January 29, 2010, 7:35 AM — So we get it, a lot of you are underwhelmed by the iPad. But there's much more to the tablet world than Apple's latest creation. According to Digitimes (via Engadget), MSI's 10" tablet is coming during the second half of 2010. But will you Doubting Thomases be any happier with this offering?
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The price is the same as the cheapest iPad ($500) and the capacitive screen is effectively the same size (9.7" for the iPad, 10" for the MSI). The iPad runs iPhone OS while the MSI runs Android. That means the MSI will multitask of course, and Flash support in Android should be a given by launch time (though that isn't certain). It has a camera. It's running on an Nvidia Tegra2 chip which Ars Technica suggests puts it on par with the iPad's A4 as far as computing horsepower. And of course Android doesn't live in a walled garden.
On the other hand, it doesn't have the iTunes App Store, nor does it have the media partners that Apple has lined up for the iPad. And (as seen in the video below) native apps don't support multi-touch pinch and zoom gestures.
So what do you say, iPad doubters? Is a device like this any more appealing or will you still stick to your smartphones and netbooks? (Another intriguing option is the Notion Ink Adam which Engadget took a good look at during CES.)
Some of you, I know, just aren't interested in the tablet form factor but others have specific grievances with the iPad in particular, and I'm wondering if a device that addresses some of these grievances without increasing the price is of more interest.
Here's one of the least bad videos of the MSI Android Tablet that I could find at YouTube, so you can see it in action. Keep in mind it isn't shipping for at least 5 months so in theory response should get a bit snappier, and rough edges should get a bit of polishing, before then.
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