Dell Reveals Specs For the Looking Glass Tablet

adeelarshad82 writes "Dell hasn't officially unveiled its Looking Glass tablet, but it's on record at the FCC. The spec sheets reveal a device with a 7-inch screen, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, and an SD card slot. The Looking Glass will likely be announced at next week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is sure to have no shortage of new tablets. Dell filed the documents for device approval by the FCC on December 17. The Looking Glass is expected to be one of the first devices to pack an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, a powerful chip for mobile devices that can support both typical functions (like e-mail and Web browsing) as well as advanced graphics — all while preserving battery life."

Comments

ergh

[nomadic]

Why are all these ipad competitors doing 7 inch screens?

Re:ergh

[93 Escort Wagon]

Why are all these ipad competitors doing 7 inch screens?

You can't easily hold an iPod with one hand for any length of time. Have you seen the Galaxy Tab TV commercial? They make a point of showing the tablet being held one-handed.

For some of us, the iPad is too big. I'm just waiting for a true tablet version of Android. I'd get a 7" iPad, but Jobs has already said that isn't happening.

Re:ergh

[Joehonkie]

Yes, because people who want a different product from the one you want are obviously not geniuses like you. 10" is not what I want in a tablet at all.

Re:ergh

[dhovis]

Because, believe it or not, Apple came in at a price point that nobody could match without Apple's sales volume. The only way to under cut Apple's price is to reduce the screen size. By half, it turns out (7^2 = 49, 10^2 =100).

Re:ergh

[0123456]

For all other uses you don't need to hold it one hand for any length of time.

Pr0n?

Re:ergh

[swb]

I think you're right. IMHO, the iPad display needs to be higher resolution. And if they ever made a 12" or even better, a 14" version, I'd be all over it -- magazines at actual magazine size, and with "retina" resolution, pretty darn comparable to magazine look. And much improved newspaper layout as well and better web site browsing (still a tad too much zoom & pan).

About the only other thing I'd also do would be more CPU -- I find some web sites with heavy javascript make typing and interaction laggy. OK, one more thing -- how about 128 or 256MB flash?

Overall, though, I really like my iPad.

Re:ergh

[del_diablo]

It is not about it being 7 inches, it is about it ALL OF THEM being 7 inches.
If there was some variation(the galaxytab is 4 inches? it is variation), it would be interisting, but everything in 7 inches.
But, it is not the screensize the tablets will fail on.
My guess is that they will all fail on some of these:
*Bad and/or slow interface
*Fragmentation causing GUI programming to be bad
*The cheap variants will ruin the marked
Tablets has been around since pre-century, and it did never catch on until the iPad. Now that everything ships with superslow Android using a slow java interprenter, the package problem has been solved, but they will most likely still stumble and CRASH on the user interface.
Then lets ask a question instead: Which tablets will we consider to be "good" after the year 2011 is over? Galaxy tab and succesor looks good, iPad created the segment, and I assume there will at the top be 1 additional good tablet to compete in the marked.

Re:ergh

[dhovis]

Because, believe it or not, Apple came in at a price point that nobody could match without Apple's sales volume.

So Apple sell a netbook with no keyboard and an ARM CPU for twice the price of a netbook and no-one can compete with it on price?

Perhaps you're right, but that seems... odd.

Calling the iPad a netbook with no keyboard it a bit of a stretch. Even if you don't like Apple, you'd be hard pressed to find a netbook with an IPS LCD display, for example. Also, I don't know of any netbooks that have a touchscreen, which more than makes up (costwise) for the lack of a keyboard.

Anyway, If anyone could make a 10" iPad competitor at $500 or less, they'd have done so by now. That everyone who is trying is coming in at half the screen size should be confirmation. There were stories when the iPad was announced that it was going to $800-$1000. Everyone was preparing tablet competitors to go up against that price range. When the iPad came out at $500, it submarined everyone else's plans. It killed the HP Slate, for instance.

Re:ergh

[AK Marc]

So Apple sell a netbook with no keyboard and an ARM CPU for twice the price of a netbook and no-one can compete with it on price?

It has a keyboard. It's on-screen. And no other netbook comes close. There's no Microsoft OS designed for touch input (there are some that "support" it, but not designed for it). Same with Linux, but there are some netbook versions out there getting better. So, just from the point of a netbook with a usable touchscreen, there is nothing out there in that price range.

But no, rather than evaluating it based on the market's opinion, you imply that your opinion on what's competitive is correct and evaluate it that way. If you were right, then the netbooks that come with a big, heavy keyboard, hinges, greater weight, greater size and all that which are cheaper would have been flying off the shelves before the iPad got here. They didn't, so you are demonstrably wrong. They can't be competitors if people still aren't buying them at half the price. But rather than actually thinking about it, you assert it to be some fanboyism or irrationality and that you are right and every other person on the entire planet is wrong.

Re:ergh

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because you don't know about it, doesn't mean they don't exist. http://www.amazon.com/Asus-T91MT-PU17-BK-8-9-Inch-Netbook-Computer/dp/B002UAR8SK

Re:ergh

[basotl]

Ubuntu 10.10 has touch support. Much of the latest netbook edition seems like it would do well on a tablet.

Re:ergh

[drcheap]

Because, believe it or not, Apple came in at a price point that nobody could match without Apple's sales volume. The only way to under cut Apple's price is to reduce the screen size. By half, it turns out (7^2 = 49, 10^2 =100).

What do 49 & 100 have to do with anything? I think your understanding of screen size specs is failing.
I'll help out:

An iPad has a 9.7" 4:3 ratio screen, so that's 7.75" x 5.83" = 45.19 in^2

A Galaxy Tab is a 7" 16:9.4 ratio screen (yeah, not 16:9 or 16:10, go figure), so that's 6.04" x 3.54" = 21.39 in^2

So actually it's 21.39 / 45.19 * 100 = ~47.33% of the physical size, but as for pixel count it's 614400 / 786432 * 100 = 78.125% as many.

Re:ergh

[basotl]

Reading and posting off of my Nook Color (7" tablet) in landscape. Works fine and is legible to me. I like that I can be reading off of a pdf textbook in one hand and write on a chalk/white board with my free hand when teaching a class. At $250 it was a good value for my uses.

Re:ergh

[basotl]

It's an older inexpensive large display technology with great battery life but a slow redraw rate. In addition all my students say my graphics look like stick figures.

Missing feature

[Gerald]

Unless it includes a fully functional "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" it's destined for failure.

iPad vs. everyone else

[Toe, The]

Just FYI, a recent business IT survey shows interest in iPads stomping all other tablets: about four fifths of companies planning to buy tablets next quarter plan on buying iPads. And it shows satisfaction with iPads vastly outstripping other companies' offerings. (It's also extremely interesting to note that 38% of IT respondants using iPads say they are using them for laptop replacement.)

In other relevant iPad news, holiday sales numbers seem to show iPads squashing competitors in the consumer channel.

Re:iPad vs. everyone else

[Lunix Nutcase]

That's funny because before the iPad came out all Slashdotters could do was point out how the iPad was nothing new and how tablets had been around for ages, etc etc. And now that the iPad has pretty much owned the entire market the excuse is that "there are no viable competitors". Would it kill you people to admit you were wrong about the iPad and it's likely success? This is like the failed Slashdot predictions about the potential success of the iPod and iPhone all over again.

Re:iPad vs. everyone else

[nomadic]

I don't remember seeing all slashdotters saying the ipad would fail COMMERCIALLY, just that it was nothing really special.

Re:iPad vs. everyone else

[Toe, The]

Well, it's right there in TFA: Dell Streak, HP Slate, RIM Playbook, and others. At least those first two can be purchased now. It's not Apple's fault that the others aren't ready yet. (Well, it is Apple's fault that they created the market and thus got to it first: before iPad, everyone thought tablets were a stupid micro-niche.)

But more to the point, the survey isn't about what businesses are buying right now (except for the satisfaction index), the referenced question is precisely: "Who is the manufacturer of the Tablets your company is planning on buying?" and references next quarter.

Here is the relevant paragraph:
"Despite the flood of new Tablets hitting the market, the Apple iPad remains the overwhelming choice of business buyers going forward - with nearly four-in-five (78%) corporate respondents saying their company plans to purchase Apple iPads."

Re:Do you even own one?

[oodaloop]

Or in a bag. A 10" tablet is too big for my tankbag for my motorcycle for instance, but a 7" fits nicely.

Re:Price

[Anon-Admin]

$300?? How about $210?? Strange that you can get a 10.2" one for about $200 but Dell is pushing a 7" one.

I got a 10.2" android 2.1 pad (1ghz, camera, GPS, etc) and love it!

EBay Rocks .

vacuous ad copy?

[fermion]

a powerful chip for mobile devices that can support both typical functions (like e-mail and Web browsing) as well as advanced graphics — all while preserving battery life.

This seems like ad copy meant to promote a technology that may or may not be successful. The mobile devices that have use the chip, the Kin and Zune, are not widely successful. The tablet that has used this chip, the Folio 100, has evidently been pulled from shelves and has required a firmware update to be minimally function. This is surprising as the chip uses the SOC model that all other tablets use. And there does not seem any cost saving for use the chip and Android, as the prices seems the same as an iPad.

I am looking forward to the tablets, as a $300 tablet will revolutionize the way we interact, but I do not see such devices yet, and this chip does not seem to move the market forward in any meaningful way, other than in the area of meaningless jargon.

Re:Do you even own one?

[mcdermd]

I don't know what kind of a tank bag you use but if it can't fit an iPad sized device, it's the smallest tank bag I've ever seen in my life.

Re:Do you even own one?

[roc97007]

My company issues ipads, and after using one for two weeks I returned mine. It just wasn't a significant win in portability over my notebook, which does more and has SD and USB slots. I don't need to carry around yet another device just 'cause it's cool.

If the iPad works for you, great, but appreciate that others have different needs. The 7" form factor will fit in a coat pocket, which means I'm more likely to have the device on me. That it's not made by Apple makes it more likely that it may have the I/O ports I need. A double win.

No Retina-display iPad in the near future(Re:ergh)

[WillAdams]

Crunch the numbers on it --- 326 ppi even on the iPad's 10.4" display is _way_ more display bandwidth than any graphics chipset currently available, let alone feasible for portable use.

William

Re:No Retina-display iPad in the near future(Re:er

[del_diablo]

If I can get 1920x1080 on a shitty Intel integrated, why can't they just sit down and make something that allows it on a portable device?
The question is mindboggeling!

Re:Do you even own one?

[SuperKendall]

I've tried them out in stores, but I don't see how a 7" tablet is a tool you can take with you everywhere the way you can a Touch or iPhone or other phone. To me a 7" tablet is just large enough I'd be able to have it in all the same places I can bring an iPad, and then why not have a larger screen?

10" tablets under $500

[DragonWriter]

Anyway, If anyone could make a 10" iPad competitor at $500 or less, they'd have done so by now.

There's actually quite a few ~10" Android tablets that have been announced at that price point; all 4 of the Notion Ink Adam 10.1" (1024x600) models which sold out of preorders this month had prices under $550, 3 of the 4 under $500 (all but the Pixel Qi + 3G model).

The ViewSonic G 10.1" (1024x600) tablet that has been on sale since November seems to be $399.99 at most major online retailers that sell it, slighlty lower at some.

That everyone who is trying is coming in at half the screen size should be confirmation.

Actually, several competing models that have been announced (including a few already available) are in the 11.6" to 12.1" range (typically 16:9, 1366x768), and quite a few are 10.1" (1024x600) devices.

Re:Do you even own one?

[ColdWetDog]

Thanks for reminding me of the reason I stopped reading the comments here.

So. How does this work?

Re:If you have the right pants

[BenEnglishAtHome]

I'm a lowly IT support tech - the guy who plugs in your monitor. I dress in an issued golf shirt over these cargo pants. The back pockets are very wide - from the side seam on the leg all the way across to the center-line seam at my spine. That means that (back_pocket_width)==(waist_measurement)/4. The back pockets are also deep, running all the way from waist to crotch level.

Anyone with pants like that who's at least 40 inches in the waist can put an iPad in their back pocket. You could actually be a lot smaller and the iPad would still fit but it would be stressed/broken by trying to conform to the contour of the hip/backside.

Re:No Retina-display iPad in the near future(Re:er

[WillAdams]

You could have that, if you're willing to accept the tradeoff in battery life / performance.

A Retina-display-like 326 ppi would require 2529 x 1897 pixels for an iPad's 10.4" display --- 13.7MB for display alone (up from 2.25MB for 1024 x 768) --- unfortunately, that's not happening in the near future.

William