ASUS Eee Slate EP121 - The world's most powerful tablet device

• Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
• Ultra-performance tablet with an Intel® Core™ i5 processor.
• Multiple data input options (Digital Pen, Bluetooth keyboard, fingers) for increased productivity.
• 12.1" screen with a wide viewing angle and built-in high quality speakers for an excellent entertainment experience.
• Multiple I/O ports for your expansion needs (mini HDMI, USB, card reader) 

The world's most powerful tablet device

A Tablet That Packs a Punch

A tablet device shouldn't have to skimp on powerful hardware just because of its size. Accept no compromises on performance and portability with the ASUS Eee Slate EP121, the world's most powerful tablet device featuring an Intel® Core™ i5 processor. While most tablet devices have lesser processors, the EP121 i5 processor takes productivity to a whole new level —meeting all your needs and more, giving you the power to run Office applications or view videos on sites like YouTube and Hulu.

Entertainment, to Go

Using a tablet device to keep yourself entertained is fantastic, but if you can keep multiple people enthralled, that's even better. Whether in landscape or portrait view, the Eee Slate allows you to share movies, videos, photos, or whatever's on screen with those around you on its large high resolution wide view screen. Add in access to an online bookstore and the Eee Slate becomes a mobile library at your fingertips. Need a larger display? Simply connect the Eee Slate to a DLNA-supported display for wireless streaming of what's on your tablet.

Multi-Input to Multiply Your Productivity

The Eee Slate is a multi-input tablet device with numerous interaction options. Use the Digital Pen to express your creativity and pen your thoughts or paint on an electronic canvas. Or simply use your fingers to access media player controls or play games. For times when you need to get productive, whip out the bundled lightweight wireless keyboard and start typing. With so many ways to interact, the choice is yours.

Stay Connected

Stay close and connected to friends and family through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, and a high resolution camera; while expandable memory slots and I/O ports allow for easy transfering of photos and video files. Windows Live Mesh allows you to keep the contents of your Eee Slate synced with your other Windows 7 machines . Should you need even more space, connect to ASUS WebStorage for an additional 500GB of storage, at no cost for a year.

Accessories

• All specifications are subject to change without notice. Please check with your supplier for exact offers. Products may not be available in all markets.
• PCB color and bundled software versions are subject to change without notice.
• Brand and product names mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies.

Specifications

Operating System	Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
Display	12.1" LED Backlight WXGA (1280x800) Screen Capacitive and Electromagnetic Panel with AFFS
CPU	Intel Dual-Core i5 470um
Memory	DDR3, 1 x SO-DIMM, 2GB/4GB
Storage	32GB/64GB SSD
Wireless Data Network	WLAN 802.11 b/g/n@2.4GHz Bluetooth V3.0
Camera	2 M Pixel Camera
Audio	Hi-Definition Audio CODEC Stereo Speakers Digital Array Mic
Interface	1 x Digitizer pen 2 x USB 2.0 port 1 x 2-in-1 Audio Jack (Head Phone /Mic-in) 1 x mini HDMI port 1 x Card Reader: MMC/ SD(SDHC/SDXC) 1 x DC-IN
Battery	Battery Life: 4.5hrs Play 1080p video: 2.4hrs 34W/hr Polymer Battery
Power Adapter	Output: 19.5V 60W with USB charging port Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
Dimensions	312 x 207.2 x 16.95 mm (WxDxH)
Weight	1.16 kg
Accessories	1 x User Manual 1 x Warranty Card 1 x Support DVD 1 x Foil Case (with support function) 1 x Power Adaptor 1 x Bluetooth Keyboard 1 x Cleaning Cloth 5 x Refill Nibs 1 x Nib Remover 2 x AAA Battery for KB

IDEAPAD TABLET K1

Work or Play, Do It Your Way

You can afford to, because the IdeaPad Tablet K1 is here! Boasting the smooth and fast Android 3.1, powerful NVIDIA® Tegra 2.0 processor, an incredible long 10-hours battery life and a gamut of innovative features, the IdeaPad Tablet K1 clearly wants to make your life that much more easy and fun.


Features You’ll Want To Use

• Get into the Cloud
  With easy access to Lenovo cloud share technology, the sync, storage and sharing of your multimedia files with family, friends or colleagues is always just one click away.
• View More, Show More
  See better with the Ideapad Tablet K1’s larger 16:10 screen, with 720p (1280 x 800) HD resolution. And let others see you better too, with integrated front (2M) and rear (5M) mounted webcams.
• Extend Your Connectivity
  Besides connectivity options like Wifi and integrated BlueTooth, you can now extend your tablet to bigger screens with its mini-HDMI connector and micro-SD card reader
• Fill Up Your Senses
  Enjoy your favorite sites online, gaming and more with full Flash support and NVIDIA® GeForce® graphics
• Be Informed, Selectively
  Filter what you really want to hear about with the Lenovo IdeaTouch – a unique four quadrant, genuinely useful messaging service

Apps, You Just Can’t Miss

What’s a tablet with no apps? Precisely nothing. Which is why we’ve preloaded this tablet with no less than 30 popular apps to start with! And, you won’t need to go too far looking for more, with just-a-click access to the Lenovo Marketplace and the Android Market as well.

 

	Lenovo SocialTouch:Your one stop social connection. Get your say across multiple social sites and networks in one go. This is as close as you can get to being omnipresent.
	Acetrax Movies: (Available in UK, France, Germany, Australia and Switzerland) Get your virtual hands on the latest Hollywood blockbusters, so you can rent or buy them direct. And, you can join this service, FREE, paying for only what you watch! Movie heaven, in short.
	Kindle e-Reader: If books are your best friend, find plenty of company with over 950,000 books at the Kindle store. Amazon Whispersync technology syncs your last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights across devices so you can pick up where you left off.
	Zinio: Carry the world's largest newsstand wherever you go. Purchase single issues or entire subscriptions and read them on the go with interactive features designed especially for the Android tablet.
	Galaxy On Fire 2: A galactic trek with space battles, weird aliens and a gripping storyline. A war worth fighting, if only to experience the visually supercharged NVIDIA® TegraTM chip.
	Kongregate Arcade: This is the one-for-many tablet, so to speak. Get a single IdeaPad Tablet K1 and you'll also get access to more than 450 games across all genres. Earn badges, compare scores and share on your Kongregate.com account.
	Drawing Pad: Unleash the artist with photo-realistic crayons, markers, paints, brushes, colored pencils, stickers, roller pens and more, courtesy the Drawing Pad – an app to create and store your masterpieces.
	Documents To Go: All of the fun stuff above and document management too. View, edit and create Word, Excel and Powerpoint files, with password protection for Word and Excel 97-2007 files, Google Docs plus high-fidelity viewing of PDF files. With a desktop application (Windows) for bi-directional sync, you know your data is secure, wherever you are.

 

 

ASUS Quad-Core Tegra 3 Tablet

Alongside NVIDIA's last remaining architecture disclosures about Tegra 3, ASUS is revealing more information about the world's first Tegra 3 tablet. The Prime is much thinner than its predecessor, even thinner than the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and iPad 2 at 8.3mm. It's also the second lightest 10-inch Android tablet we've seen at 586 grams, a tad heavier than Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 (565g).

Unlike the original Eee Pad, the Transformer Prime is all aluminum. The Eee Pad Transformer Prime will be available in two colors: champagne gold (pictured above) and amethyst grey (in the gallery below). ASUS is using the higher quality chassis as a justification for driving prices up by $100. The Transformer Prime is now priced identically to the iPad 2, although you get twice the NAND (32GB/64GB instead of 16GB/32GB). The original Transformer will remain on the market at $399, the Prime simply occupies the space above it.

The display resolution remains unchanged at 1280 x 800. It turns out that all of those high resolution tablet panels we've been waiting for are in very low supply and very expensive right now. Whatever is in good supply appears to be bought up by Apple for the next iPad. The display is an IPS derivative ASUS is calling Super IPS+. You still get the wide viewing angles, but ASUS is promising up to 600 nits in its brightest mode. If ASUS can indeed achieve this we'll be looking at the brightest 10.1-inch Android tablet on the market. I am skeptical however, especially considering the difference between ASUS' measured brightness and what we recorded in our Zenbook review.

ASUS is using an oleophobic coating on the glass surface of the display, which should at least make fingerprints easy to wipe off. Apple includes a similar coating on the iPad/iPad 2's display, however fingerprints are still a fact of life when it comes to even its touchscreens. 

There are two cameras on the Prime: 1.2MP front facing and 8MP rear facing (f/2.4) with LED flash. 

Despite the decrease in overall dimensions, the Transformer Prime features larger speakers than its predecessor (6% larger according to ASUS). 

The Prime comes with an integrated 25Wh battery, similar to its predecessor. Also like the original Transformer, you can purchase an optional keyboard dock for the Prime for $149 that will nearly double its battery capacity (+22Wh). The new dock is obviously slimmer than the old one and gives you a full keyboard, track pad, USB 2.0 port and SD card reader. 

The Transformer Prime is expected to launch in the US in December with Android 3.2. ASUS is hinting at more details on Ice Cream Sandwich availability at the launch of the Prime next month. Based on what I've heard, I wouldn't expect ICS on Tegra 3 until early next year.

While I would've liked to have seen a higher resolution display, ASUS appears to have addressed many of our complaints about the original Transformer. We'll obviously have to wait until next month to find out for sure, but it looks like there may be a killer Android tablet out before the year is up.

ASUS will launch the Transformer Prime in the US before the end of the year. The tablet's specs are below:

Tablet Specification Comparison
	ASUS Eee Pad Transformer	ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime	Apple iPad 2	Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Dimensions	271mm x 175mm x 12.95mm	263 x 180.8 x 8.3mm	241.2 x 185.7 x 8.8mm	256.6 x 172.9 x 8.6mm
Display	10.1-inch 1280 x 800	10.1-inch 1280 x 800 Super IPS+	9.7-inch 1024 x 768 IPS	10.1-inch 1280 x 800 PLS
Weight	675g	586g	601g	565g
Processor	1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 (2 x Cortex A9)	1.3GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 (4 x Cortex A9)	1GHz Apple A5 (2 x Cortex A9)	1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 (2 x Cortex A9)
Memory	1GB	1GB	512MB	1GB
Storage	16GB + microSD card	32GB/64GB + microSD slot	16GB	16GB
Pricing	$399	$499/$599	$499	$499

 
 

Aakash-2 to be launched in Feb 2012

Come February 2012, a better and more efficient Aakash-2, the world's cheapest tablet computer, will be available at the price of version 1 - Rs 2,276 or $49. IIT-Rajasthan has finalised improvements in the Aakash-1 launched on October 5. "We expect to launch the new version of Aakash byJanuary-February next year," said HRD minister Kapil Sibal, who has been overwhelmed by international response to Aakash. He had showcased it as a device for "children of the world" at a recent United Nations conference in Paris.

The Aakash-2, based on feedback from over 500 users of Aakash-1 in IITs and other institutions, will have a new microprocessor of 800 megahertz as compared to the 366 megahertz processor. It will speed up the tablet computer and enable downloading of videos from YouTube.

The Random Access Memory of the new version will be enhanced to one gigabyte from 256 megabytes in Aakash-1, which restricted multi-tasking.

A senior IIT-Rajasthan professor, who is heading the Aakash team, said the changes will increase the "functionality of the tablet" and will be more "competitive" to existing tablets in the market.

To make Aakash-2 attractive, the institute has also decided that the new version will have an in-built camera on the front for online video chatting and a better seven-inch touchscreen.

This comes after the IIT students, who are testing Aakash-1, citied overheating within 30 minutes of usage, frequent system freeze, poor sound quality, absence of support for all formats and inability to install free software available online as some of the problems with the device. "Aakash is much below our expectations," said an IIT student, who has used the device for a month.

Although the better Aakash will be ready by February 2012, its manufacturing to meet the government's inspirational target of providing the tablet to two million students is still a challenge. "We have to evolve an eco-system of several vendors and its testing by IITs and other institutes to provide an Aakash to each child by 2017 (end of 12th plan)," a senior HRD ministry official said.

As in the case of Aakash-1, where three firms - London-based Datawind, India-based Quad - came together, the government believes that Aakash-2 will see a bigger collaboration.

Dell Introduces Latitude ST Business Tablet

Dell today announced its Latitude ST, a 10.1" 1.8 pound Windows 7 tablet aimed directly at Windows-centric IT shops.

There's nothing particularly inspiring about the Latitude ST's hardware: a 1.5 GHz single-core Atom Z670 and an Intel GMA 600 integrated graphics chip (which, like the GMA 500, is actually a licensed PowerVR SGX core) drive its 1280x800 screen, which is made of Gorilla Glass and accepts both stylus and multitouch input. 2GB of RAM comes standard, and storage (presumably in the form of an SSD) of up to 128GB will be available.

Wireless n (1x1 only, unfortunately) and Bluetooth 4.0 are standard, and an optional Dell Wireless 5550 HSPA+ card can provide cellular data and GPS functionality. Integrated rear (5 megapixel) and front ("720p HD") cameras, an SD card slot, and an HDMI port round out its multimedia capabilities.

Despite these rather weak specs, there are a few bullet points which might sway Windows-centric IT managers, including its wired gigabit LAN port, three USB 2.0 ports, and TPM chip (used primarily with disk encryption software like Bitlocker). An optional docking station can add a physical keyboard to the device. However, pricing information, one factor to which businesses are always sensitive, has not been revealed.

With these business-centric features, Windows compatibility, and the Latitude name, the ST may find a small niche in some IT shops, but with Windows 8 buzz building and increasing support for iOS and Android devices in the enterprise, it seems like a bit of a long shot.

Microsoft OmniTouch gives us what we all want, maybe

What you are seeing here is a project from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University, and it could easily be the future.

This OmniTouch has the amazing ability to turn any surface into a touchscreen. All of this is possible with this shoulder-mounted device that is both pico-projector and Kinect.

So if you want to use your hand to run applications, just hold it out and the proper buttons will appear. Forget about a tablet PC, all you need is just a paper tablet!

What I really like is how the user can just go to a nearby wall if they want to see an email. He or she can even finger paint on the wall, using their hand as a palette. Yes, the hand can be used as an interim interface, like when you want to project your display on your desk, for example.

Considering that we didn’t have a lot of the devices that we have now ten years ago (heck, we haven’t even had iPhones for half a decade), one has to wonder where we are going with mobile technology. I can’t help but think that this could be the future, if this shoulder-mounted device was a little bit smaller and less protruding. If it was the size of a button, I’ll bet people would be more open to it.

In the meantime, I am content with sitting back and letting the future surprise me.

HP TouchPad 3.0.4 Update Now Available, Adds non-webOS Phone Pairing

HP just let us know that the TouchPad, its recently discontinued tablet with an unknown future, is getting another software update over the air today. Version 3.0.4 of the TouchPad's webOS brings with it a new camera app (the TouchPad originally launched without a camera app) and the ability to pair the tablet with non-webOS phones.

After a Bluetooth pairing process you should now be able to answer calls through your TouchPad. In our TouchPad review we applauded this feature although back then it only worked with webOS phones like the HP Veer. Extending the functionality to more devices was an obvious step, but one we weren't sure would happen given the platform's uncertain future. 

HP is also promising performance and UI improvements with today's update.

Asus Teases The Transformer Prime; Kal-El Tablet Due Nov. 9th

With the rapid pace of the tablet market showing no signs of slowing, Asus CEO Jonney Shih pulled out the Transformer successor, apparently called the Transformer Prime, while on stage at the AsiaD Conference in Hong Kong today. The 8.3 mm thin tablet will be formally announced on November 9th, said Shih, and would feature NVIDIA's Kal-El quad-core SoC. The device has a 10" form factor like the original and while he did not specify whether it would be launching with Ice Cream Sandwich, he did say that we could expect Ice Cream Sandwich to show up in tablets before the end of the year. The tablet itself has USB and mini-HDMI ports, along with an SD card reader and a reported 14.5 hour battery. The new keyboard dock looks to aim for an even thinner duo than the original Transformer, and with those four (five) cores purring it should be a screamer. 

As if that weren't enough, Shih also teased an update on the Padfone, the tablet/phone pair first showed off in May at Computex. According to Shih, the device still has to undergo carrier testing and that they're targeting a Q1 2012 release, and it will be running Ice Cream Sandwich. As the Padfone must  serve as a competent, and battery sparing, phone, in addition to its tablet duties, it may be running on Tegra 2 and not Kal-El. We'll know for sure next Spring, for now enjoy a teaser video below.