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ViewSonic is going all out to help you manage your serious business and frivolous personal life. The ViewPad 10Pro is a 10-inch tablet aimed at people who need to both get some work done and kick back after hours, with the ability to dual boot with Windows 7 and Android 2.2.
“Why would you need a dual-boot tablet?” we hear you ask. Well, good question. For work, Windows 7 is a solid choice on a tablet or a laptop and will be regarded as a close personal friend by all those people you see in suits in the morning. Android, however, is a great social-networking and entertainment operating system.
Having them both on the one device could allow you to get all your busy work done with Windows 7 and then — using whatever devilry ViewSonic has devised — switch over to Android to spend the rest of your day on Facebook and Twitter.
In theory it’s a nice idea, but there could be some significant drawbacks depending on how ViewSonic implements the dual-boot system. If both Windows 7 and Android are to load at the same time, allowing you to simply flick back and forth between the two, it could be a major drain on system resources, stretching the new Intel Oak Trail processor too far.
Alternatively, if only one loaded at a time, this would require you to switch off and reload when needing to change to the other operating system — which is the sort of headache no one needs.
The ViewPad 10Pro features a 1,024×600-pixel resolution capacitive, multi-touch display with 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. ViewSonic puts the tablet’s battery life at “at least” six hours, though how that measures up if it’s running two operating systems simultaneously remains to be seen.
No word on pricing or release date for the ViewPad yet, but we expect to hear more about it at Mobile World Congress, so watch this space.
