Anyone hear about the WePad?

[davidhburton]

I blogged about it awhile ago. Neofonie is going to be releasing the WePad. I'm quite excited about it. Among other things, it has:

1. Pretty much everything the iPad has
2. Faster processor
3. Multitasking (this is one of my beefs with the iPad)
4. Flash/Adobe Air support
5. Webcam
6. 2 x USB integrated
7. SIM Card Slot

It runs on Google Android.

I don't know how long it will take to reach North America, but I'm waiting to see how this device looks before I decide on which ereader I want to get. I hope I don't have to wait too long.

[Treven]

The wee-pad I'm familier was what I house broke my puppy on, a few years ago. I gather it's not the same thing? ;-)

[dmaul1114]

Looks promising, but the 16:9 ratio kills it for me as I'd use a tablet more in portrait orientation based on time spent messing around with my girlfriend's ipad.

16:9 is great if you'll mainly be doing video and internet surfing, but it's awfully narrow in portrait for most docs, hard to get apps to work well in both orientations etc.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Looks promising, but the 16:9 ratio kills it for me as I'd use a tablet more in portrait orientation based on time spent messing around with my girlfriend's ipad.

16:9 is great if you'll mainly be doing video and internet surfing, but it's awfully narrow in portrait for most docs, hard to get apps to work well in both orientations etc.

I rather like the 16:9 ratio on my JE100. And I only read in portrait mode. The page contains more lines, that's the only difference.

And I'm interrested in the WePad, but only if I can run Win7 on it.

[davidhburton]

Really? Win7? That's one of the reasons I'm avoiding the new HP Slate.

[Crowl]

If you look at some of the info on it, this one doesn't seem like it is actually running android, what they actually state is things like:

WePad Meta-Store integrates multiple Stores, Support for native, Java, Linux, Adobe AIR® and Android Apps

That would seem to imply its more like they are running some kind of linux and have got android apps running out that rather than being actually android.

To be honest, until google do more to encourage android use on larger screens then the lack of software support could prove to be a downside to the intial android tablets.

Hopefully the likes of asus with their forthcoming eeepad (http://gizmodo.com/5522741/asus-eeep...or-july-launch) and others like it will prove a suitable encouragement to google to get more involved with android tablets and they won't waste so much time with the rather pointless chrome os.

[CyGuy]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

And I'm interrested in the WePad, but only if I can run Win7 on it.

I am with you 100% here. I am very interested in this device, and the specs appear like it should be able run Windows 7. Please note that it also has an SDHC card reader built-in.

I am also keeping a close eye on the HP Slate, which also looks very promising!

I also just looked at the ASUS eeepad in the link above, it appears to be a very promising device too! My ASUS netbook has been absolutely fantastic, and is still running strong after several years. A netbook in a tablet format would just be a dream come true for me!

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I rather like the 16:9 ratio on my JE100. And I only read in portrait mode. The page contains more lines, that's the only difference.

And I'm interrested in the WePad, but only if I can run Win7 on it.

For straight text it's fine.

For say academic PDFs that can't be reflowed, have lots of tables and figures etc. it's not good to be that narrow. And that's a main need of a tablet for me.

And again, I want apps to work in both orientations like on the iPad and that's tough with wide ratios vs. 4:3 etc.


As for Win 7, I'm not sure I want that in a tablet--I just want the OS to have files/folders and drag and drop, and not the closed iPad OS.

But I don't really need a full OS as it would mainly just be an e-reader/web browser/streaming video player for me, so I care more about it being fast, intuitive and having 10+ hours of battery life (like the iPad) which I doubt a Windows 7 tablet will do.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by davidhburton

Really? Win7? That's one of the reasons I'm avoiding the new HP Slate.

I'd like to be able to install the applications I know and want to use. One is Kindle4PC (I know there's a Mac version and an Iphone version, not sure about android or linux...), the other the Complete National Geographic. And then there are some other tools I'd like to use, which I already have for the Windows platform.