You wouldn’t want to be left up the creak without this now would you!
EviGroup launched the Evigroup Pad last October and have been busy since then to try and improve on the design. The result is a multitouch, SSD-capable version called the ‘Paddle.’
Available for 699 Euro (estimated April to June availability) the Paddle will come with a new software layer called ‘Scale’ (see video below) which promises to make organising and viewing your documents and media a lot easier. Certainly a large touchscreen helps to get a good overview like this so we’ll be interested to see exactly how well it is implemented come launch time.
Other improvements include an optional Wifi antenna (great for stealing the Wifi from others in press conferences!!) and discreet positioning of microphone and web cam. Battery capacity is unknown at this stage but we’re suspecting the battery can’t be more than 25-30wh meaning 3-4hrs max battery life on this 1.6Ghz Intel Atom / Windows 7 HP platform.
EviGroup CEO Nicolas Ruiz just emailed us to let us know that the official website of the EviGroup Pad [info] is now live. Unfortunately it’s in French at the moment but Google does a reasonable job of translating it to English although I’m not so sure about the ‘toes’ bit!
There are four versions of the device based around the same core hardware.
Pointing Device: Stylus deployable, thumbs and fingers (toes as possible)
Wireless connectivity: 3G / WiFi a / b / g
Networking: Ethernet
Lithium-Ion Removable: 3 hours of time average.
Devices internal microphone, webcam Front 1300000 pixels.
Ports SD / MMC / MS (SDHC Compatible)
Connectivity: 1 x VGA, 3 x USB2 ports, jack, microphone jack.
Weight: 990g (battery included)
Dimensions: 260x160x22mm
The best way to describe it would be as a T101H without the keyboard. At 900gm its a very interesting productivity option, I recon the prices aren’t too bad either. 620 for the 3G version seems quite interesting as part of a mobile productivity kit. Note that the RAM is upgradeable too.
Tablet Pad Standard without Windows 7 without Seline10: 489 € + 30 € charges.
Tablet Pad Standard with Windows 7 Home Premium and Seline10: 549 € + 30 € charges.
The Elite version includes 3G:
Tablet Pad Elite 7 with Windows Home Premium and Seline10: 599 € + 30 € charges.
Tablet Pad Elite without Windows 7 without Seline10: 539 € + 30 € charges.
My main questions are:
What does ‘Seline’ give me?
Does the tablet enable touch features in Windows 7?
Apart from a brief mention in the weekly update a few days ago, we haven’t written about the EviGroup Pad yet.
It’s effectively a 10.6 inch, 1kg netbook without the keyboard. It uses the same N270 CPU as in a netbook and includes a 2.5″ 160GB drive. We should also highlight that it has 3G included and runs Windows 7 Premium (is that Home Premium?) with the Seline10 software suite.
I’m seeing a device that’s much like a bigger Samsung Q1 EX here and in many ways its a similar, slightly better, device. This isn’t a breakthrough product by any means but its certainly relatively unique. Archos 9, Viliv X70 and eviGroup Pad face-off would make a good live session!
One thing that needs to be discussed is the battery life. Here’s what Nicolas Ruiz told us in an email today:
Battery life is average 3hrs/3h30. If you use the tablet with Aero, 100% lumi,
and 3g and go to youtube, the battery life is 2h15
That’s an honest figure there. Similar to many other tablet PCs that are quoted as four-hour devices. When you pump the backlight up and turn on 3G you can easily double the battery drain on a device.
The pricing is relatively high compared to netbooks, but low compared to many tablets. Despite the honest battery life figures, I feel this might have benefited from using a Menlow platform rather than the netbook platform and it could be a show-stopper for some. It’s a power/battery life trad-off though and there’s not much more you can squeeze out of a netbook platform in 1KG so if you want something that lasts longer but doesn’t perform as well, you’ve got the Archos 9 and T91 to take a look at and the T101 and Crunchpad to wait for.
The price? 599 Euro. (Slashgear is reporting that it will be available for 499 Euro if you are prepared to take it without OS and without 3G.) That brings it right in line with the Archos 9 that is also available.
Update: We have confirmation that the 499 Euro price is without 3G and Seline software. Windows Home Premium is included.
