If you’ve been thinking about an Android tablet purchase over the next 2 months, these devices are probably on your list. Galaxy Tab, Dell Streak, Notion Ink Adam, Viewpad 7, Archos 70, Archos 101 and maybe the Toshiba Folio. Only 2 of them are currently available and both the Tab and the Streak are great quality products (Streak even gets a 2.2 upgrade soon) but what if you’re looking for something a little cheaper? The Viewpad 7 might be just what you’re looking for.
We tested it extensively at IFA in Sept and were tricked by its speed into thinking it was based on a Snapdragon CPU.It’s not! Our reports from IFA here.
The Galaxy Tab is almost like-for-like in specs (although it is fair to say that it will be a higher-quality device in terms overall ‘product’) and it is retailing for £529 at Amazon.co.uk today [affiliate link] The Viewsonic Viewpad 7 is available by pre-order now for £399. We think that price might come down a little soon too, just like the price of the Tab did. Admittedly, the price is 50 pounds more than we were promised at IFA – “no more that £350” was heard a number of times – but retailers are obviously free to charge what they think is right and with the Tab price ranging up to over £600, £399 sounds fair as a starting point.
Availability is set for the 15th November (confirmed with Viewsonic) and we also heard that there’s a press event on Thursday 28th so expect a number of hands-on reports to go out from the .co.uk tech press. We’ll try to get there.
Availability in the UK will be through Maplin, Scan, Misco and Expansys. Only Misco is showing pre-order details at the moment although you can find the Viewpad 10 up for pre-order on Maplin (£499.99)
My advise is to wait just a week. After the press event you’re likely to see a scramble to get the Viewpad into online retail channels / price comparison engines and the price will find its place.
We had a chat with Viewsonic yesterday and it look like we’ll get a Viewpad 7 in early November so keep an eye our for news about the live testing session. We also heard that Germany is also on the list. MediaMarkt will be the partner according to some emails that have gone out.
I was getting excited, until I saw it has an 800×600 resolution.
800×480, yes although don’t discount it because of that. WVGA on Android is different to WVGA on Windows. Some Android apps don’t even scale higher that WVGA and none are built to use 1024×600. (Video playback excepted)
Showing my age by typing 800×600 by default!
OK, i’ll await you reviews.
Not too worried about the apps side, more concerned about web browsing and would prefer the extra width.
Ok. Web browsing is another app that benefits, i agree. 600 wide in portrait is a significant advantage over 480.
Do you know if the Commtiva n700 (sold at tesco, hmv, play.com, amazon.co.uk, phones4u …. in the uk) is the same device as this? Specs and looks indicate so… can be bought for 329.99 or 299.99 at Tesco!