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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jade_angel - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
"Cloud control"? Yuck. I'd really rather not have control over my TV or set-top box mediated through some random company's servers out there in Cloudland. Hello security problems, or else massive amounts of PKI ickage to secure it.Now, if it's entirely within the LAN, that might be a different story. Still a potential security issue, but not to nearly the same magnitude.
That said, I'm not convinced IR's old-and-slow nature is actually a problem for use as a TV remote (though, more bandwidth would allow unforeseen use cases). IR would also have the advantage of potentially working with existing TVs.
bupkus - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Maybe Logitech has just that in mind with their universal remote, perhaps broadening that to a tablet. They charge enough for their remote now anyway.PeterS1 - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Thank you for the preview on Notion Ink Adam, I am very much looking forward to a in-dept review of the Adam from the industry experts whom I trust the most.Kamen75 - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
The Enspert 201 tablet looks like a winner. Yes froyo is needed so let's hope it really is coming soon. I would like to see a higher resolution than 800x480 but to put that in perspective it is 133ppi, while the ipad at 9.7 inch and 1024x768 is 132ppi so text and everything else should be adequately viewable. Given it's nearly Galaxy Tab matching specs and it's $200 dollar price point this IS what a tablet should be right now. Cheap and disposable.geniekid - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
"2011 is the Year of the Tablet. With all due respect to the rabbit, who would have otherwise been assigned to this year..."I loled.
melgross - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
None of these seem impressive. If it's true that a dual CPU is required for honeycomb, then any tablet that doesn't have that is already obsolete, and not worth bothering with. That seems to cut out the majority of the tablets shown at CES. We can move on.The Notion Ink screen also looks crappy in the photos. If it's supposed to look good in sunlight, then it's a fail.
Kobaljov - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Based on the experiences of the first Adam buyers, the screen is glossy, the Notion Ink offers a matte screen protector for it.(source: http://liliputing.com/2011/01/roundup-of-notion-in... )
Beenthere - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
...they are called TOYlets. Because they are toys.rpmurray - Friday, January 28, 2011 - link
It's TABlets, not TOYlets. A toilet is something you drink from, although its a shame you forgot to flush first.Enlightenment777 - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 - link
Apphole Toilet