Back in June, Seagate announced a new series of hard drives for laptops that measured just 5 mm thick. Now, Seagate has its sights set on the tablet market.
The company today announced the arrival of its new Ultra Mobile HDD, an HDD solution for tablets. The drives utilize Seagate's Mobile Enablement Kit, which includes Seagate's Dynamic Data Driver technology to target shock management, heat and vibration gyroscopic motion, and power consumption. Seagate says that this combination of hardware and software means a device with 8 GB of flash. This new drive will match the power consumption of a 64 GB tablet and the performance of a 16 GB tablet but will cost less than both.
"Coupling an ultra-thin, high-capacity HDD with software designed to optimize integration into tablets at a value-add price has allowed us to deliver a truly ground-breaking solution, enabling our partners to re-imagine the mobile device," said Steve Luczo, president, CEO and chairman of Seagate. "By empowering our OEMs with this revolutionary new technology, we have invited the industry to re-think the mobile market making this offering a true game-changer in the world of storage."
Measuring 5 mm thick, the Ultra Mobile HDDs weigh in at 3.3 oz and are available in capacities of up to 500 GB and compatible with Google's Android OS. Though the massive bump in storage will no doubt appeal to those who consume massive amounts of media on their tablets, it's hard to move past the idea of a mechanical drive in a tablet, especially when you consider how often such mobile devices are dropped, bumped and manhandled.
Seagate didn't say when we can expect Ultra Mobile HDD tablets on the market, but we'll keep you posted.
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