HTC Android tablet may pack Tegra 2, 720p screen
updated 11:35 am EDT, Mon September 20, 2010
HTC tablet would aim for speed crown, high price
HTC's rumored Android 3.0 tablet may aim for the high end of the space to claim an edge over Apple. A purported leak from component suppliers has it getting a very sharp 1280x720 screen as well as NVIDIA's dual-core Tegra 250 processor to drive it. The Digitimes contacts also gave it an unusually large 2GB of RAM and 32GB of built-in flash storage.
Along with typical Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi, the tablet was presumed to have 3G and would carry a relatively high starting price. Estimates of its price put it at $790, or more expensive than the lower-spec but otherwise comparable $729, 32GB iPad with 3G.
Taiwan's Pegatron would be the manufacturer, but the decision if final could cost it valuable Apple sales. The former ASUS manufacturing arm has reportedly been tapped for CDMA iPhones, but it may lose some of these or other orders if HTC goes through. It's unclear if Apple would go this route, as it regularly has to use suppliers that make directly competing products.
HTC hasn't publicly committed to a tablet and has officially taken a hesitant approach to the idea, but the early success of the iPad may have forced its hand to act or else be left out. The company was once an early advocate of tablet-like devices, but its use of Windows and very early tablet-oriented processors gave them bulk and poor battery life that didn't take off with buyers.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2008
This price for a comparably equipped Android
tablet to the iPad makes sense to me. I just couldn't believe any company could come out with a fully-featured quality tablet the size of the iPad for $399. I'm curious what the Droidtards are going to say about an HTC tablet at this higher price range. I'd think they're getting a fair deal with those specs but those cheapster fAndroids will probably think they're getting stiffed. The Droidtards really believe that some company can build some inexpensive fully-featured tablet and still undercut the iPad by $100. They'd only end up with some cheap Archos-type device which I doubt that most consumers would want.
I sure hope Apple can exert some leverage with Pegatron to not manufacture these HTC tablets until mid-2011 which would give the iPad 2 some breathing room. Let HTC keep churning out the world-beating HTC-made Android smartphones. Since Android is supposedly going to take over the mobile world, no sense in giving them too much of an advantage.