Giz AU last bumped into Sydney-based Evolve III at Computex last year, and it was great to see the team involved in some of the keynotes. Fast forward to 2012, and they’re finally readying the Maestro S: A 10.1-inch (1080p) tablet that feels and acts like Windows 8, complete with swipe gestures: “…that Apple Androidy feel that Windows was missing”.
Evolve III’s director and CTO Warrick Dainter told news.com.au that the team worked together with Microsoft to make sure it complies with the certification.” He says it’s taken 15 internal iterations of the device to get to where they are today.
Though an actual Windows 8 tablet is planned when that OS arrives, the Maestro S has some impressive specs today: 1.5GHz Intel Z670 ‘Oak Trail’ processor, 2GB of RAM, 32/64GB solid state storage, 3G and 10-hours battery life. The Maestro S is expected to go on sale by June this year. - Thanks Adam! [Evolve III via News.com.au]
Jesus
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 1:51 PMprice?
Danny Allen
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 2:29 PMNo sorry man, I’d have mentioned price if I had it.
Calvin Lichty
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 5:30 PMIt’s an Australian company releasing in Australian. Looks to see it priced some where in the $2k region. No way is this going to be sub-$1k.
talonz
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 5:02 PMevolve has had this tablet in the works for a long time now they almost released in sept 2011 but they just desapeared for a bit … the price tag back then was around 700 aud cant see any reason for them to change from that
Corey
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 11:20 PMLike all other tablets before, this will fail if it has a >$1k price tag.
FJC
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 2:47 AMIve only seen 2 Windows Tablets, and they were both fetching $1500… I find it hard for any x86-based tablet to be priced at under $1000, but would lvoe to be proven wrong.
poedgirl
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 12:56 PMAccording to the News.com.au article, the price would be “somewhere between $50 above Apple’s poorest 16GB cousin and $400 below its 64GB champion.”
This makes it between $399 (64gb iPad = $799 – $400) and $629 (32gb iPad = $579 + $50).
Damo
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 10:05 AMSaw an article on news.com.au saying it was gonna be $50 more than the cheapest iPad and $400 below the 64gb ipad … So that sounds pretty competitive to me
cleverclogs
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 10:13 AMHmmm, Tegatech are still selling their 2010 tablet at $900 :S I hope this one is much less expensive :/
EvolveIII-James
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 10:26 AMHi guys James from Evolve III here.
The company will be releasing details tomorrow (23/01/2012) on our website regarding our product pricing and where you can purchase the devices.
Rest assured, I can pleasantly tell Gizmodo readers that our Maestro tablet PCs are ALL under AUD$1,000. This price includes Evolve III’s custom Windows 7 desktop interface in addition to a full license of Windows 7 Home Premium, which you can also upgrade to Professional or Ultimate at your own choosing.
Keep posted on our website (www.evolveiii.com) for more info coming *very* soon or subscribe to our mail list for email updates.
James
TSH
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 2:03 PMsweet, checking out website nao
karsten
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 12:18 PMCan`t find anything on the website -where to buy, release day- and they are not answering the phone or call back and do not reply to emails. Are they still active?
JP
Friday, May 4, 2012 at 3:22 PMI have for time been trying to get a release date on the windows 7 tablet without any joy. This has become very frustrating, sadly I think that this product will never hit the stores. All hype no delivery on that they promised. I’m starting to think that the claims being made were a pipe dream, shame as I wanted to buy a several for my business.
Susie
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 12:08 PMAustralia has to support Australian, that is the only way the price can come down. If the product suits ones need and offers more than whats out in the market… Why worry about the price?
Just enjoy using EVOLVE III and take pride of your Australian product.
Happy Australia Day everyone. You deserve the best!