14 DAY TRIAL // While Notion Ink did show off its Adam tablet in the past, the company chose not to disclose much, if any, information on more than the most basic specifications of the device. Still, the company seems to have taken advantage of the Mobile World Congress to finally hand out some details on the product, revealing a feature-rich device, which, through a combination of the Tegra 2 and a very power-efficient Pixel Qi screen, promises to provide both high performance and a long battery life.
The NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform combines a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, with a clock frequency of 1GHz, with NVIDIA graphics capable of handling multimedia files in HD format. This means that the Adam can play video in high definition, a capability that can be easily taken advantage of thanks to the built-in HDMI output. The device also has three USB ports, a 3-megapixel autofocus camera and wireless connectivity capabilities through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G (HSPA/GSM). The Notion Ink tablet also boasts an ambient light sensor, a proximity sensor and an accelerometer.
While these specifications show the high usability of the device, the main trait of the tablet remains the benefit brought by combining the Tegra 2 with a Pixel Qi display. The Pixel Qi display has a maximum resolution of 1024 x 600, but its real asset is the very low power consumption. In fact, the screen can operate in both a low-power, sunlight-readable, reflective e-paper mode as well as a transflective mode. The screen is easy on the eyes and, combined with the Tegra 2, it can allow the configuration to reach a power consumption small enough to let a single battery charge last for up to 16 hours, or more if the backlight is turned off.
A final major asset of the Notion Ink tablet is its use of open source software platforms. Adam will be able to run not only Android, but also Linux operating systems and Google's Chromium OS. The device also conveniently supports Adobe Flash 10.1 and is capable of multitasking. All these capabilities will likely turn this slate PC into a strong competitor when it finally arrives in June.
Technoholik reports that the Notion Ink Adam tablet will be priced at $327-800 and will come in two versions, one with a normal LCD and the one with the Pixel Qi. The report also suggests that the Indian version will lack 3G, due to the lack of 3G infrastructure and the high sensitivity to price in that area.