Tablet Hands-On Roundup
by Vivek Gowri on January 27, 2011 10:25 AM EST
This one came out of nowhere for me, so I was pretty interested. I had no idea that Panasonic had anything to do with the Android tablet game until I got a text from my best friend telling me to check out their new tablets. When I made my way to the Panasonic booth, I found that they had three new tablets, in 4”, 7”, and 10” sizes. All three are running a stock version of Android 2.2 and have Panasonic’s Viera Connect online video on demand service built in.
Panasonic seems to envision these tablets as television companions that connect to the latest Viera plasma HDTVs, with the press release touting ability to act as a “visual remote control” to operate the TV, or using the tablet as a sub-screen to view sports from different angles. It’s an interesting concept, but the Viera services only work with Viera TVs, so the user base is very limited.
The hardware is no great shakes either - the prototype units that Panasonic showed off on the show floor didn’t wow us on the design side, and the build quality was positively off-putting. We can put the shoddy build down to being early build preproduction units, but the design, with a lot of chrome plastic, a large bezel, and an expanse of silver plastic on the back, left a lot to be desired.
Panasonic wasn’t disclosing the specs of any of the three Vieras, but I had a chance to run Browsermark and SunSpider on them. The results I got from the 7” and 10” were consistent with tablets running 1GHz Cortex A9 processors, so it’s likely that they are running either Tegra 2 or OMAP 4 underhood. We’ve heard rumours that Panasonic chose to go with TI, but Panasonic refused to confirm or deny that. The 4” model had results more in line with A8-based processors, so I’d guess that it’s running OMAP 3, but again, Panasonic wasn’t willing to disclose any of the specs.
Overall though, Panasonic’s Viera line as a whole seems pretty mediocre unless you evaluate them as remotes for the Viera plasma TV line. As blandly designed tablets running Android 2.2 in the era of Honeycomb, they fail to stand out compared to similar tablets from other manufacturers, and I think Panasonic has a fair amount of work to do before the Vieras become compelling products in the tablet space.
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KLC - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
You say the UI of the Notion Ink is colourful but later you say the transreflective display is monochromatic. You call it the Adam but the photo gallery calls it the Eden.zebrax2 - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Adam is the tablets name while Eden is the name of the UI.vol7ron - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Why are all the tablets so small? Why can't they introduce something slightly bigger than the iPad. I'd like an 8x11.5 screen.softdrinkviking - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
i think the issue is that larger tablets are a bit too cumbersome when you actually start using them.the bigger, heavier size ones are uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time, and they don't really prop-up well by themselves like a laptop.
they probably did test groups and people whined about the bigger ones. maybe they figured over 10" might as well be a laptop.
metafor - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
I believe the Notion Ink is a dual-mode display. When in reflective mode (e-reader), it's monochromatic. When it's back-lit, it functions as an LCD.tipoo - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Its a hybrid display, its a colour LCD like the iPad and other tablets, but it can also become a e-ink display like the Kindle.Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Just because a few million dumb yuppies can afford to throw away $500+ on a tablet does not mean there is a market for a bunch of cheap knockoffs that just happen to not be cheap at all. These things are way way WAY too expensive for what they are. They offer nothing above and beyond what you can get with an ipod touch. If they cannot bring it to market for $149 or lower it is a waste of time. If they think they're gonna get away with charging $500 I hope they all go out of business.HibyPrime1 - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
It doesn't matter if they're too expensive for what they are, thats pretty much how all new things in the tech world start out. Remember before the iPad was released everyone was expecting it to be $800-1200?Besides, tablets are a legitimate alternative to a laptop for those that aren't using it as a productivity tool. These tablets have productivity apps, but really thats kind of a misnomer with these things.
I can't for the life of me understand why you say they don't offer anything above and beyond an iPod touch? It literally takes a half second glance to see that they are very different form factors. The screen size is the main selling point of a tablet vs ipod touch/smart phone.
With all that said, I don't think this form factor will last all that long. I think Motorola has the right idea with the Atrix, in my opinion that is the future of mobile computing.
Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
They are bigger than an ipod but the screen resolution is the same, or less. So all you're getting for twice the price is the ability to hold it 1 foot further away. That's retarded. Anyone who spends $200 to hold something 1 foot further away needs to have their job outsourced to a monkey.maxhdrm - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 - link
Are you kidding me? It sounds like YOUR job has already been outsourced to a monkey by the lack of research you have done. I have a Velocity Micro Cruz color eReader with tablet functionality that I bought @ best buy for $99. Sure, it is only 800X600 but not that far from the Ipod touch. The Samsung Galaxy...600X1024 WSVGA, Props goes to Ipad for the one of the highest but C'mon there are plenty that will be the Ipod touch and yah it is nice to read an eBook that isn't in a 2pt font or having to scroll all over the touch.Moreover, while I am at it why in hell would I want something bigger than 7"? A 10" tablet is the same size as a netbook why not just sticks with a netbook for a cheaper price and way more functionality. IMO 7" is a good form factor and just because the price isn't insane doesn't mean it's crap. It’s called research. More places like fry's are putting out demos so consumers can interact with said tablets. Apple aside...EVERYONE is running android so it comes down to the "perks" that a tablets puts in, which ones you like and the openness of the tablet.
This leads me to my biggest concern. As so many forums have posted about Samsung (mainly Verizon phones) phones running android, just how easy is it going to be to update these devices to the newest OS or is the industry "sucker punching" consumers by only allowing us to update via a newer device? Google needs to pass these updates along and ALL tablet device makers need to be allowed accessibility for OS updating.
This should be every consumers concern otherwise they will sneek this under the radar