Samsung is going to take another swing at making a full-fledged computer in a tablet design. This is being designed to compete with Apple's iPad, and Samsung promises its device will offer far more features.
Philip Newton, the head of Samsung Australia's IT division, said in an interview that his company likes the general design of Apple's tablet, but believes it is going to be hobbled by its ARM-based processor and lack of input and output ports.
“I do feel that that slate-type platform has legs but I think the legs need to be far more powerful, for example an Atom-based product which has far greater flexibility, not to mention inputs and outputs. This has more potential than an iPad," said Newton.
He didn't give many specifics about Samsung's upcoming tablet, not even what what operating system it will run, but his mention of an Intel Atom processor brings up the possibility that it could run Windows 7 or a version of Linux designed for a tablet PC.
A Change of Focus
It won't be this company's first model with a tablet shape; it launched the Samsung Q1 several years ago as one of the first, and last, of Microsoft's Ultra Mobile PC initiative. This device (pictured at right) never sold well, as most consumers thought the price too high.
Samsung says its next tablet will be focused on consumers, instead.
It will be on the market in the second half of this year. There is no word yet on pricing.
Samsung Q1 2006
Quick Specs,
900MHz Celeron processor
512 megs of DDR2 RAM
WiFi, Bluetooth,
10/100 wired Ethernet,
and a
