One of one of the most exciting products from CES 2010 last month was Idea Ink’s Adam tablet, the Android-based slate using the latest-gen NVIDIA Tegra chipset and Pixel Qi’s innovative low-power display. The company had brought along a prototype they could exclusively show us, and now they’ve sent over renders of what’s likely to be the final Adam design complete with some mockups of a SlashGear digital magazine. And, because Apple’s long-awaited entrant to the tablet arena -the iPad- has because made its debut, we also asked Idea Ink just how Adam holds up towards the new competition.
The short answer is “very well indeed”. Particularly of note is the battery life; Idea Ink CEO Rohan Shravan highlighted Apple’s “Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music” [emphasis ours] estimates for that iPad, and pointed out that, thanks to Tegra’s frugality, the similar Apple hardware using the NVIDIA chip could run for 2-3x longer than the iPad manages. That is before you factor within the Adam’s Pixel Qi display, which stretches out the longevity even much more, and of program Tegra is capable of outputting 1080p HD video whereas the iPad maxes out at 576p/480p via its optional component cable.
Interestingly – and hitherto unannounced – Notion Ink are apparently considering two versions of Adam for release, 1 of which could measure 12.9mm thick and also the other 11.6mm; in contrast, the iPad is 13.4mm. The organization wouldn’t say what the distinction among the two units may be, but considering much from the bulk of the tablet is from the Pixel Qi panel we’re wondering if they’re also searching at a slimmer LCD version. That could potentially be cheaper again, despite offering much better battery existence than the iPad. Of course, that’s just our speculation correct now, and Idea Ink themselves are only considering the two models.
Shravan also tells us that Notion Ink’s digital content partnerships are progressing swiftly, and that the Adam will launch with digital magazines, ebooks and comics from some significant collaborators. No names we can share right now, but there’ll be much more information at Mobile World Congress 2010 next week. There, they’ll also be demonstrating the Adam operating Flash, once again something the iPad can’t manage.
Finally, the company has informed us that it will be running an Apps Competition, similar to Google’s Android Developer Challenge, to encourage software program developed for the Adam tablet. Details of the Notion Ink competition haven’t been finalized as yet, but we’re informed the prize fund will come in at over $1m. We’ll be talking to them more about it in Barcelona following week.