News ASRock plans tablet launches

ASRock is reportedly planning a pair of Tegra-powered Android tablets for later this year.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/02/02/asrock-tablet-launches/1

 

Hopefully all these tablets will make note- and netbooks quite cheap. I've been considering getting an AMD netbook in a few months for the girlfriend, maybe April/May will be the time to do it.

 

I've always liked ASRock motherboards; plenty of features, good build quality and cheap. If they can do the same with a tablet, especially with regards to price, I'll be interested!

 

The ONE thing that I really (x3) want in a tablet is a powerful infrared transmitter. So I can control all kinds of hardware from the tablet like tv's/set top boxes/receivers/lights/media players etc. Its the perfect platform for this.

 

I like tablets...these pink ones off my psychotherapist make the voices change from "Kill them all" to "Allo John, gotta new moter?".

 

I hope they can offer a good alternative to the iPad because, in all honesty, the alternatives so far, with the exception of the Galaxy Tab (too expensive and too small), are all weak options simply trying to undercut the iPad's price point and consequently offer a very poor alternative. Surely someone other than Apple can get it right? IMO, as far as a useful and very portable device at an excellent price point goes, a netbook still has the edge.

 

You probably have not investigated enough because there are great IPad alternatives out there. And soon even better ones with android 3 honeycomb.

Most of them are in 8", 10" or 10.7" formats. Make sure they use the latest processor (cortex A8, A9 for example) and have minimal 512mb ram.

To name a few pads:
Archos 70 / 101 internet tablets
Herotab MID816
Notion Ink Adam
Point of View (PoV)
Het Samsung Galaxy
Toshiba Folio 100


Some have a Resistive touchscreen and others have a Capacitive touch screen.
Some have GPS, BT, WIFI, Ethernet, USB, HDMI ports and even IR blaster (for use as remote control)

But in the next few months its will really explode with all the new honeycomb tablets coming out and these will absolutely kill the ridiculous Ipad in speed, functionality and connectivity.

 

You really don't want to compare the tablets you listed there to an iPad. They have either worse hardware, way less battery-life, a worse to use OS etc.

Anyways. If ASRock manages to pull out a tablet with the hardware-specs of the short to be announced iPad2 paired with Honeycomb and manage to sell it for some $100 less, then they might be on to something.

 

Dream on. Most of the products you listed are, as said above, vastly inferior. Forget about them.

The true contenders:

WePad: a German Android Tablet with all the trimmings. Camera, USB, SD Card. Unfortunately after seeing some promising prototypes it disappeared in the mists of time.

Blackberry Tablet. Slick prototype but late to make it to market, so it is already missing the boat. Still, if it really pushes now it can still get a Market share.

Android Honeycomb on a Tegra platform. So obvious I've been wondering where they've been. Unfortunately the Motorola Xoom will cost more than an iPad --and it could be forgiven for that if they did not force you to buy a 3G data plan to 'activate' its WiFi which should be on by default.

HP WebOS Tablet. After the dismal, but utterly predictable failure of the Windows 7-driven (or not; we have not seen a working prototype with this OS yet) Slate, HP saw the light and used the polished, in many ways better than iOS operating system WebOS, the purpose for which Palm was acquired by them. All the usual goodies and Flash to boot. Expect the same price as the iPad.

ASRock may well pull it off, simply because they can't do a worse job than Motorola.

 

I think some people are blinded by the apple trademark...

Because there are cheap and good alternatives out there now and no its not a ipad but that was not the question of red4our. He wanted alternatives and I gave him a answer.

And there are Ipad killers and not the expensive Motorola zoom.

I have this one and I am happy with it, its fast, plays games, internet browsing, mp3 playing, plays 1080p to my big screen, basicaly does all stuff I want in a pad. What else do you need?

 

Some people are blinded by the Apple hate. YMMV.

All the examples you mention have shorter battery life, not as smooth interface and/or inferior screen. There is a reason why they are cheap.

The Tecra examples are a laudable exception, but priced similarly to the iPad for a build quality that is not quite its equal. It needs a bit more refinement which hopefully ASRock and Honeycomb will deliver. Then it needs to sell at an aggressive price point not exceeding the iPad. I have no doubt it will pull that off, as will the HP tablet with WebOS. But no matter how you look at it, it took competitors a year to get their **** together to basically emulate an Apple product. Not bad for something that is presumably overhyped and overpriced.