one still stands on shaky ground – at least until a real killer application or purpose is made available.

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With rumors of an Apple tablet in the works still persisting, it’s really not surprising to hear that other hardware vendors are looking to head Apple off at the pass.

Case in point – ASUS. The company is reportedly preparing a new product tentatively called the “Eee Pad” which will feature a 4 to 7 inch display. Details are sketchy at this time but expect functionality to be a cross between a tablet PC and a Mobile Internet Device (MID). Who knows how much something like this would cost but ASUS already has experience in netbook convertible systems so it’s not hard to imagine the company rolling out a slate oriented device.

Now what would be interesting is if ASUS would bundle Windows 7 with the Eee Pad given 7’s much improved touch functionality. In any case, no word on when such a device would possibly come out.

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