Hands On with Five Nvidia Tegra 2 Tablets
LAS VEGAS—Nvidia demoed a bunch of Tegra 2 tablets during its press conference, and afterwards I had a chance to play with every one of them. Two of them ran Android, and every single one of them had a capacitive touch display. There were five tablets in total at the press conference, including ones from NotionInk, ICD, Compal, MSI, and Foxconn.
NotionInk
The NotionInk Tegra tablet was the most promising one out of the bunch, running on the dual-core ARM Cortex A9 and a GeForce GPU. The company is based in India, and there's definitely a lot of useful technology in this device if it were to ever come out in the United States.
Though made of plastic, it felt really nice in my hands, with one side thicker than the other so that you have a better grip on it. It runs on a 10-inch display, with a 1,024-by-600 resolution. The 10-inch display supports up to two-fingered touch, which worked pretty well in one of NotionInk's demo apps.
The back of the unit features a small touch panel for navigating so that the front panel doesn't get dirty. It will have a built-in accelerometer, permitting the device to switch between portrait and landscape mode when the device itself is rotated. Features include an HDMI port, three USB ports, and built-in 3G and WiFi wireless. It's one of the two tablets that will run on Google Android (version 2.0) and is looking to sell around $400 when it ships.
ICD Vega
This Tegra 2 Tablet was used to demo Verizon's latest 4G technology. At 7 inches, it boasts one of the smallest widescreens of the bunch, offering the choice of a resistive or a capacitive touch panel (the one on display used capacitive touch). Below the screen is a physical button that takes you back to the home screen, or in this case, the desktop environment in Google Android 2.0.
It felt the least sturdy out of this group, but it's also the lightest. (This is a very early unit, so the verdict on how it handles is obviously not final). The side of the unit features a mini HDMI port, a micro SD slot, and what looks a proprietary port. It runs on a 32-GB SSD and 512M of RAM, and it'll have embedded 3G, GPS, and WiFi.
Compal Tablet
This white tablet felt really solid and features a 7-inch widescreen, with a capacitive touch display. There are five physical short cut keys adjacent to the screen. It's more rectangular looking than the ICD Vega and tiny enough so that it fits in an oversized pocket.
The side of the unit features a single USB port and a full size HDMI port. A SIM card slot can be found right above the screen, while the bottom features some kind of a docking connection. From the back of the unit, you can pull out a DTV antenna that'll let you access mobile television (DTV is a European feature for now.)
MSI
The MSI Tegra tablet is the closest to resembling an e-reader. It's long and slender and rested comfortably on my forearms. It has a 10-inch widescreen and uses capacitive touch. The feature set included a full size HDMI port, an SD slot, and a mini USB port. The MSI tablet has both a front and back-lit panel. Unfortunately, the battery died on this unit, so check back later for more on this device.
Foxconn
Foxconn had the thickest tablet on display. It features a 10-inch capacitive touch panel and uses a custom Linux UI. The touch functions were intuitive, but the interface definitely isn't as rich as some of the ones that were running Android 2.0. During the press conference, it was shown running 720p and 1080p clips, so we know that video playback works. It has two full size USB ports and a headphone jack on the right side and not much else in terms of connectivity ports.
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NotionInk
The NotionInk Tegra tablet was the most promising one out of the bunch, running on the dual-core ARM Cortex A9 and a GeForce GPU. The company is based in India, and there's definitely a lot of useful technology in this device if it were to ever come out in the United States.
Though made of plastic, it felt really nice in my hands, with one side thicker than the other so that you have a better grip on it. It runs on a 10-inch display, with a 1,024-by-600 resolution. The 10-inch display supports up to two-fingered touch, which worked pretty well in one of NotionInk's demo apps.
The back of the unit features a small touch panel for navigating so that the front panel doesn't get dirty. It will have a built-in accelerometer, permitting the device to switch between portrait and landscape mode when the device itself is rotated. Features include an HDMI port, three USB ports, and built-in 3G and WiFi wireless. It's one of the two tablets that will run on Google Android (version 2.0) and is looking to sell around $400 when it ships.
ICD Vega
This Tegra 2 Tablet was used to demo Verizon's latest 4G technology. At 7 inches, it boasts one of the smallest widescreens of the bunch, offering the choice of a resistive or a capacitive touch panel (the one on display used capacitive touch). Below the screen is a physical button that takes you back to the home screen, or in this case, the desktop environment in Google Android 2.0.
It felt the least sturdy out of this group, but it's also the lightest. (This is a very early unit, so the verdict on how it handles is obviously not final). The side of the unit features a mini HDMI port, a micro SD slot, and what looks a proprietary port. It runs on a 32-GB SSD and 512M of RAM, and it'll have embedded 3G, GPS, and WiFi.
Compal Tablet
This white tablet felt really solid and features a 7-inch widescreen, with a capacitive touch display. There are five physical short cut keys adjacent to the screen. It's more rectangular looking than the ICD Vega and tiny enough so that it fits in an oversized pocket.
The side of the unit features a single USB port and a full size HDMI port. A SIM card slot can be found right above the screen, while the bottom features some kind of a docking connection. From the back of the unit, you can pull out a DTV antenna that'll let you access mobile television (DTV is a European feature for now.)
MSI
The MSI Tegra tablet is the closest to resembling an e-reader. It's long and slender and rested comfortably on my forearms. It has a 10-inch widescreen and uses capacitive touch. The feature set included a full size HDMI port, an SD slot, and a mini USB port. The MSI tablet has both a front and back-lit panel. Unfortunately, the battery died on this unit, so check back later for more on this device.
Foxconn
Foxconn had the thickest tablet on display. It features a 10-inch capacitive touch panel and uses a custom Linux UI. The touch functions were intuitive, but the interface definitely isn't as rich as some of the ones that were running Android 2.0. During the press conference, it was shown running 720p and 1080p clips, so we know that video playback works. It has two full size USB ports and a headphone jack on the right side and not much else in terms of connectivity ports.
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