Tweaktown shared a video of a new Honeycomb tablet that stands out form the crowd because it’s running a Qualcomm snapdragon processor. It’s made by Quanta, one of the world’s biggest contract PC manufacturers. It’s only a prototype but the first look video shows it has some good capability.

It uses the MSM860 processor which is dual-core and a competitor to the Tegra 2 which all major Honeycomb tablets have used so far. Qualcomm has no intention of selling the device but is looking for a manufacturer to bring it to market. The tablet looks to be nicely put together and the Company has a good pedigree of creating quality stuff given that they manufacture the iPod Touch and iPhone for Apple.

Here’s hoping they find someone to release it with:

A tablet that has been getting a good proportion of the 7 inch Honeycomb news recently is the Viewpad 7x. It’s in the database here but our good friend Sascha of Netbooknews has just pinged us about a hands-on video he’s posted. He’s excited too!

Image via @ARMCommunity

Micro USB, Mini HDMI, Micro SD, Headphone ports are included with the 1024×600 display. Interestingly there’s a SPB Shell overlay. I wonder why? Is the demo actually running 2.3 instead of Honeycomb?

Pricing is looking ok with a target of $449-499 for a Wi-Fi version that should be available in early Q3 Sascha tells us.

The netbooknews article on the Viewpad 7x is here.

First International Computer gave me a T-Shirt last year after we reviewed their N450 based ‘Tycoon’ tablet and strangely enough, I’m wearing it today as I read their press release! We were impressed with the screen and build quality and thought they might have a chance for some sales. At that time FIC said they were also looking to do a reference design with Oaktrail so I was a little disappointed when I heard today that the Tycoon+ is still being offered with Pinetrail.

FIC have upped the CPU spec to N550 and included a Broadcom Crystal HD unit which does make it more interesting for Windows users but that’s not going to put it ahead of the pack come the end of Computex this week. It was more interesting last year.

Press release:

Taipei, Taiwan, May 31, 2011 First International Computer, Inc. (FIC), a world leader in the design and production of electronic devices today unveiled their dual-core Windows 7 tablet at Computex. The FIC’s Tycoon+ is equipped with a 10.1-inch wide capacitive multi-touch screen, powered by Intel® Atomâ„¢ N550 processor and supports 3G wireless connection. The Tycoon+ is designed for both professional mobile worker and multimedia enjoyment.

“According to some market research companies that estimate the global tablet will reach 54 million units shipped in 2011, the sales volume of tablet and other mobile internet devices will grow to 50% market share over the worldwide computer devices. This market begins to crystallize and we can see how the influence of tablet on today’s digital life is so big, inch stated Alex Dee, vice president of Sales, FIC. “FIC has taken a lead in developing tablet amongst the many competitors. The Tycoon+ is created to be high productivity and entertainment for mobile users. It is efficient, and furthermore it provides the outstanding multitasking performance. inch

Featuring an Intel® Atomâ„¢ N550 dual-core processor, the Tycoon+ offers an impressive executive commitment on running any program or working multiple programs smoothly. Benefiting from advanced dual-core technology and improving system performance, FIC’s Tycoon+ is designed to provide exceptional functionality for daily mobile computing.

The Tycoon+ comes with Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and an optional 3G/WCDMA support. Users can enjoy a high speed internet access anytime at anywhere. Engineered with a Bluetooth interface, Tycoon+ allows transferring the data wirelessly and instantly.

A Broadcom Crystal HD media processor is installed to support the marvellous Full HD 1080p video playback. Moreover, with two high quality stereo sound boxes built-in, the Tycoon+ is perfectly a great multimedia center for extraordinary entertainment.

The Tycoon+ is wrapped on black soft-touch paint in the rear case. Stream end profile with compact design bring out the most luxurious and professional style. “The black soft-touch paint design makes the Tycoon+ stylish and exquisite, inch said Andy Lo, the Sales and Marketing Director of FIC. “It’s the ideal mobile device for business users and offers a comfortable hand grabbing area both in vertical and horizontal position without touching the screen, inch “It’s one of our remarkable masterpieces of product art. inch

To learn more about FIC and FIC’s Tycoon+ tablet, see FIC at Computex 2011, NanGang Exhibition Hall, booth no. M303a or see www.fic.com.tw

Model Tycoon+ TVB01 Series

• Windows 7 operating system support

• 1.5 GHz, Intel® Atom N550 Dual-Core processor

• 1 DDR3 SO-DIMM Slot (up to 2GB)

• 10.1 inchW LED BL (1024 x 600), capacitive multi-touch panel

• 1.8 inch HDD Micro SATA 120GB or SSD 32GB

• 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth 2.1

• 3G/WiMAX Compliance

• Broadcom Crystal HD media processor

• 1 x SIM Card slot, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x Headphone Line-Out, 1 x Microphone Line-In, 1 x DC-in, 1 x 2M Webcam (with Mic. design), 3-direction switch

• G-sensor support
• Embedded 3800mAh Polymer battery
• 250mm x 183mm x 17mm (W x D x H)
• Approx. 850g

  * All Specifications subject to change

With rumors of Android / Oaktrail tablets flying around, you might wonder why? Intel based tablets aren’t exactly renowned for their long battery life and the open-source Android versions we’ve seen so far are a lot different to the Google-enhanced Android tablets we know from the ARM world but these two issues can change and this week at Computex we should have the first chance to confirm this.

Firstly, Intel and Google should be able to work together on approved Android builds that include Google applications and the very important market. Why? Intel is obviously big enough to have a say in the matter and they should be able to present big-brand customers to Google too. They’re also founding members of the Open Handset Alliance so they’ve contributed for a number of years now. Expect on-stage demos to include Google applications or at least a promise of Google applications. [Update: Confirmed now]

Secondly, Oaktrail, Intel’s new platform, is different. It contains power-saving features that Windows just can’t control. An Intel Android build specifically optimised for Oaktrail could enable some quite impressive idle figures. By utilising all the available power-saving features, it could be possible to present a device that falls in the same battery life range as an ARM device. That should surprise quite a few people. Given some of the processing power advantages too, you should see performance that pushes Honeycomb performance ahead of some of its rivals.

I’m not saying that the Intel / Oaktrail / Honeycomb tablets  will be better than ARM-based tablets in any significant manner but the fact that they hit similar battery life, weight, size and performance figures should cause people to sit up and take note. Even more so, If manufacturers show multi-boot Windows capability or even virtualised operating systems running concurrently, you could be looking at a very special unique selling point.

Watch out for Viewsonic, Acer, ASUS and Lenovo at Computex.

Hat tip to @tnkgrl from Engadget who spotted this Oaktrail tablet running Meego with the tablet UX and Intel Appup app store. it turns out its the ECS S10 Oaktrail tablet that we saw at CeBIT which means it’s an OED product looking for a customer. You may or may not see this in the shops.

Working for our sister site Meegonews this week I tracked down that tablet and delved a little deeper into the device to discover it’s relatively light and makes a far better demonstrator product than the 11.6 inch Intel tablets that most of the demonstrations are running on at MeeGo Conference. It’s also got the AppUp store software pre-installed and you’ll even see a Skype icon. It will be at Computex next week (as will ECS) so hopefully we’ll get more information about when this is going to be available. If it’s not going to be available as an end product, may we suggest that Intel start giving these out at their developer events?

Source: pics and video.

There’s a full gallery available here and the video is shown below.

Sascha joined me in the studio last night for a full-on 3.5hr marathon testing and discussion session with 10 different tablets. The iPad2, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Acer Iconia Tab A500, HTC Flyer, Blackberry Playbook and Samsung Galaxy Tab were the focus of our efforts and we recorded three parts of the live session for you to view below.

The Blackberry Playbook impressed with its smooth UI, video handling and gestures. The Flyer beat the other 7 inch tablets in a browsing test (and is as fast as any Tegra2 + Honeycomb browser I’ve tested.) The Galaxy Tab was crowned the value-for-money king and in the 10 inch category, we couldn’t really find a winner. The iPad2, of course, just sits in a special space all on its own and isn’t truly challenged by the 10 inch Android devices although as Honeycomb and Honeycomb-optimised apps start for mature, that could change., especiall when we look to lightweight hardware like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Anyway, here are the videos. We hope you enjoy them. All products are owned by Sascha or myself.

Don’t forget the detailed HTC Flyer Live Review tonight, May 18th,  at 2100 CEST (Berlin) on Carrypad.com/live. Follow @chippy for more on that.

The first video is an overview of all the tablets Two 10″ Devices were tested in detail in Part 2 Three 7″ devices were tested in detail in Part 3

Don’t forget that we’re doing a Live Review of the Flyer on Wednesday evening at 2100 CEST (your timezone here) where we do a detailed, 2hr review of the HTC Flyer with you in the chat session asking questions and steering the testing. It’s free, fun, detailed and interactive and likely to give you all the answers you need.

In the meantime, here’s the unboxing and overview video. I’ve got no comments at the moment apart from saying that the start-up sequence was smooth and that I’m a little bit underwhelmed by the pen input. Annotations seem OK but this is nothing that competes with the pen input capabilities of Windows 7, even on mobile PC devices.

Here’s the unboxing video…

The HTC Flyer I ordered on Friday has literally just arrived at the door and Im looking forward to ripping this open and seeing how it compares to the Galaxy Tab which is currently the most popular 7″ tablet on the market and has been a very good companion to me for over 6 months now.

In terms of features, there are definitely a few to talk about and some that are unique to the Flyer ensuring at least some sales. The #1 feature is the digitizer input layer and active pen that integrates with a special input mode on the Flyer. Annotations and notes.made though this layer can be captured into the Evernote cloud storage, OCR and search application. It’s a well known and well trusted application and the integration will carry a lot of value. I hope a full Evernote license is included for offline notes.

There’s also the 1.5Ghz CPU to consider. It should provide a noticeable jump in performance over the Galaxy Tab.

There are two major issues to consider and either of these could be show-stoppers. Firstly, assuming you want to use a 7″ tablet for pen input (something I’ve never been a big fan of over the years that I’ve been reporting about tablets) you’ve got to remember to take the pen with you. There’s no integrated.storage which is really quite an issue. I’ll have to test that all-important palm rejection too.

Then there’s the price. As i write this, the Flyer 16Gb WiFi version is €499. The Galaxy Tab WiFi is available for €269. This issue will reduce over time as margins reduce but it may never catch up with the price of the Tab due to the screen technology used. You’ve got to be a pen-input fan that remembers to take the pen or someone that really really needs the extra CPU power.

Or are the other features worth considering? It’s true that not many tablets offer video content for download and streaming so HTC Watch will be an important service to check out. If the content and price is good, it’s a great feature. OnLive-CloudGaming is also a feature to check out. Dual-location on-frame buttons (that enable and disable depending on rotation) Skype video and HTC Sense are also unique features.I’ll also be interested in the ‘HD’ video recording  support and other hidden features that are sure to crop up.

On the downside, it looks like there’s no voice stack (I assume that includes SMS, MMS and Video calling (over UMTS) support. Its something I use a lot on the Galaxy Tab thatnks to Multi-SIM. I get the same number on my Tab and my smartphone.

Is there enough to entice people here? As time goes by and the price comes down into the same range as the Galaxy Tab and Acer Iconia Tab A100, I think there will.