14 DAY TRIAL // Things on the tablet market seemed like they were moving in multiple directions lately, at different speeds, so to speak, what with all the strategy adjustments, and it looks like ASUS is one of the few that decided to speed things up.
After all the tablet launches during MWC (Mobile World Congress) and CeBIT 2011, one would have thought that sales would start sooner instead of later.
Unfortunately, Apple released the iPad 2 and, in a single move, made all the Android-running, ARM-powered models (as well as the Wintel ones) seem too expensive to compete.
Some notebook and smartphone makers decided to delay their devices and redesign them, the goal being of driving the price lower.
This contributed to the relative silence that fell upon the IT market and stayed fallen over the past month or two.
Now, ASUS is breaking apart from the flock by accelerating the availability of one of its devices instead of pushing it back.
The electronic in question is the Eee Pad Transformer tablet, which has a detachable, physical keyboard and a special connector on one of its sides.
Its price was not made overly clear (between $400 and $700), and neither is there any exact information on the software and the coordination between the Android OS and the keyboard, since Android relies on touch most of all.
Still, those that do want specs will wish to know that the ARM-based Tegra 2 SoC (system-on-chip) from NVIDIA is used as the platform. Meanwhile, 16 GB or 32 GB of storage space are provided by a NAND Flash SSD.
Unfortunately, the keyboard dock will push the price of the slate quite a bit higher than normal, meaning that, even if the tablet alone costs $400, the full package will still work its way up to $600-$700.
Still, there is no way of knowing for sure until the 10.1-inch Android 3.0 product starts shipping, by the end of this very week instead of April.