Although the WeTab (formerly WePad) has been available for pre-order on Amazon for some time, there’s been some doubt about whether it really is going to launch but with the recent discovery of an advert on one of the biggest German electronic stores website, it looks like the WeTab really is on track.

MediaMarkt website.

Via Netbooknews.de

The WeTab is built on an Intel platform with a standard Linux core and a self-built user interface. I’m interested to see if WeTab have used any MeeGo components. I’m also interested to see the battery life. The WePad is based on a Pinetrail platform which can idle down to about 4-5W but jumps to 7-12W when in use. If the device is 800gm then we’re only talking about a 25-30Wh battery which means 3-4hours in use. Compare that to the iPad at the same weight and you’ve got a serious disadvantage.

The WeTab is an interesting project that has gained an amazing amount of traction but unless the UI is something really really special, I personally think that it’s going to disappoint. We look forward to mid Sept where I’m sure we’ll see it at Intel’s IDF.

WeTab Specifications and links.

Last time we saw something about Neofonie’s WePad slate [product page], all we got to see was an emulated version of the interface. According to netbooknews.com, “Neofine finally got sick of hearing how its product didn’t work and provided a working sample inch. And thus netbooknews has lots of footage of Neofonie showing off some actual working devices at a recent press event. Watch below as they demonstrate that giant widget filled home screen (which I absolutely despise), among other things. You’ll see that they actually have an iPad on hand to compare the device to, which is rather brave of them, though I’m not sure they’ve got me convinced (they are comparing an ARM based device to an Atom based x86 device to begin with). Also be sure to jump over to netbooknews.com for two additional videos of the WePad. Maybe now would be a good time to brush up on your German skills as well….

If you’ve been following the WePad news today, you’ll see that the WePad has been officially announced. I could recap for you, but you can find a great summary of the device in our product database:

Neofonie WePad product page specs, details, links and more

Once you get caught up on the ins and outs of the device, I’d like to point your attention to the following video demonstration of the interface, courtesy of Netbooknews.com:

I don’t keep it a secret that I absolutely hate widgetized user interfaces. This demo of the WePad’s custom Linux software is definitely not changing my mind on that fact. At the surface, it almost looks like they are doing something unique with the homescreen, but in reality it’s just what we see on other operating systems such as Android or Maemo 5. They’ve just taken the ‘multi-desktop’ + widgets approach, but oriented the homescreen space vertically, and made the scrolling not lock to each individual page instead it is just scrolled like one big page with a little map on the right so you can see where you are. I’ve got to wonder why a company invests time and money into making their own version of Linux when there are already so many open-source projects that are working toward something very similar.

It seems like ‘Pad’ Fever has hit Berlin today as WePad ride on the wave with their WePad product. Sascha from (Netbooknews, Meet:Mobility) was there and we’ve been tracking news coming out of the press conference.

Note: Our tracking page for the WePad is here.

Updating as the conference happens…..

Adobe partnership. Flash and AIR will be available.

Joint venture between 4titoo und Neofonie.

Siemens, Intel and Adobe partners.

Chippy: ExpoPC will use the same hardware. Pegtron we believe.

The WePad will support full HD playback. [Sounds like there’s a Broadcom HD decoder in play here.]

WePad fact sheet (PDF)

Chippy: We’re waiting for price, battery life, availability…….

Stern Magazine (an important German magazine) will be available on the WePad.

Chippy: Looks like a DE-Only focus right now.

Pricing: ‘Only’ 300 Euro. Chippy: Details of that unknown at present. Is it subsidised? Update: Wrong info from random tweet! See official pricing below.

Image of WePad GUI: (Via @sascha_p)

Chippy: No mention of Google Marketplace yet.

Chippy: List of comparable devices (from UMPCPortal database)

WePad 16GB: 449 Euro. (again, no indication if this is subsidised or unsubsidised.)

“449 Euro with 16 GB internal Flash, WiFi. WePad 3G with Full HD chip for 1080p external video, GPS, 32 GB internal 569 Euro inch Via Tabletprofi

Wepad preorder 27.4., soft launch in July, mass availability in August. Via Tabletprofi twitter.

VIa (@sascha_p)

OFFICIAL PRICING FROM WEPAD:

• WePad 449 € with 16 GB, WiFi (expandable to 48GB with an SD card)

• WePad 3G 569€ 32 GB (expandable with 32 GB SD Karte) with WiFi, GPS, Full HD 1080p

WePad Roadshow will be in May.

Chippy: Outstanding: International availability, Marketplace, battery life, carrier deals?

Chippy: Initial thoughts on pricing: 569 Euro is good for a 3G-enabled device at 800gm. Battery life still could be a showstopper. I’ll be interested to see how ExoPC respond.

Chippy: Word coming in that it runs full Linux build but can run Android apps. Sounds like a Dalvik runtime is included. Dalvik Turbo perhaps?

Chippy: Still no word about battery capacity. Usually an indicator that it’s not good!

Note: Our tracking page for the WePad is here. (Specs, links, updates.)

Chippy: Still waiting for news about Google Marketplace. IMO it’s not happening. 3rd party app store? AppUp? If this is an intel partnership. Is it Moblin/MeeGo? If so, it could have AppUp store.

WePad Facebook page. Official information (mostly German)

AppStore is called the ‘WePad Meta-Store’ Includes native, Java, Adobe, Android apps.

Chippy: Latest WePad spec sheet is quoting ‘around’ 6hrs battery life. (=70% = 4hrs online based on usual marketing BS!)

Chippy: Based on latest info, I’m guessing the OS is based on Canonical Ubuntu with their Dalvik Runtime engine. 2nd choice: Moblin core. Not sure where the app store is coming from.

WePad are planning telecoms and media partnerships.

WePad live Pic:

Via @touchmemobile

First Video from press conference.

Via MorgenPostTV

All press photos now in gallery…

Chippy Opinion: If you ask me, they chose the wrong platform to deliver what is effectively an ereader. They are playing a dangerous game by riding on the iPad wave too. 800gm is, like on the iPad at 680gm, heavy. Too heavy. Battery life will be 4 hours online in my estimate. International availability is unknown. There are question marks about Android on the X86 Linux build and if there’s no ‘point of sale’ marketplace, what incentive does any developer have to write apps for it? I can’t imagine this having a true Google Marketplace. Not without voice, haptics, 3G anyway. Note: Google were not mentioned as a partner. Final word for today: Competing devices from experienced Android/Smartphone manufacturers will stream-roll this within 12 months.

That wraps it up for now. I’ve been on the phone with Sascha who was at the conference. Stay tuned to Netbooknews.com (and .de) for his video.