• Viewsonic Unveils 7, 10-inch Android Tablets

    Viewsonic Unveils 7, 10-inch Android Tablets

    Rohan Naravane, Dec 09, 2010 1032 hrs IST

    One of them dual boots with Windows 7 Home Premium as well!

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UPDATE: These Viewsonic tablets have just been officially launched in India. ViewPad 7 is priced at Rs. 32,000 and ViewPad 10 costs Rs. 38,000, as PTI reports. These tablets will be available across the country by January.


Viewsonic, a brand better known for its PC monitors, has released two tablets thus adding to the dizzying array of upcoming devices like these. The first one is the ViewPad 10 that has a 10.1-inch screen bearing a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution (which is typical for such a screen size). Instead of using ARM based processors on most other tablets like the Apple iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab, this model has a netbook-like Intel Atom processor clocking at 1.66 GHz. That, coupled with 1GB RAM and 16GB of flash-based storage, lets it run not only Google's Android OS that's made for mobile devices, due to the x86 based processor (the Atom) it can also run Windows 7 for a full-fledged PC experience. A disclaimer though: that puny single-core processor and 1GB of RAM isn't going to make heavy-duty CAD applications run smoothly. But basic apps like Internet or word processing shouldn't be too hard to manage. Also, from what we've read, it comes with the now ancient Android 1.6 version that too without access to the well-populated default Android Market app-store.

There's a microSD card slot for further memory expansion; should 16GB seem too small for you. A 1.3 megapixel web-cam will serve the purpose of video-conferencing. There's no camera at the back on this one. A big unfortunate fact is the missing presence of 3.5G Internet connectivity on the ViewPad 10 - you'll have to rely on Wi-Fi only. So, at the end of the day, ViewPad 10 is no different from a typical netbook with its keyboard axed out and input facilitated by a touchscreen instead.




The second model (ViewPad 7) is a more portable variant that runs only Android 2.2 as its operating system. This one has 3.5G Internet connectivity though. Although it shares the screen size with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the resolution is lower at just 800 x 480 pixels. This doesn't sound too promising when we're now using phones bearing smaller 4-inch displays that bear the same resolution. Anyway, other than the 0.3 megapixel video-call cam at the front, there's a 3 mega-pixel shooter at the back. Surprisingly, the smaller ViewPad 7 has double the internal memory - measuring 32GB. The stated battery life is 10 hours - which we wouldn't dispel as impossible given the low resolution screen and the 600 MHz processor.

All in all, nothing that got the hair at the back of my neck to rise. But hey, don't we need moderates like these to distinguish the better ones off the lot?

Source: InformationWeek

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Discussion Board
(5) Comments
fmeeran
,Chennai, on Dec 09, 2010 01:10 PM
"It will hit the stores in Q1 2010 for a retail price of $629 (Rs. 28,000 approx.)." Damn! It's been there for the better part of a year and I didn't know about it? Wow! (sarcasm) Shdn't it be 2011?
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Rohan
,TechTree, on Dec 09, 2010 02:01 PM
Oops....thanks for pointing out. Changes made
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Raj C
,mumbai, on Nov 15, 2010 03:43 PM
Rohan baba ! Thanks for sharing.
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Manu
,India, on Nov 04, 2010 08:28 AM
Viewsonic service is crap. The main distributor of View Sonic products in India has an office in GKII in Delhi and is hiding all the time. The peon says no one is at office. When you tell him I am so and so then only you can meet the concerned person. Heed my advise and stay away from this product in India. I cannot say the same if you buying from abroad.
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abdur rehman
,new dehli, on Nov 03, 2010 06:16 PM
very nice
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