Back at Computex Asus announced two new tablets, a 12 inch touting Windows 7 device called the Eee Pad EP121 and the Windows 7 Embedded, 10 inch EP101TC. Windows 7 Embedded runs on the Windows CE platform which Microsoft isn’t pushing as a finalised tablet ready operating system but instead a base in which OEM’s like Asus can create their own user interfaces for.
Well today Netbook News reports that Asus has decided to ditch Windows 7 Embedded in favour of Android.
Which version of Android is still a mystery although rumour has it that it could possibly come with Android 3.0, also known as Gingerbread. If that is to be the case the earliest we would see this device is Q1 of 2011, although with Gingerbreads rumoured support for higher resolutions, this would tie in nicely.
Let’s see. By Q1 2011, there will most likely be TEN MILLION iPads out there. In addition, HP/Palm will have made a big XMas-season splash with its webOS tablet. So who will be waiting around for this?
Me!!
I’m not in the iPad demographic (Apple wanna slap down all sort of restrictions on what can be done on the device? they can do that, i’ll just not buy their device). So it comes down to the early reviews of the HP offering — if they have good “applications” and “customisability” I might by one early in the new year, otherwise I’ll be hanging fire waiting for something that does get good review scores on my criteria. The real question is whether good tablet applications can be developed before Android 3.0 gets officially released.
I agree Mike, the majority of OEM/ODM’s are going to use Android as its free, the problem is how are they going to differentiate themselves from all the other Android tablets?
I think we may have to look to WebOS and Meego to find a ‘different’ tablet experience.
I’ll also wait for Asus
they make good hardware
still using my eee901 albeit with an ssd upgrade
anywho i’ll be looking forward to their epad
cant be bothered with all this expensive locked up stuff from apple
as long as android has a good drawing ap and good ebook reader
and the Asus has usb and memcard slots
tobe honest wouls have like full win7 on this but hey what can you do…