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Tablet lovers will soon be spoilt for choice, as ViewSonic joined Samsung in offering an alternative to the so-far so dominant iPad.
To be revealed at IFA in Berlin alongside the eagerly awaited Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Viewpad 7 will also be a 7-inch touch screen tablet running the Android 2.2 Froyo OS. It will carry a front-facing VGA camera, plus another at the back with 3-megapixels.
Like the Galaxy Tab, it will have a MicroSD slot for up to 32GB of storage, Wi-Fi, 3G functionality and USB. It will have capacitive multi-touch and will be able to be used as an e-book and office document reader.
For the Galaxy Tab the ability to make phone calls hasn’t been mentioned, but with the ViewPad 7 you will be able to text and make standard calls, as well as use VoIP. It also has a space for a full-sized SIM card and integrated Bluetooth functionality.
Apart from the phone call ability, which could make you look stupid if you haven’t got a headset or headphones with a mic, the Viewpad 7’s specs look very similar to those describing the Galaxy Tab. But a quoted price of £350 seems reasonable, and undercuts the iPad by a decent amount.
We were counting on other companies developing tablets to take some of the market built by the iPad, and it now looks like the rush is beginning.
As our sister site CNET reported, details of another Android 2.2 operating multi touch tablet appeared recently: the 10.1-inch Toshiba Folio 100. It will run using Nvidia Tegra 2 platform. There’s also 16GB of built-in flash storage, as well as a webcam and up to 7-hours of battery life.
Now that Android tablets are viable as an alternative to the iPad, do you think that you’ll be picking one up, especially with them priced more cheaply? Do any of the devices we’ve mentioned really appeal? Let us know below.
