News about HP’s Slate has been off and on for almost a year now, including teasers, news about an impending release, launch delays, pricing and spec leaks, and then a rumor that it’s going to be dropped throughout the year, but the hype kind of died down after everyone else basically put out various iPad rivals. A new unofficial hands-on video just turned up showing the slate (marked as a “prototype”)though, showing it running on a Windows 7 OS (which we already know), and a dedicated ctrl-alt-delete button because, well, it runs on Windows. Video after the break.
Remember Lenovo’s U1 Hybrid tablet/laptop with a detachable screen that was first unveiled way back in January? Well, it looks like Lenovo is finally about to ship it. Which is great timing by the way, now that the whole market has gone crazy about touchscreens and portable pads. Unfortunately, the word is that they’re going to ship the 10.1-inch LePad (the tablet half of the U1 Hybrid) in December, and the whole Hybrid kit that includes the keyboard half in January—in China. Which kind of LeSucks, since it looks like it could be LeAwesome.
Fujitsu has come out with a new 10.1-inch convertible tablet PC that runs on the usual spec (Intel Core i5 processor, Windows 7, 4GBs of RAM, and 500GB HDD or 128GB SSD for storage) but adds a little bit extra. The LifeBook T580 packs built-in GPS in addition to the usual Wi-fi and Bluetooth, adds a fingerprint reader for security, and an ambient light sensor that improves power efficiency by turning down the backlighting when you don’t need it. But what makes it really different? A screen that supports 4-finger multitouch.
We already know about the 7-inch ViewPad that will also be a huge-7-inch phone, but little else about the 10-inch tablet except for the short mention from a leak that it’ll dual-boot into either a Windows 7 or Android 1.6 OS. ViewSonic just pulled the curtains on the 10-incher—now officially known as the ViewPad 100—that basically looks like a tablet (which it actually is), but packs a netbook’s spec (which is totally fine since it’ll run Windows 7 anyway).
Samsung has finally and officially unveiled the Galaxy Tab, their Android-powered multimedia slate that’s also set to be an official iPad rival. As seen on various leaks, the Galaxy Tab is a little more compact than the iPad, with a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 touchscreen, but comes with a number of built-in features that isn’t available on the Apple tablet: a 3-megapixel main cam, a 1.3MP cam at the front for doing video calls, and a microSDHC card slot for adding more storage.
