14 DAY TRIAL // Yet another tablet has been spotted on the web, only this once it is not another Tegra 2 device, but a product which uses a less mighty processor and overall specs in return for a lower price point.
During the 2011 editions of the MWC (mobile World Congress) and CeBIT trade show, quite a few tablets were formally unveiled.
Most of them rely on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 ARM hardware platform and run the Android 3.0 operating system, otherwise known as Honeycomb.
The downside to this, however, is that, while performance is real and strong, the price required is not all that flattering.
Motorla's XOOM was a particularly telling example, with a price of about $800, before it got $100 cheaper.
Either way, many slates are priced at roughly $400 or even more, depending on configuration.
The so-called 'condition' that some analysts feel needs to be met before slates really get popular is that they start selling for $200-$250 on average.
Needless to say, this is far from reality, but there are still a few items that, albeit weaker, somehow meet this requirement.
The new product from IN Media measures 7 inches in screen diagonal, the resistive touchscreen featuring a native resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. It uses a 600 MHz processor.
256 MB of RAM (random access memory) are present, along with a VGA webcam, Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11b/g WiFi, an USB port, stereo speakers and a 4,800 mAh battery.
"We are allowing users to migrate from Laptops and Netbook PCs to the more robust applications supported on the Tablet running Android 2. 2," said IN Media's CEO Dr. Nick Karnik.
Shipments should start being carried out in April, for the price of $199. Whether this lets it score sales or gain any amount of fame is something that remains to be seen.