Neofonie WePad Is An 11.6", Android-Based iPad Killer
Sunday, March 21, 2010 - by Ray Willington
It's a tablet-eat-tablet world out there, and with Apple's iPad starting a trend that isn't likely to die throughout 2010, you can imagine that all sorts of lesser-known contenders will be popping up with tablets and slates of their own in order to strike while the iron is hot. Today, Neofonie is introducing the WePad, a German-made unit that promises "fast Internet connectivity, a complete world of ready-to-use applications and easy access to books and photos, as well as magazines and newspapers from various publishers via the WeMagazine ePublishing Eco System."
At its heart, this is a fairly robust machine with an 11.6" display (1366x768), a rather quick 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, a webcam (for video chats, we imagine), two USB sockets, a flash card reader, integrated WWAN modem, GMA3150 graphics (far better than on most e-readers) and a battery that is said to last six hours, though that claim doesn't come with a pre-qualification of under what sort of workloads you could expect that sort of performance.
The company makes no bones about the product they are targeting, saying that their tablet is far larger and more capable than the iPad. There's also a set of built-in speakers here, and since it's based around Google's open Android operating system, applications can be loaded on to it after purchase. Other specs include 16GB of NAND Flash (32GB optional), a 1.3MP webcam, SIM card slot, Flash/Adobe AIR support, access to the WePad AppStore and Google's own Android Marketplace, multi-tasking support, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, optional GPS, an ambient light & motion sensor and an internal microfan to keep things cool.
On paper, this certainly looks like a legitimate iPad contender. Android is a robust OS, and this expansive display will allow a lot more action to be shown on-screen. Unfortunately, there's no solid mention of a price or release date, so it's still stuck in vaporware status for now. We're guessing it'll be out in a few months, but who knows how many people will hold off from Apple's offering for that long. Let the games begin...
