For many these two 7-inchers were kings of the last show, CES 2012. "For many" means here those many people who feel that proper portable and pocketable tablets shouldn't exceed 10 or even 9 inch caliber sizes (measured by screen diagonals, of course). "For many" also means not for all, I admit. For all, the real king of CES 2012 in tablet department was ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF700T:
Pay attention: this is not your "usual" Transformer Prime TF201, it's a souped up version of it: internally, it could be almost the same penta-core Tegra 3 driven TF201, but TF700T has a gorgeous 1920x1200 IPS LCD screen and enhanced HD video conferencing on top of what TF201 has to offer. The "upgrade" from TF201 to TF700T will pull another Franklin out of your pocket though: MSRP for TF700T is about $600 for 32GB model. Kings don't come cheap. What would be the price of cheapest iPad 3 we'll know for sure some time in March, but one thing is sure though: in the presence of iPad 3 TF700T will look severely overpriced at $600, plus under-powered, to boot. If you ask me, a $600 mark could be asked for a bundle of TF700T plus its keyboard dock. But nobody's asking...
If not discounted enough, such "king" will collect dust at shop shelves. Viceroys like ASUS Eee Pad MeMO 370T and ZTE T98 can take its place. The recipe for a successful 7-inch tablet was first written not for a tablet, but for a color e-reader, NOOK Color by Barnes & Noble. This recipe has it as a motto: get it with as much as a fully functional tablet can have for $249 at start and going down to $199 and below. Hallmark for success in this category in the end of 2011 was pricing of $199 for Amazon's Kindle Fire, so the bracket of $200 to $250 is the place where the true winners (and kings) will live.
1. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer MeMO 370T
When available in Q2 2012, this tablet will sport:
-- $249 MSRP;
-- Penta-core Tegra 3 at 1.2 GHz (some say underclocked, well, it might be better than overclocking is some strange attempt to beat the competition), 1 GB of RAM (by specs, it might have 2 GB of RAM, but even TF700T flagship of ASUS doesn't ship with 2 GB);
-- Android 4.0.1 (why not Android 4.0.3, there's still time), with the relatively light Transformer-style "theming";
-- 8 MPix rear camera with no flash (maybe, a 1.2 MPix front camera that was not clearly shown anywhere);
-- Supposedly 3G/GSM, WiFi (or maybe WiFi-only) 802.11a/b/g/n (or maybe b/g/n only), Bluetooth;
-- USB 2.0, microUSB, HDMI
-- 7" IPS LCD 1280x800 screen (it's 217 DPI, people, just like Huawei MediaPad/T-Mobile Springboard has).
Sorry for French, but here it is:
There's a bit of confusion spread all over the Internet caused by unimaginative naming practices of ASUS: a tablet ASUS Eee Pad MeMO 3D ME370T is powered not by Tegra 3, but by Qualcomm's Snapdragon MSM 8260 dual core processor, it looks different, harbors a capacitive stylus for whatever reason, and its rear camera is only 5 MPix. If it won't be priced at below $200 point, there's nothing to say about it here.
2. ZTE T98
As much as exact specs for 370T are quirky and elusive, this Chinese tablet exists as prototype only, and was shown as such at CES 2012, too. Side-by-side comparisons were obviously out of question there, mostly due to the limited lengths of security harnesses attached to both devices.
Apart from obvious differences in this prototype's and ASUS pilot model's backs, both tablets look eerily similar. It really looks like ASUS 370T has the same prototype chassis as this ZTE T98 prototype, or you may guess that ZTE T98 prototype was not a prototype for itself but a prototype for ASUS 370T. Hence the price cut for 370T below decency.
Specs list for T98 is practically the same as quoted above except for 8 MPix camera on T370 and 5 MPix camera on T98. It's unclear, will it hit the US at some point in Q2 2012, but if it happens, it better be below $200 at retail. Or it's a fail: who would need to pay $249 for the roughly the same hardware, but of no brand? ("No brand" means here it's no brand for US, just yet.) Then, last fall's game of $199 Kindle Fire vs. $249 B&N NOOK Tablet may start again. With different participants though.
Update. I didn't mention many later comparisons of MeMO 370T to other 7-inchers, but they are mostly trivial, and MeMO 370T is clear and undisputed winner. Even if it only shows some time in Q2 2012, many sales of other 7-inchers will stop or slow down, just out of anticipation. Then, the real market success of MeMO 370T will inevitably lower down all the prices for other 7-inchers that have "also ran".
Google Nexus Tablet, if it will show up about this time and won't be based on ZTE T98 prototype can really face an uphill struggle.
If not discounted enough, such "king" will collect dust at shop shelves. Viceroys like ASUS Eee Pad MeMO 370T and ZTE T98 can take its place. The recipe for a successful 7-inch tablet was first written not for a tablet, but for a color e-reader, NOOK Color by Barnes & Noble. This recipe has it as a motto: get it with as much as a fully functional tablet can have for $249 at start and going down to $199 and below. Hallmark for success in this category in the end of 2011 was pricing of $199 for Amazon's Kindle Fire, so the bracket of $200 to $250 is the place where the true winners (and kings) will live.
1. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer MeMO 370T
When available in Q2 2012, this tablet will sport:
-- $249 MSRP;
-- Penta-core Tegra 3 at 1.2 GHz (some say underclocked, well, it might be better than overclocking is some strange attempt to beat the competition), 1 GB of RAM (by specs, it might have 2 GB of RAM, but even TF700T flagship of ASUS doesn't ship with 2 GB);
-- Android 4.0.1 (why not Android 4.0.3, there's still time), with the relatively light Transformer-style "theming";
-- 8 MPix rear camera with no flash (maybe, a 1.2 MPix front camera that was not clearly shown anywhere);
-- Supposedly 3G/GSM, WiFi (or maybe WiFi-only) 802.11a/b/g/n (or maybe b/g/n only), Bluetooth;
-- USB 2.0, microUSB, HDMI
-- 7" IPS LCD 1280x800 screen (it's 217 DPI, people, just like Huawei MediaPad/T-Mobile Springboard has).
Sorry for French, but here it is:
There's a bit of confusion spread all over the Internet caused by unimaginative naming practices of ASUS: a tablet ASUS Eee Pad MeMO 3D ME370T is powered not by Tegra 3, but by Qualcomm's Snapdragon MSM 8260 dual core processor, it looks different, harbors a capacitive stylus for whatever reason, and its rear camera is only 5 MPix. If it won't be priced at below $200 point, there's nothing to say about it here.
2. ZTE T98
As much as exact specs for 370T are quirky and elusive, this Chinese tablet exists as prototype only, and was shown as such at CES 2012, too. Side-by-side comparisons were obviously out of question there, mostly due to the limited lengths of security harnesses attached to both devices.
Apart from obvious differences in this prototype's and ASUS pilot model's backs, both tablets look eerily similar. It really looks like ASUS 370T has the same prototype chassis as this ZTE T98 prototype, or you may guess that ZTE T98 prototype was not a prototype for itself but a prototype for ASUS 370T. Hence the price cut for 370T below decency.
Specs list for T98 is practically the same as quoted above except for 8 MPix camera on T370 and 5 MPix camera on T98. It's unclear, will it hit the US at some point in Q2 2012, but if it happens, it better be below $200 at retail. Or it's a fail: who would need to pay $249 for the roughly the same hardware, but of no brand? ("No brand" means here it's no brand for US, just yet.) Then, last fall's game of $199 Kindle Fire vs. $249 B&N NOOK Tablet may start again. With different participants though.
Update. I didn't mention many later comparisons of MeMO 370T to other 7-inchers, but they are mostly trivial, and MeMO 370T is clear and undisputed winner. Even if it only shows some time in Q2 2012, many sales of other 7-inchers will stop or slow down, just out of anticipation. Then, the real market success of MeMO 370T will inevitably lower down all the prices for other 7-inchers that have "also ran".
Google Nexus Tablet, if it will show up about this time and won't be based on ZTE T98 prototype can really face an uphill struggle.
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