Samsung S-Pad designed to counter Apple

Samsung is readying a new tablet that would deliberately chase after the iPad, a Korean news outlet claimed Tuesday. Potentially called the S-Pad, it would be meant to compete more against iPhone OS devices than traditional computers and would use the technologies developed for the Samsung Wave. It would center around a 7-inch Super AMOLED screen that cuts down on the outdoor visibility problems of OLEDs and would use Samsung's own touchscreen-friendly Bada OS.

The device described by ETNews would have Wi-Fi and would have embedded 3G as at least an option. In Korea, the S-Pad might have an e-book focus as Samsung already has a deal with Kyobo Books for online content on its e-reader and could extend this to its tablet.

If authentic, the tablet would be ready as soon as early August. Whether it would reach the US at the same time or at all wasn't mentioned.

Samsung has historically fared poorly with tablets. It was one of the most eager adopters of Microsoft's UMPC platform concept and put out the Q1 series but had little traction beyond specialized business markets. The high pricing, use of a desktop OS and the rise of netbooks has left relatively few home buyers.

The rumor may be slightly contradicted by one Australian executive's insistence that an Atom-based tablet with Windows would be better than the iPad and that Samsung was developing a product of its own to match. Whether he was aware of outside plans, or whether one or both of the sources is inaccurate isn't known. While Atom-based tablets can get desktop-level expansion and software, they also often have short battery life and need much more storage compared to ARM-based, lightweight tablets like the iPad.

By Electronista Staff