AT&T said on Thursday that it will offer a set of Windows 8 tablets in time for the 2012 holiday shopping season. AT&T said it will be the only U.S. carrier to offer these two new tablets.
First up is the Asus VivoTab RT, the first quad-core Windows RT-based 4G LTE tablet. AT&T describes it as an ultra-thin, light tablet designed as the ideal mobile entertainment, productivity and gaming platform. The specs reveal it to have a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 TE SoC, 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0C connectivity, an 8MP auto-focus camera with flash on the back, and a front-facing 2MP camera.
The tablet also sports a 10.1-inch Super IPS+ screen with support for up to ten simultaneous fingers, and a 1366 x 768 resolution. The tablet can connect to a QWERTY keyboard dock and instantly transform into an ultra-portable laptop with a USB port and an even longer battery life. However AT&T did not indicate this accessory will be offered.
As for the Samsung ATIV Smart PC, this gadget offers AT&T customers "the blend of PC capability with the convenient tablet form factor." This tablet features an 11.6-inch HD PLS screen with a 1366 x 768 resolution (400 nit), 2 GB of LPDDR2 memory, and a next-generation dual-core Intel Atom "Clover Trail" processor clocked at 1.5 GHz. It also comes packed with a rear-facing 8MP camera, a 2MP front-facing camera, and Intel SGX545 graphics.
On a connectivity level, the Samsung tablet sports 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, and an optional 4G LTE. It also provides 64 GB of internal storage, and a pre-loadeded trial version of Microsoft Office 2013 for productivity apps, including Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint. A detachable keyboard-docking system lets users easily switch between a clamshell notebook PC and a tablet PC.
"AT&T is a leader in connected devices, and we are thrilled the Windows 8 tablets will be available on the nation’s largest 4G network," said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, AT&T Emerging Devices. "With Windows 8, both tablets give customers an optimized touch interface, instant live tile updates and PC capabilities."
The company said customers purchasing Windows 8 tablets will have more options in choosing the plan that’s right for them and their mobile devices. Just recently AT&T introduced Mobile Share plans, allowing new and existing customers to share a single bucket of data across all their devices. Customers on a Mobile Share plan can simply add their new Windows 8 tablet for $10 a month.
Both Windows 8 tablets will be available in AT&T company-owned retail stores and online at www.wireless.att.com in time for the holidays.
