www.engadget.com/2010/01/28/msis-10-inch-tablet-la...
www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/msi-shows-off-10-inch-...
Well it has just about the same specs plus some. With the benifit that it runs Android it has a tegra 2 chip in it, which if the supposed rumors about the A4 they are equivalent. In the pictures I saw of it, it looks like it supports SD cards which means swappable memory up to 64gb's. On the plus side, this has a front facing camera and microphone so skype video calling is a definite possibility. On the looks side, It looks identical to the ipad IMO, and is priced the same, as the 16gb model.
The first thing I did notice about this is the fact that instead of a scaled up OS like in the ipad, it is actually reengineered so that the icons aren't scaled up. To me it looks like an 8x6 icon set meaning 48 icons on the homescreen or numerous widgets and icons.
The only two down sides i can see is if they went with resistive screen, but given their other laptop dual captive screens i doubt it, and battery life, which I can see rivaling the ipads but not quite as good, maybe 6-7 hours of video which would be fine for me.
All in all for productivity sake and practicality this seems like the better of the two but that is my opinion what do you think?
Discussion about
Could this rival the ipad?
The first thing that I thought when I saw the iPad wad "WOW! Why is this thing not running Android?". All of the issues that I have with the iPad could be fixed by installing Android on it, in my opinion at least. Though I may buy an iPad, I have to have it's a new gadget, it will most likely be to try it out and then sell/give it to one of my friends. The only major differences that I can see with these two devices, other than the obvious (running android +other previously mentioned aspects), it that while it looks a lot like the iPad you can certainly tell that it is not made out of the same quality of materials as the iPad. The iPad will probably be all metal and glass (mmmmmmmmmm) while this certainly looks more like plastic for the most part. I don't have a problem with it being plastic, I would just prefer that it be metal and glass (mmmmmmm).
Also, it is capacitive deinfinity. Says so in one of those articles you listed at least.
Also, it is capacitive deinfinity. Says so in one of those articles you listed at least.
The responsiveness and capability of their touch panel will make or break it, but otherwise it has several features that many people hoped to see in the iPad. If it were Win 7 I'd say no way, but the Android platform is the ideal mix of mobile friendly OS and unrestrained app store that could potentially make it the perfect mix of computer/mobile device. The iPad is already facing the "its nice, but not quite enough and not cheap enough to be less" issue, and the Harmony+Android could answer that.
Right now Android doesn't have an official google docs app, but the web passed one works well just cramped due to the small screen size. I could see google docs on this thing as very friendly in the web app.
Can't believe, including myself, only twelve people want this far superior device; yet nearly 3000 people still want the iCrap.
It's too bad gdgt doesn't have a "wanted" list. It would be interesting to see how many people have dropped the iPad from their want list. There's going to be one more after I post this.
It's too bad gdgt doesn't have a "wanted" list. It would be interesting to see how many people have dropped the iPad from their want list. There's going to be one more after I post this.
Yeah problem being, Apple is big name especially in mobile, MSI not so much. Their computers are interesting but not well know, hence why I started this in the midst of the ipad flood. This is the much better product but no one realizes it yet.
I think you are dead on there, although they way Apple continues to attack other brands like Nintendo and the DS annoys me the way the PS3 adds annoy me. It has its place for home use but I think for actualy work/productivity this wins hands down.
iPad/iPhone is not about specs, its all about user experience, ecosystem and content.
People who are only interested in purchasing a tablet based on specs can indeed see this device as an iPad competitor. But most "normal" people will prefer the iPad.
Most do not care which OS brand their gadget is running and are not interested in being able to run a terminal.
The problem with you, guys, is that as geeks, you only see the specs. I guess it's then logical you don't like Apple products. But I'm afraid Apple doesn't care that much because you are not the target for the iPad.
You should just stop comparing the iPad with other tablets: buy whatever Android device you like and let people who prefer the Apple products buy an iPad.
People who are only interested in purchasing a tablet based on specs can indeed see this device as an iPad competitor. But most "normal" people will prefer the iPad.
Most do not care which OS brand their gadget is running and are not interested in being able to run a terminal.
The problem with you, guys, is that as geeks, you only see the specs. I guess it's then logical you don't like Apple products. But I'm afraid Apple doesn't care that much because you are not the target for the iPad.
You should just stop comparing the iPad with other tablets: buy whatever Android device you like and let people who prefer the Apple products buy an iPad.
That is very true but i could argue all day long the Google ecosystem that i use is vastly more powerfull then the apple ecosystem and they both rival eachother nicely in terms of content and experience. But you are right, we are going to buy what we are going to buy. I will never buy an apple product for my own personal reasons and some people will never buy Android. Point being all this rivalry is only going to benifit us with better products that are cheaper and easier to use.
The problem I have with Google is about their business model. They are making (a lot of) money only from Ads and in order to do that, they need your personal data as much as a vampire need your blood. I don't like this business model, but it is a personal opinion obviously.
And I don't agree that the ecosystem are equivalent because one of Apple's key advantage is the strong integration between the content and the hardware (iPhone/iPad/Mac). Google until recently does not make hardware and if they start making devices (as with the Nexus One, even if it is more an HTC phone than a Google one), they are going to kill their Android partners which is not a good way to make business.
And no music store in Google ecosystem, no TV/Movie store (but they are now trying to have it with YouTube), no book store, no podcast directory, no equivalent of iTunes University (which is a underestimated partof iTunes Store I think) and their application market will have a lot of troubles to interest major developers as Android customers are so accustomed to cheap or even free/open software that they will likely not spend much money in purchasing apps.
But I agree: competition is good and Google is probably the only real competitor for Apple.
And I don't agree that the ecosystem are equivalent because one of Apple's key advantage is the strong integration between the content and the hardware (iPhone/iPad/Mac). Google until recently does not make hardware and if they start making devices (as with the Nexus One, even if it is more an HTC phone than a Google one), they are going to kill their Android partners which is not a good way to make business.
And no music store in Google ecosystem, no TV/Movie store (but they are now trying to have it with YouTube), no book store, no podcast directory, no equivalent of iTunes University (which is a underestimated partof iTunes Store I think) and their application market will have a lot of troubles to interest major developers as Android customers are so accustomed to cheap or even free/open software that they will likely not spend much money in purchasing apps.
But I agree: competition is good and Google is probably the only real competitor for Apple.
I do disagree with the ecosystem part, Android has Amazon Mp3 for music which IMO is the better cheaper music store, YouTube will be Google's video service, they do own a bookstore, although not in the "itunes, kindle" sense Google books is quite vast and Google is likely to side with Amazon for ebooks. Listen is Googles podcast directory(granted only works on Android), and that whole interest developers stuff is bull. Sims3 came out for Android the exact same day it did for the iphone, they just marketed it wrong and not in the Android Market. As Android grows people will be buying more apps. A big difference between the two is if some makes a crap app and charges $5 for it and you buy it, on itunes you are stuck unless you can get the dev to refund, on Android you hit a button within the first 24 hours and you get your money back no questions asked.
Point being you and I are obviously have different personal tastes, i don't mind giving up my searching preferences because I know just one of my credit card companies I use has more info on me then Google ever will, and your a fan of apple. In the end we all win...
Point being you and I are obviously have different personal tastes, i don't mind giving up my searching preferences because I know just one of my credit card companies I use has more info on me then Google ever will, and your a fan of apple. In the end we all win...
True, true, it was also very late when I wrote that, anyway its a possibility but Google does have a commanding presence with epub.
It has a couple nice features like the camera, Android, and SD support but the lack of general sexiness, battery life, and a capacitive multitouch screen really kill it for me. I can't believe people are still going with resistive on this stuff. That alone is enough for me not to want it.
I disagree on the sexiness to me they are both about the same, but the battery life has yet to be announced and where did you dig up the resistive touch screen, if I remembered correctly I thought it was captive.
To be honest, I was reading a different blogs coverage (who knows which. it was a while ago) and hadn't checked out Engadget's article where they say capacitive. Since I trust Engadget more, I'll redact that and say its capacitive. As far as battery life, I will be very pleased if they could pull off 10 hours like Apple did. I just know that Apple is typically VERY good at battery life optimization on its larger devices compared to other companies. For example my 17" MacBook Pro gets a solid 5 hours of battery life when the other computers made in the same year by PC makers get about half that.
If they could do the battery life and capacitive screen as well as Apple, I'd take the hit in the looks department (it's much, much thicker than the iPad and looks slightly "cheaper" to me) for expandable storage and Android. The only real problem I forsee is that Android devs haven't really experiemented too much with larger screen devices. I think the iPad has a little advantage in that department because Apple has given them more UI opportunities with the larger screen size (ie, popovers, columns, etc) whereas Android devs will sort of have to do that stuff on the fly.
If they could do the battery life and capacitive screen as well as Apple, I'd take the hit in the looks department (it's much, much thicker than the iPad and looks slightly "cheaper" to me) for expandable storage and Android. The only real problem I forsee is that Android devs haven't really experiemented too much with larger screen devices. I think the iPad has a little advantage in that department because Apple has given them more UI opportunities with the larger screen size (ie, popovers, columns, etc) whereas Android devs will sort of have to do that stuff on the fly.
I think they might be very comparable in the end, Android has popover already, the only thing it lacks is columns but I think that the fact that you only need one SDK to compile for larger screens is a bonus for Android right now. Although an SDK for larger screens would be nice but I don't see Android going there. It will be interesting to see how they flair it up of course but it might be a little more bland then the ipad but I prefer that over less funcionality.
