14 DAY TRIAL // Now that Dell's Looking Glass has been exposed and even Velocity Micro has decided to attend the slate party, it is, more or less, logical for leaks concerning other participants to sprout around the world. This time, the tablet phenomenon takes us to Taiwan, where ASUS is diligently working on finalizing its Eee Pad. Until recently, there was no clear indication of how much longer it would be until the slate debuted. Fortunately, market watchers rose up to the task and found out some details.
Seeing how ASUS is based in Taiwan, it fell to Digitimes to uncover the launch date and retail availability of the ASUS tablet computer. Apparently, the final model will be ready by the start of June, which means it will attend Computex 2010 (June 1-5). At the show, the device is expected to stand out through its use of Google's Android OS and certain I/O options that the iPad does not feature.
The ASUS Eee Pad will have an industrial design and will come, among other things, with support for Adobe Flash, an integrated webcam and USB connectivity, which will allow the slate to communicate with various storage devices and other electronics. The full specifications are still unknown, but they probably are on par with those of netbooks, considering that the PC supplier expects netbook demand to drop by 10-20% in the wake of new slates.
The Android OS may add a sizable performance benefit to the tablet, considering that it uses fewer resources than Windows 7, while still featuring a large amount of popular functions such as intuitive multitouch. As for the actual availability, retailers are expected to receive the Eee Pad during the third quarter, most likely in late July, according to the report. The price will be of NT$15,000-16,000, which is the equivalent of US$479-510.