Monday evening at the Press get together for the GPU Technology Conference the rumor was that HTC had contracted Pegatron Technology to build a Tegra 2 tablet.
According to the rumor, the HTC tablet PC will use nVidia’s Tegra 2 platform and Google’s Android operating system, a standard mix for nearly a dozen rumored tablets that have not begun shipping.
The usual claims about features for the device are circulating and include a multi-touch panel with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels, a 32GB SSD [solid state drive], 2GB of RAM memory and several functions such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. No mention was made of a 5 megapixel camera. Supposedly because HTC has excellent relations with the major North American wireless carriers, they will sell a shed load of tablets. The rumored price is around NT$25,000 (US $789.75), but could be much lower since HTC typically partners with cellular carriers to subsidize the price of their devices. We might add that this is something Nokia should learn how to do in North America.
Could a Tegra 2 based HTC Tablet come soon to an operator near you?
To date, the only tablet to claim they will be on all four major carriers is the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Samsung says that by Christmas time, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile will have their Galaxy Tab in stock. The Galaxy Tab features a 1 GHz Qualcomm Hummingbird processor, Android 2.2 [Froyo] with a capacitive 1024×600 resolution screen, and dual cameras, one in the back and one in the front.
One of the most promising tablets awaiting shipment is the Notion Ink Adam. The Adam has the Pixel Qi dual mode, high-resolution display screen. In our August article [linked above] is a chart comparing it to the Apple iPad.
This Christmas season looks like a great time for all consumers of techy toys. But, the prizes will go to the companies that execute with products that have features which satisfy the knowledgeable and impatient consumers who have money burning a hole in their pockets.
