Just so you know, we’re not all completely mind-boggled by the iPad 2 today. Yes, there are alternatives. We’ve posted about it here before, but you could do worse than consider ViewSonic’s ‘we’re not an iPad, we’re a ViewPad’, if you’re still desperate to grab an Android powered tablet under $600.
That is, for $599, the ViewPad 10s represent something in the way of decent value if you compare this launch to the bungled release of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab which first hit shelves late last year at the mysteriously bloated price of $999.
There’s a bunch of extra nerdy bits on the inside of the ViewPad, including a NVIDIA Tegra 2 (1GHz) mobile processor, HDMI ports and the chance to play 1080p videos. True, all this might be enough to sway you towards the ViewPad, but seriously, you’ll first need to kindly divert your pulsing eyes away from the iPad’s 2nd coming to make a proper appraisal.
Android versus Apple tablets: is that even a fair comparison? Let us know below.
[via Viewsonic]
Update: There’s been a bit of confusion with the ViewPad 10s lately. The 10s is NOT a dual boot tablet (as this article states) and runs on Android 2.2 in Australia. However, the US released ‘ViewPad 10′ does indeed offer dual boot. And the original picture we ran may have shown this option.
Paul
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 3:52 PMIf it is Android why does it have the Windows logo?
Ryan Brown
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 4:39 PMFrom memory, the Viewpad 10s does not come with the Android Marketplace making it near impossible to install Apps and Games without root access. One advantage over the iPad is the microSD card slot, but the lack of apps is pretty much a sale killer for me.
Namarrgon
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 6:15 PMIf you want a *really* cheap Android tablet that doesn’t sacrifice quality, you can’t go past a Nook Color. Damn good multitouch IPS screen, great specs, trivial to root (yes you can have the Market), great support from XDA (Honeycomb!) – and only $250.
Wait, did I say $250? I meant $200! The $50-off coupon makes this officially irresistible – I and half my friends just bought one (free shipping but US only, so use comgateway.com or similar for forwarding).
Jack Wilkinson
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 6:53 PMi saw the birds, i immidiatly thought veiwsonic and then was happy.
David
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 8:03 PMIf these machines are truly running an nVidia Tegra 2 Chipsets then it most definitely will NOT dual boot windows at this stage, especially not Windows 7, just not possible. For a start, the architecture is entirely different, Tegra to is Arm based, while Windows is X86 based, so that removes that possibility straight up.
Assuming Microsoft had Windows 7 in an Arm version, then I highly doubt it would even run on a 1GHZ chip, especially with only 512MB-1GB of RAM that just wouldn’t happen!
(moderated for language)
Michael Moore
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 10:54 PMGosh, am i the only one who realizes the iPad is merely a large iPhone!!! The I pad is rubbish, there is no freaking point to it, it does nothing more than an iPhone… This was apples opportunity to create real product differentiation and they simply failed. Don’t misunderstand me I think that the iPhone is far superior to any other phone on the market because ALL of the apps on the app store truly function best on a iPhone. BUT! And there a big but, you can not do real work on an iPhone and you can’t truly work with Effiency on the iPad! Why? You ask… I’m glad you did. The I pad is not suitable to store and access files on, not can you easily transfer them easily from device to device. Excel sheets cannot support images or formulas very well of at all, the power point presentations are misaligned and I could go on with many others examples and features where the iPad2 and I phone fall short as a productivity tool and where the XOOM not only surpass them but it squats up and down teabagging them!!! I know the iPad 2 will outsell the competitors 6 or even 8 to 1. But I hope that the compeditors stick around if only to force apple to up their game to create truly functional hardware and software package that enhance the user experence rather than just taking peoples money for an oversized phone that can’t make voice calls.
Mike Rotch
Friday, March 4, 2011 at 9:17 AMman i’m sick of hearing people say ‘ipad is just a large iphone’… well no sh*t sherlock !
what size tv do you have? whats the point of a 60″ screen when its just an oversized 17″ screen ?!?!?
Roy
Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 6:46 PMIs this ViewPad 10 in the Australian market. Where can I buy this, please