iPad killer from, uh, India? - But is there a market for a tablet computer?

MarketWatch ^ | eb. 26, 2010, 9:48 a.m. EST · | John C. Dvorak

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- A new round of pad computers with various features all missing from Apple Inc.'s iPad is coming. Curiously, the most interesting one appears to be coming out of India using the hottest new Nvidia Corp. chip to power it.

Already previewed at various international trade shows, a look at the specifications tells me that unless the thing simply does not work as advertised this could be the hottest and most usable pad computer on the market.

From a company called Notion Ink, it's called the Adam. Compared to an iPad it has a bigger screen, twice the battery life, all sorts of needed connectors including an HDMI connection, camera, multi-tasking and more.

And it is supposed to come out at $350.

What's interesting about this machine is the fact that it will be the first great test of the newest Nvidia Tegra cpu/gpu chip which technically should be an ideal chip for this sort of machine.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Nvidia Tegra graphics and Arm processor in this...

[thefactor]

If it’s as advertised, just tell me where to get one. But I’m not going to India.

[ShadowAce]

[max americana]

The specs look promising. I’m interested too but I detest Indian customer service & tech.

[Secret Agent Man]

Now if any pad-type computer can work, it appears this one could. They have a more normal size screen, all niceties we’re used to on PCs. Way better battery life, connector ports for other devices that would be nice to access/connect. And for a more competitive price.

This is the one that could get people more interested in pad computers. It’s what Apple should have put out at the price they should have priced it at.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not certain this is in the Adam...but it seems likely

From Anandtech....:

NVIDIA Introduces dual Cortex A9 based Tegra 2

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The SoC is made up of 8 independent processors, up from 7 in the original Tegra. The first two are the most exciting to me - a pair of ARM Cortex A9 cores. These are dual-issue out of order cores from ARM running at up to 1GHz.

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The video decode side is where NVIDIA believes it has an advantage. Tegra's video decode processor accelerates up to 1080p high profile H.264 video at bitrates in the 10s of megabits per second. The Samsung SoC in the iPhone 3GS is limited to only 480p H.264 decode despite Samsung claiming 1080p decode support on its public Cortex A8 SoC datasheets. NVIDIA insists that no one else can do 1080p decode at high bitrates in a remotely power efficient manner. Tegra's 1080p decode can be done in the low 100s of mW. NVIDIA claims that the competition often requires well over 1W of total system power to do the same because they rely on the CPU to do some of the decoding. Again, this is one of those difficult to validate claims. Imagination has demonstrated very low CPU utilization 1080p H.264 decode on its PowerVR SGX core, but I have no idea of the power consumption.

[BRK]

The biggest problem with the I-pad is lack of Flash support. Whatever Apple claims about technical problems, the fact is that Flash would allow it’s user’s access to mutlimedia content not found in Itunes. Oh well, Apple has designed the I-pad as they see fit and they are allowed to set thier own marketing rules. If I don’t like the I-pad, then I might can look at this device as an option. The Free Market at work in our Free Republic.

[Redleg Duke]

If the item is from India, I’ll bet the customer service will be outsourced to the USA!

[carjic]

Maybe if we buy an Indian product they will contract with an American company for customer service. I will definitely buy one then.

[Ueriah]

“If the item is from India, I’ll bet the customer service will be outsourced to the USA!”

At first I snickered when I read this.

Then it occurred to me that you are probably quite right.

[martin_fierro]

From a company called Notion Ink, it's called the Adam.

We've come a long way, baby.

[TruthHound]

http://www.slashgear.com/notion-ink-adam-hands-on-0969281/

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Other options...

Quanta Tegra 2 prototype hands-on

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Quanta, the company that produces plenty of the hardware you know, love and fantasize about today, is showing off a new tablet prototype at NVIDIA's booth. The reason for its location is the Tegra 2 chip inside (you can see it in the nude over here), which can comfortably drive 1080p out via a HDMI cable and into your nearest HD display, while offering brain-melting battery life. Listening to music with the screen turned off can be done for 140 hours straight, and HD video playback can go on for up to ten hours -- both figures that make current battery efficiency look kinda silly. With WiFi, 3G, and Android for an OS, this prototype could be quite a nice little device, but right now there are more things wrong than right about it.

[max americana]

I will definitely consider it, if that’s the case.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Hands on:

Notion Ink Adam stripped bare and our in-depth video hands-on

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You have to have a pretty special product to get two Engadget posts discussing your wares during the maelstrom of CES, but this Adam thing just won't leave us alone with its Pixel Qi display, Tegra 2 innards and bona fide potential to blow the bloody doors off the homogeneous tablet market. We've gone back and grabbed video of the device in direct sunlight and it just kept on impressing us. The screen resolutely refused to be overpowered by the light, whether its backlight was on or off, but that was merely the tip of the iceberg as far as the happy impressions. Come past the break to find out more about buttery smooth 1080p playback (with a handy HDMI out), Notion Ink's plans for modifying the Android OS, and more on the likely pricing of the device which is set to land in quarter two of 2010. Oh, and yea -- we totally ripped it open and photographed the insides. Check that out below.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From your link:

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So far so good, but what other sites haven’t been able to show you is the digital magazine dynamic content that will be a centerpoint of the Notion Ink experience when the Adam tablet launches. Notion Ink are working with various content producers – including some big-name blogs – to “reinvent” magazines and newspapers, and while they wouldn’t share any partner names they did show us some initial concepts.

[sten]

the form factor for a tablet has to be screen to the edge (maybe 1/2 inch edge), very thin, multi-touch, long battery life, and as many (useful) connectors as possible

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well we have this:

Notion Ink Adam: Flash, iPad comparison & App Competition

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Monday, Feb 8th 2010

One of the most exciting products from CES 2010 last month was Notion Ink’s Adam tablet, the Android-based slate using the latest-gen NVIDIA Tegra chipset and Pixel Qi’s innovative low-power display.  The company had brought along a prototype they could exclusively show us, and now they’ve sent over renders of what’s likely to be the final Adam design complete with some mockups of a SlashGear digital magazine.  And, since Apple’s long-awaited entrant to the tablet arena – the iPad – has since made its debut, we also asked Notion Ink just how Adam holds up to the new competition.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Searching for an answer on Flash...found this:

Adobe's Flash to ship on new Android phone

June 24, 2009 2:26 PM PDT

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Adobe demonstrated Flash on Android in an online video Wednesday, showing off the technology for watching a trailer at Yahoo Movies, playing the Penguin Swing game, and selecting a region on travel site Expedia. Double-clicking on the Flash element on the Web page runs it full screen.