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Hands-on With the iPad Alternatives On Display At IFA

Posted by timothy on from the touchy-feely-wanty-wanty dept.

Barence writes "This week's IFA show has seen a flurry of Android-based alternatives to the iPad emerge from leading manufacturers. The Samsung Galaxy Tab made a strong first impression on PC Pro's reviewer. The 7-inch tablet's TFT screen 'beams forth with rich, saturated colors and wide, wide viewing angles,' the device is capable of Full HD playback and the TouchWiz UI is 'clearly intended to draw customers away from the iFamily.' Elsewhere, ViewSonic has launched a pair of 7-inch and 10-inch tablets, the larger of which dual boots into either Android or Windows 7. 'Our first moments with Windows 7 were surprisingly painless, too: we expected the Atom processor and 1GB of memory to be horrendously sluggish, but it wasn't the case,' PC Pro reports. Finally, Toshiba's 10.1-in. Folio 100 marries Android 2.2 with Nvidia's Tegra 2 platform to deliver 'mighty graphics crunching power.' The build quality left a little to desire, though. 'The 14mm thick chassis feels lightweight, and even relatively gentle twisting motions left the Folio's plastic body creaking under the stress.'"

4 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I don't care what they run now, by WiglyWorm · · Score: 4, Informative

    So click decline on the EULA screen. Part of the EULA says that if you decline the manufacturer is responsible for giving you a refund.

  2. Re:Is it just because I'm a nerd by jmak · · Score: 3, Informative

    There was also Tegra-based Toshiba AC100 on display, with a lot more nerd-appeal IMHO.

  3. Re:I'll be more impressed when I can actually buy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I'm tired of the constant announcements, and no actual products.

    Agreed. About a year and a half/two years ago (post Kindle, pre iPad) Plastic Logic (pre)announced a large format e-reader. It then took them until January of this year to announce the price (~$1000), and release date (this summer). Then when the release date rolled around, they announced "Sorry, but we've decided not to release after all. But wait for version 2.0! It's going to be even better!"

    I'm not holding my breath.

  4. Re:"Full HD" and other marketing BS by exomondo · · Score: 2, Informative

    But "Full HD"?? Time for a class action lawsuit, is what I say.

    Being able to decode 'Full HD' is exactly what they are saying, claiming that it can play it isn't marketing BS at all. Are they saying it has a 'Full HD' display? I don't think so. I know that my XBox and PS3 can decode and play 'Full HD', of course i need to connect them to a 'Full HD' capable display to view it, much like with the galaxy tablet.