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A lot has been written in German media about the WeTab. Mostly, every news magazine tried to compare the Tab to Apple’s iPad and came to the conclusion that it’s not an iPad. What a surprise! I’ve been using my WeTab 32GB for about a month, and this is what I can tell about it. Hell, I enjoy it!
Hardware The hardware is manufactured by Asus, or more precisely, their OEM branch
Pegatron. The Canadian ExoPC running Windows 7 makes use of the same hardware design, thus is the Windows brother of the WeTab. Asus is already well-known for
their netbooks, so the WeTab hardware shouldn ’t disappoint, right? The WeTab is available in two versions. One version has a 16 GB SSD on board, and
the other version has a 32 GB SSD, GPS, and a 3G modem with SIM card slot. Both
versions have a slot for SDHC cards and two USB slots, next to the audio out port and
HDMI out.
The soon to be released dockingstation will have 3 USB (or was it 4?), microphone in, audio out, and RJ-45 Ethernet.
Another big plus of the 32 GB version is the built-in Broadcom Crystal-HD chip which
enables the tablet to play 720p or 1080p HD videos fluently. The Crystal-HD chip is
automatically used by the GStreamer framework and will soon also be available to
the Flash player in the webbrowser. It also features a proximity sensor (called the quickselect button) and an ambient
light sensor that is not yet enabled by software. The built-in webcam is 1.3
megapixels. At the bottom there is a connector port for the soon to be released
docking station. I saw a prototype model of the dockingstation yesterday and it looked really sexy. The built-in accelerometer can be used for automatic screen rotation (currently the
browser does this), or for games (but as of now there are no such games available).
You can also turn around the tablet by 180 degrees and the screen will flip for all
applications, including accelerated videos. The tablet features a capacitive multitouch-capable 11,6″ touchscreen with 1366×768 pixels (that’s HD Ready resolution). The CPU is an Intel Atom N450 at 1.66 GHz, and it has 1 GiB of RAM. There’s also Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi 802.11n. 3G on the 32 GB version is quad band with UMTS / HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz. The touchscreen is a TN panel and thus not well readable from the sides, or from below, as the viewing angle is narrow. According to 4tiitoo, the reason for using a
TN panel was that at the time of product design, there were no better panels
available in that size and resolution.
The screen is glossy, so works well as a mirror, too, just like the Apple products. The touchscreen initially had some firmware problems which resulted in repeated
phases of unresponsiveness, with a duration of up to 3 seconds. Many people,
including myself, suffered from this. The newly produced units will have an updated
touchscreen firmware, so this problem is gone now. On older tablets, the new
firmware will be available for flashing soon. I already got the new touchscreen
firmware flashed by a 4tiitoo employee at the WeTab Community Meeting in Munich yesterday, and the problems are since gone. I ’m sooo happy now! Being Atom-powered, it has a fan on board. The fan itself is very silent but of course
audible in a silent environment. It’s not so much of a problem, though, IMHO. On the other hand, the fan-less iPad tends to switch itself off on hot days, so having a CPU
fan could also be seen as an advantage. The built-in battery currently lasts for about 4 to 5 hours, which is due to the fact
that there are virtually no power optimizations in place yet. Future software updates
will enable a Atom-optimized kernel and WiFi powersaving. This could help expand
the runtime a bit. Unlike the Nokia Internet Tablets and N900, there is no idle mode and you have to
switch to standby instead, like on a netbook. Waking up from standby is instant and
well below one second, though. The standby mode is actually “suspend to RAM”. The tablet weighs about 1 kg. Being larger than the iPad this does not come as a
surprise. Was the iPad as big as the WeTab, it would weigh even more, if you do the
calculation. 3G works great and I was able to surf the web during a two hour train journey
yesterday, on a course where I usually have some problems surfing with the N900
at some places.
Software The WeTab runs MeeGo, and that’s the reason why I bought it in the first place. It ’s the first consumer hardware available running MeeGo. As there is no tablet edition of
MeeGo yet, it runs a MeeGo core with a custom Qt-based UI developed by 4tiitoo. And MeeGo pays off! It boots up within 20 to 30 seconds. That ’s really quick. When the product was launched in late September, the software was at a rough and
unfinished state, which could be due to the switch over to MeeGo shortly before the
release. 4tiitoo had a lot of hardware problems with Ubuntu, so they (luckily)
decided to switch over to MeeGo shortly before product launch. The first time you switch on the WeTab, you will have to register yourself. This
currently gives no real benefit, but eventually you will be able to access the WeTab
cloud (which will be voluntary). It kinda reminds of Android phones and their
registration with Google. After registration, the tablet automatically pulls the latest
updates, so that you start with the latest firmware. Since release, there have been quite a few software updates. About one major
update per month and several minor bugfix updates in-between. Updates come over
the air and usually install when you power off. You can also look for updates
manually.
In the beginning the WeTab was a bit disappointing with the touchscreen problems
and unfinished software. But with every update it becomes a bit better and I really
like it very much now. The battery life time is still short with approx. 4 hours, but
this should be fixed by software, soon. Since I have the WeTab every week is like
Christmas with little new presents all the time. I was able to meet some people from 4tiitoo at the Community Conference yesterday,
and it’s really amazing how a small startup from Munich managed to bring out a MeeGo tablet with some great features before everybody else. Patience definitely
payed off with the WeTab as 4tiitoo are fulfilling their promises. The future looks
bright and MeeGo rocks! Currently the WeTab is only available in Germany at Amazon, MediaMarkt, Otto,
Conrad, Cyberport, and Lufthansa Miles and More Shop. Hopefully it will launch
internationally soon.
|
|
|
|
A lot has been written in German media about the WeTab. Mostly, every news magazine tried to compare the Tab to Apple’s iPad and came to the conclusion that it’s not an iPad. What a surprise! I’ve been using my WeTab 32GB for about a month, and this is what I can tell about it. Hell, I enjoy it!
Hardware The hardware is manufactured by Asus, or more precisely, their OEM branch
Pegatron. The Canadian ExoPC running Windows 7 makes use of the same hardware design, thus is the Windows brother of the WeTab. Asus is already well-known for
their netbooks, so the WeTab hardware shouldn ’t disappoint, right? The WeTab is available in two versions. One version has a 16 GB SSD on board, and
the other version has a 32 GB SSD, GPS, and a 3G modem with SIM card slot. Both
versions have a slot for SDHC cards and two USB slots, next to the audio out port and
HDMI out.
The soon to be released dockingstation will have 3 USB (or was it 4?), microphone in, audio out, and RJ-45 Ethernet.
Another big plus of the 32 GB version is the built-in Broadcom Crystal-HD chip which
enables the tablet to play 720p or 1080p HD videos fluently. The Crystal-HD chip is
automatically used by the GStreamer framework and will soon also be available to
the Flash player in the webbrowser. It also features a proximity sensor (called the quickselect button) and an ambient
light sensor that is not yet enabled by software. The built-in webcam is 1.3
megapixels. At the bottom there is a connector port for the soon to be released
docking station. I saw a prototype model of the dockingstation yesterday and it looked really sexy. The built-in accelerometer can be used for automatic screen rotation (currently the
browser does this), or for games (but as of now there are no such games available).
You can also turn around the tablet by 180 degrees and the screen will flip for all
applications, including accelerated videos. The tablet features a capacitive multitouch-capable 11,6″ touchscreen with 1366×768 pixels (that’s HD Ready resolution). The CPU is an Intel Atom N450 at 1.66 GHz, and it has 1 GiB of RAM. There’s also Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi 802.11n. 3G on the 32 GB version is quad band with UMTS / HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz. The touchscreen is a TN panel and thus not well readable from the sides, or from below, as the viewing angle is narrow. According to 4tiitoo, the reason for using a
TN panel was that at the time of product design, there were no better panels
available in that size and resolution.
The screen is glossy, so works well as a mirror, too, just like the Apple products. The touchscreen initially had some firmware problems which resulted in repeated
phases of unresponsiveness, with a duration of up to 3 seconds. Many people,
including myself, suffered from this. The newly produced units will have an updated
touchscreen firmware, so this problem is gone now. On older tablets, the new
firmware will be available for flashing soon. I already got the new touchscreen
firmware flashed by a 4tiitoo employee at the WeTab Community Meeting in Munich yesterday, and the problems are since gone. I ’m sooo happy now! Being Atom-powered, it has a fan on board. The fan itself is very silent but of course
audible in a silent environment. It’s not so much of a problem, though, IMHO. On the other hand, the fan-less iPad tends to switch itself off on hot days, so having a CPU
fan could also be seen as an advantage. The built-in battery currently lasts for about 4 to 5 hours, which is due to the fact
that there are virtually no power optimizations in place yet. Future software updates
will enable a Atom-optimized kernel and WiFi powersaving. This could help expand
the runtime a bit. Unlike the Nokia Internet Tablets and N900, there is no idle mode and you have to
switch to standby instead, like on a netbook. Waking up from standby is instant and
well below one second, though. The standby mode is actually “suspend to RAM”. The tablet weighs about 1 kg. Being larger than the iPad this does not come as a
surprise. Was the iPad as big as the WeTab, it would weigh even more, if you do the
calculation. 3G works great and I was able to surf the web during a two hour train journey
yesterday, on a course where I usually have some problems surfing with the N900
at some places.
Software The WeTab runs MeeGo, and that’s the reason why I bought it in the first place. It ’s the first consumer hardware available running MeeGo. As there is no tablet edition of
MeeGo yet, it runs a MeeGo core with a custom Qt-based UI developed by 4tiitoo. And MeeGo pays off! It boots up within 20 to 30 seconds. That ’s really quick. When the product was launched in late September, the software was at a rough and
unfinished state, which could be due to the switch over to MeeGo shortly before the
release. 4tiitoo had a lot of hardware problems with Ubuntu, so they (luckily)
decided to switch over to MeeGo shortly before product launch. The first time you switch on the WeTab, you will have to register yourself. This
currently gives no real benefit, but eventually you will be able to access the WeTab
cloud (which will be voluntary). It kinda reminds of Android phones and their
registration with Google. After registration, the tablet automatically pulls the latest
updates, so that you start with the latest firmware. Since release, there have been quite a few software updates. About one major
update per month and several minor bugfix updates in-between. Updates come over
the air and usually install when you power off. You can also look for updates
manually.
In the beginning the WeTab was a bit disappointing with the touchscreen problems
and unfinished software. But with every update it becomes a bit better and I really
like it very much now. The battery life time is still short with approx. 4 hours, but
this should be fixed by software, soon. Since I have the WeTab every week is like
Christmas with little new presents all the time. I was able to meet some people from 4tiitoo at the Community Conference yesterday,
and it’s really amazing how a small startup from Munich managed to bring out a MeeGo tablet with some great features before everybody else. Patience definitely
payed off with the WeTab as 4tiitoo are fulfilling their promises. The future looks
bright and MeeGo rocks! Currently the WeTab is only available in Germany at Amazon, MediaMarkt, Otto,
Conrad, Cyberport, and Lufthansa Miles and More Shop. Hopefully it will launch
internationally soon.
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