ASUS Eee Tablet to ship at high price

ASUS has said that its eight-inch Eee Tablet is due for release in October. The e-book reader sports a 64-grayscale TFT-LCD screen that does not have a backlight, and will be priced at $599. The release is about a month later and between $300 and $400 dearer than expected before.

ASUS plans on selling the device with subsidies from wireless carriers, and is currently in negotiations, the company said. This indicates a mobile broadband connection will be built-in, though this is news. Previously, the device was said to rely solely on a Wi-Fi connection. The price is also likely to go down when purchased through a provider, though a contract will apply.

The screen has a 1024x768 resolution, which is higher than competitors. The refresh rate is also much higher, at a tenth of a second, and users can annotate documents. A two-megapixel camera on the back will allow for capturing slides that can be annotated later.

The screen, made by Chimei Innolux (CMI), is sharp at 1024x768 and is very precise, at 2,450DPI, but can't match E Ink displays of competitors when it comes to the contrast ratio and reflective performance, however. [via Digitimes]

By Electronista Staff