Yes, we were unlucky and got a faulty Tega V2 so Tegatech kindly shipped over a new one for us to play with. Work starts on that soon but in the meantime, what should we do with the faulty one? We hinted at a little nakedness to Tegatech and they agreed, so here it is.
The metal back is tough as nuts and there should be no problem doing some mods with it as long as there is space underneath. The surface is so smooth though that you could probably stick a mount onto it. Removing the rubber stoppers and screws was a piece of cake and prising apart the back equally as simple. Revealed!
A 3-cell 34Wh Li-poly battery dominates the layout and you’ll see that there’s very little plastic around it. Removable batteries need to adhere to a lot of regulations about puncture resistance which means that they end up being fat. Internal batteries can be a lot thinner. To the right of the battery pack are 3 important module areas.
At the top you’ve got a half-size PCIe-Mini used for the WiFI/BT module (a 3DSP B/G adaptor that is connected via the USB channel on the PCIe-Mini slot) Underneath that, you’ve got a full size PCIe-Mini slot that is used for the 3G module on the 3G versions (a Huawei EM770.) Underneath that is the SSD module with a SATA connector but JKKMobile tells me it is not a common size so you can’t easily find fast aftermarket SSDs to swap-in. Here are the detail of the SSD…
So where’s the memory? It’s under the motherboard on the right side. It’s not simple to get to but certainly possible.
Thanks to Tegatech we now have the 10” capacitive touchscreen Tega V2 in our hands. I’ve just uploaded the unboxing video and as I write this, am preparing for the live session this evening at Carrypad.com/live. It starts at 2100 CEST – just over an hour from this posting time but we will record parts of the session. Also in the live session – Samsung Galaxy Tab.
We’re waiting for a price on this productive tablet from Tegatech but if it’s anywhere near what Viewsonic are proposing for the equivalent (we assume same OED) Viewpad 10 – around 550 Euros for an entry-level version- it will be well worth checking out.
Update: The launch is postponed untilt he 15th due to global Windows Phone 7 launch events.
We tested the Viewpad 10 at IFA last month so we’re already fairly confident that the performance and responsiveness is acceptable and with Windows 7 Pro, 2GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD and 3G option, it really would make an interesting modular PC. Take it from me, someone that has been using a UMPC and netbook exclusively since March, you will be able to use this as a desktop PC for most day-to-day scenrios.
As with all Windows-based tablets, I tend to look immediately for a docking port and unfortunately, it’s missing on the Tega V2. (and Viewpad 10.) I can not overstate the usefulness of a docking port and docking cradle on a productive tablet, especially when you’re looking at having to charge during the day and with the possibility that 10” in portrait mode makes a superb second screen.
With a confirmed (we checked out the hardware at IFA) 4hrs of battery life possible, it’s not bad for an 800gm PC with a 10” screen.
Our only issue is that if you’re using the 16GB drive version, there won’t be much storage space left after Windows has gobbled up most of it.
As for the included Android Open Source build, well, it’s interesting. You might find some use for it. A sideloaded Amazon Kindle app comes to mind if you fancy holding an 800gm book but we don’t see Android as being a key feature here.
As we mentioned, we don’t have prices for the Tega V2 yet but we do know that Tegatech have now expanded operations into Europe and US which is perhaps a sign that the pro-mobile segment is benefiting from the consumer tablet craze.
Our hands-on with the similar (unconfirmed but we suspect the two devices are coming from the same production line) Viewpad 10 is shown below.
Hugo Ortega, who runs the ever interesting blog Uber Tablet, is preparing to launch a device with his company, Tegatech. The aptly named Tega tablet looks to be a rather clean Slate with some fairly regular sounding specifications. It has a 10.2” resistive touchscreen with a resolution of 1024×600, uses a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, and has built-in 3G. The asking price seems a bit steep considering the Slate competition out there — $995 for a version with no OS, or $1,145 for one with Windows 7 Starter (there is also a Win 7 Home Premium version available). Full specs below:
