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MSI to Release Its Own Tablet, Does Multitasking

by - source: Tom's Hardware US

MISI's Android-based touchscreen tablet will definitely have one advantage over iPad: multitasking.

MSI is expected to release a 10-inch touchscreen tablet the second half of this year for around $500 USD. The unnamed prototype was originally revealed earlier this month at CES 2010, however the tablet is now expected to compete with Apple's lower-priced iPad models in the coming months. MSI is just one of many manufacturers preparing tablets for the second half of 2010, including Acer and Asus.

Under the hood, MSI's device will feature Nvidia's Tegra 2 chipset and Google's Android operating system. Ubergizmo reports that the device will be able to run Full HD video at 1080p resolution, beating out the iPad's 720p video playback on its 1024 x 768 pixel display. Digitimes adds that it will be more PC-friendly, combining the light-weight design of a mobile device with the functionality of a notebook.

Ars Technica adds that it's apparent MSI has made a few customizations to the Android operating system so that it can adapt to the larger form factor. But Ars also has its doubts about MSI's ability to rival the "refinement of Apple's user interface." Ars points out one huge advantage MSI's gadget will have over Steve Job's little cherub: Android has full support for multitasking, which we expect Apple to solve before the iPad goes on sale in 2 months.

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tenor77 01/29/2010 1:30 AM
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-20+

multi-tasking?
Real OS?
1080?

Win

captaincharisma 01/29/2010 1:31 AM
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i hopw asus or acer allows you to put a version of windows or linux on there tablets. these mobile OS are going to be too restrictive

aspireonelover 01/29/2010 1:32 AM
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good job MSI, this is an iPad done right!

NapoleonDK 01/29/2010 1:32 AM
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Now this is what I've been waiting for... All of the comments on the iPad and its lack of this-feature-or-that-feature-or-whatever will be directed at a platform that actually has potential; ANDROID + TEGRA. :)

mousey 01/29/2010 1:47 AM
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"Apple's lower-priced iPad models" ... What? The cheapest iPad is $499, the most expensive is over $800. They just said that the MSI thing would be around $500 so what are they talking about?

groveborn 01/29/2010 1:52 AM
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mousey :
"Apple's lower-priced iPad models" ... What? The cheapest iPad is $499, the most expensive is over $800. They just said that the MSI thing would be around $500 so what are they talking about?



I hope you realize that competing means that you are effectively trying to target the same market. $500 and $499 target the same market. Also, they're likely to be about the same price, not exactly $1 different.

doc70 01/29/2010 2:19 AM
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Sounds so good, almost did wet my pants. Guess will need an iPad for that.

/joke (for the trolls out there)

philologos 01/29/2010 2:28 AM
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Quote :But Ars also has its doubts about MSI's ability to rival the "refinement of Apple's user interface."


iGag

eklipz330 01/29/2010 2:49 AM
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iBreastpump?

Pyroflea 01/29/2010 3:22 AM
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Yay, a not-shitty version of the iPad!

Honis 01/29/2010 3:36 AM
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Quote :which we expect Apple to solve before the iPad goes on sale in 2 months.
Yep, just like everyone expected for the iPhone, for the last 3 hardware revisions. Keep up the awesome opinion based articles Kevin. Maybe someday Steve will fly from the heavens and grant you all your iPhone dreams.

igot1forya 01/29/2010 3:44 AM
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iFarted :)

4ILY45 01/29/2010 4:02 AM
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Add a webcam & i'm sold..

phantomtrooper 01/29/2010 4:04 AM
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Android + Tegra 2! This is definitely a win.


I'd like to see what Asus could do with a tablet. I have one of their laptops and it is really nice.

matt2k 01/29/2010 4:04 AM
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is that a snow leopard on the tablets home screen? cos its white and looks like a leopard...
just saying ;)
i'd love to have one of these tablets, but will definitely wait till a coupla generations on (or until my student loan comes through...)

matt87_50 01/29/2010 4:25 AM
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cool, looks like the competition will be coming thick and fast this year, which is good to see.

also, Apple's user interface isn't all that. OSX can go **** it's self, I hate it. honestly, I struggle to see how anyone with a modicum of common sense could do any worse than apple has.

I do think having built in 3G is a nessesity tho. not for all. but for quite a bit of the market.

zodiacfml 01/29/2010 4:31 AM
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acer and asus can do much better than this.

Summer Leigh Castle 01/29/2010 4:41 AM
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Webcam or bust. Web conferencing... Seriously.

gayan 01/29/2010 4:43 AM
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iSay iLike iT...

fafner 01/29/2010 4:52 AM
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Looks like a nail to ipad's coffin.

falchard 01/29/2010 5:44 AM
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The MSI model looks like nVidia's Tegra based Tablet. So its probably an OEM iteration of it and we should be seeing several of these from several companies.

ASUS already has a multi-touch support netbook that does more then the iPad while being loaded with a Windows OS.

MDillenbeck 01/29/2010 6:19 AM
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Great, another product that has better specs on paper but will probably fall victim to poorly perceived interface and Apple's merciless marketing department. After all, consumers don't want a good product - they want the product that conveys "cool" or "hip" or some other imaging. After all, the media and consumers seem to be infatuated with i-this and i-that despite the many good alternate products available.

If anyone is interested in how corporations (and consumers) have turned away from product-driven companies to brand-driven companies, give Naomi Klein's book No Logo a read (with a grain of salt, as always).

rebturtle 01/29/2010 6:36 AM
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We can only hope this doesn't turn out like the Creative Nomad players; another higher-quality competitively priced product crushed by the Apple marketing hype machine.

SneakySnake 01/29/2010 7:13 AM
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micky_lund 01/29/2010 7:54 AM
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pocketdrummer 01/29/2010 9:15 AM
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micky_lund :
wow....who really needs 1080 on a 10" screen?


Me.

I still can't think of much to do with such a device. If it has a REAL keyboard that slid out or something, that would help. But, I would still rather have an ultra-portable laptop than this.

Other companies need to work on their product names. iM sick of Apple's iStuff being quoted for everything. Your Zune isn't an iPod, it's an mp3 player... or a media player if you will (so is the iPod, in fact).

apache_lives 01/29/2010 9:24 AM
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back_by_demand 01/29/2010 10:14 AM
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Name?

The msiPad

huron 01/29/2010 1:09 PM
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The concept of what all these companies are aiming at is good. I'm just hoping someone can actually deliver and I'm rooting for MSI on this.

Sometimes I wonder if we haven't quite figured out what the consumer market actually is looking for in one of these devices, aim for a whole host of ideas, but miss on some of the big ones.

Oh well...looking forward to an interesting year in gadgets. I would love a respectable table.

huron 01/29/2010 1:09 PM
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errr...tablet - sucks that you can't edit it

back_by_demand 01/29/2010 1:36 PM
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huron :
The concept of what all these companies are aiming at is good. I'm just hoping someone can actually deliver and I'm rooting for MSI on this.Sometimes I wonder if we haven't quite figured out what the consumer market actually is looking for in one of these devices, aim for a whole host of ideas, but miss on some of the big ones.


That's the reason why it needs a proper OS that can install and do anything, so it is able to do whatever you want it to. If you want to use it as an expensive Kindle then go right ahead, but other people will want to be able to put MS Office on it and create documents instead of just viewing them, or plug in a USB DVD writer, or a printer, or a webcam.
My personal opinion of why tablets have failed on the PC platform before now is the stupid twisting and hinged screen just to accomodate a keyboard and the lumpy body. Now the form factor is sorted out to the point they are desirable, reducing the capabilities of the device is simply criminal and blatant profiteering.
But thanks to Apple, they will create the desire for tablets, people will now want to own one even if they don't know why and if an astute PC company like MSI or HP can release a Tablet with similar form factor but for the same price allow users to do everything their home PC can do then Apple will have shot itself in the foot and the PC devices will finally take off.

The big nail in the iPad coffin will be when Sony release a Windows 7 tablet. ViaoTab. You heard it here first.


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