Nvidia and Asus teased a product that may change everything. At the Nvidia press conference at the CES 2012 show the companies flashed that a quad-core, Tegra 3-based 7-inchtablet would soon be released for only $250.
The tablet in question actually turned out to be the Asus Memo 370T. An upgraded version of the 7-inch stylus-supported Memo tablet Asus debuted at CES 2011.
While the previous version ran on Honeycomb and utilized a dual-core Qualcomm 8260-1.2Ghz CPU, the 370T will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich and houses a quad-core Tegra 3. No word yet on the actual speed of the processor, though. The previously announced stylus peripheral has been dropped for the device.
The 370T comes with 1GB of RAM and at least 16GB of storage. It also sports a 1,280x800-pixel IPS screen that delivered smoothly scrolling menus. Holding it in my hands, the tablet felt and looked very similar, dimensionally, to the Acer Iconia Tab A100. The 370T even hits the typical-for-a-7-inch-tablet weight of 0.88 pound, right on the nose.
Other details include a Micro-USB port, a microSD card reader, and a Micro-HDMI port. Lastly, the tablet will feature the same great 8-megapixel camera found on the Transformer Prime.
Last year, the $200 Kindle Fire had a similar effect, by offering users a quality tablet experience that didn't necessitate taking out a second mortgage.
The existence of the 370T now demonstrates that performance doesn't necessarily require a price premium. While this is likely to have a tangible effect on tablet prices, we may see an even greater effect on the portable gaming market.
Look for the Asus Memo 370T in the second quarter of 2012.
The 370T comes with 1GB of RAM and at least 16GB of storage. It also sports a 1,280x800-pixel IPS screen that delivered smoothly scrolling menus. Holding it in my hands, the tablet felt and looked very similar, dimensionally, to the Acer Iconia Tab A100. The 370T even hits the typical-for-a-7-inch-tablet weight of 0.88 pound, right on the nose.
Other details include a Micro-USB port, a microSD card reader, and a Micro-HDMI port. Lastly, the tablet will feature the same great 8-megapixel camera found on the Transformer Prime.
Last year, the $200 Kindle Fire had a similar effect, by offering users a quality tablet experience that didn't necessitate taking out a second mortgage.
The existence of the 370T now demonstrates that performance doesn't necessarily require a price premium. While this is likely to have a tangible effect on tablet prices, we may see an even greater effect on the portable gaming market.
Look for the Asus Memo 370T in the second quarter of 2012.
