It is becoming increasingly difficult to find non-iPad related news these days. The pipes the flooded with Apple’s latest and greatest creation. You know what else it becoming hard? Finding worthwhile alternatives to the iPad that show some thought behind their names. Asus pioneered the netbook, which is now on the wane according to some and “not good at anything” according to Steve Jobs. So now they are working on their own tablet device and they call it the Eee Pad. Would it have killed them to think up a batter name? I guess they simply could not spare the extra resources. Competition is tough you see. So while they work on it, they are talking to the media and giving out some details about what to expect.
Asustek is one of those traditional companies that talk about their prototypes, show them off at expos, etc. So after showing off an Eee Pad prototype at CES, Las Vegas at the beginning of this year, they are now looking at a Computex 2010 launch for the device. That means it will be launching the device in June this year.
It will be sharing space amongst multiple other Taiwanese companies who will be doing the same thing. June marks the end of the development cycle for a lot of companies ever since they woke up some time last year to the possibility of Apple making a killing with a new tablet device. And if the current interest is anything to go by, the iPad is going to huge and is going to be so for a long time.
According to an Asus representative, the company is working on two versions of the tablet. One is a Tegra 2 based device that will be working through Google software. It might be the Chrome OS but if they are serious about this, they should use the Android. Chrome is just not ready for that kind of handling. The Android is far more capable and is sophisticated enough.
The other model is powered by Intel’s Atom running Microsoft’s Windows. Since only one is going to make it to the market, according to the company, I would bet in the Tegra 2 based prototype. That of course unless Microsoft manages to coax Asus into making the Microsoft one the final or at least bring them both out, like HP did.
If Asus is to have any real chance against the tremendous battery life on the iPad, the video and gaming capabilities and the gigantic app store, going for a Tegra 2 based device with Android onboard is the best way to go. They have to figure out a way to do with Android apps what Apple has done with the iPhone apps on the iPad. But given the Android’s multiplicity, that might prove to be an extremely difficult job.
Both the prototypes are capacitive touchscreen based devices that have 10″ screens. So they are going to slightly larger than the iPad’s screen. Of course, this small a difference is not likely to create much of a difference in the user experience. The UI and the app ecosystem are going to be the two most important things on the device.
Asus has been talking about their Eee Pad since late last year an it will surely be interesting to see them and all the others launch their own iPad killers. But I am skeptical about their ability to compete with years of research and full integration with products developed in about 12 months running third-party software. But as time goes on, the alternatives are going to get better and cheaper. Just like it happened with the iPhone.
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