Tablet PCs

Welcome to 2008, readers, and if Axiotron’s announcement that its long-awaited Modbook is finally shipping — several weeks ahead of schedule — is any indication, it looks to be a good year indeed for consumer electronics fans. First unveiled nearly a year ago at Macworld 2007, the MacBook-based, Wacom-modified Modbook has definitely seen its share of delays, although in the days and months since, the 13.3-inch slate has gained the distinction of being one of the few pieces of non-Cupertino, Apple-approved hardware. The world’s first OS X tablet can be yours immediately starting at $2,290.

[Thanks, Chris]

It’s time for the 2007 Engadget Awards, and we’re asking for your nominations for the Tablet PC of the Year.

Nominating is easy, simply leave a comment with what you’re nominating for this category. We’ll round up the best selections and put them to the popular vote.

Here’s five simple rules of what NOT to do:

• Don’t include your reasons for nominating it.
  You can debate the product later when we put it up to vote. Just leave the name of what you want to nominate, ok?
• Don’t nominate anything that wasn’t sold for the first time in 2007.
  We will allow updated versions of previous devices, however.
• No concept devices or prototypes.
  It has to be a real gadget people can buy! Pre-orders don’t count.
• Don’t nominate anything more than once.
  It’s not a popularity contest (yet), all it does is make our lives harder. Just do a quick find to see if someone’s already beat you to it.
• Seriously, don’t nominate anything that’s already been nominated!

Thanks, and good luck to all the gadgets!

While the future of the 700MHz band is still up in the air ’round these parts, it seems that Japan has already decided what it’ll do with it as it makes its own transition away from analog TV broadcasts. According to Tech-On, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has deemed it suitable to use the 700MHz band (or 10MHz between 715M-725MHz, specifically) for an “inter-vehicle communications system” that it hopes will reduce accidents by allowing vehicles to communicate with each other (not exactly a new concept). This latest decision apparently comes after the MIC also considered using the 5.8GHz band for the same task, but found it to be more easily blocked by obstacles. As with over here, however, the 700MHz band isn’t available for re-purposing in Japan just yet, with it only slated to be freed up on July 25th, 2012. Presumably, this all fits in with that worldwide mobile broadband standard for the 700MHz band, although we’ll have to wait and see how all the details shake out.

[Image courtesy of toddemslie]

We’ve been hearing that Dell’s latest tablet, the Latitude XT, was supposed to hit this week, but here we are with nary a peep — except for the shockingly uninteresting 245-page user manual that’s just popped up on Dell’s site. In addition to detailing such revolutionary features as the AC power adapter, wireless on / off switch, and keyboard status lights, it’s also got one more nugget of info: it looks like Dell will be shipping a Core Solo version, which should make for scintillating performance when paired up with the integrated AMD RS600 graphics on this thing. Apart from that, it looks like those specs we saw a couple weeks ago were right on the money, so only the hardest of the hardcore need hit the read link to snag the entire PDF.

[Thanks, Adam]

We already knew quite a bit about the Latitude XT multitouch tablet, but it looks like a complete spec sheet just leaked out and now we’ve got the hard details we crave. The 12.1-inch tablet will rock a 1.2GHz U7600 ultra-low-voltage Core 2 Duo processor, ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics with 256MB of memory, 1GB of RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth and a range of WWAN options, and sport both SD and ExpressCard slots. An integrated media bay can accept either an optional secondary 80GB hard drive or a dual-layer burner, and Dell will preload various versions of Vista and XP Tablet Edition on the unit. Of course, there’s still no word on when we might see these, but hopefully it’ll be soon.

[Thanks, Jay]

After a relative dearth of Apple rumors, Crave has resurrected the ol’ Apple Tablet fiesta. In fact, they claim to have received a hush-hush confirmation whispered across their meatloaf and pie. The quote from some anonymous “friends at ASUS” over dinner simply states, “Asus is helping Apple build a Tablet PC.” Unfortunately, no date was provided. However, we’re sure that if we wait around long enough, this rumor like others, will eventually come to fruition.

[Thanks, T.I.]

Although the tablet form factor hasn’t exactly taken the consumer market by storm, they’re ideal for specialized applications like medicine, and Philips’ Cliniscape “Mobile Clinical Assistant” is the latest device to target the hospitals. Designed by Intel’s Digital Health Group, the Cliniscape features a 10.4-inch touch screen, a custom installation of Vista Business running on a Core Solo processor with 1GB of RAM, a 60GB disk, 802.11n, RFID and Bluetooth radios, barcode scanner, a 2 megapixel camera, 3.5-hour battery and a single USB port, all contained in a sealed “medical-grade” enclosure that can be wiped clean with disinfectant and withstand a 1 meter drop. When docked in the “grab-and-go” base station, the Cliniscape can be used as a desktop machine with three additional USB ports and an Ethernet jack. Philips says software vendors are working to optimize their patient-care apps for the MCA platform, and that the Cliniscape should be on sale in Spring 2008.

Just over a fortnight after the TabletKiosk’s Sahara i440D Slate PC began shipping out to interested buyers, the niche machine has now been reviewed and benchmarked for those still mulling a purchase. The folks over at TabletPCReview noted that this machine was a breeze to tote around, had a solid feel, sported a satisfactory (though not awe-inspiring) display, and performed sufficiently enough for those not looking to actually replace their (likely more robust) laptop. Additionally, the pen functionality was highly praised as was the respectable array of ports, but the amount of noise and heat that this bad boy emitted was a slight turn-off. Still, the Sahara i440D benchmarked well against similar alternatives, and while we wouldn’t recommend 3D gaming or motion picture rendering on it, it seems like a solid choice for those in the market. Check out a videoed extension of the review after the jump.

While we patiently await Dell’s highly-touted gift to the tablet PC universe, the marketing crew has apparently decided that obliterating yet another rival machine will keep the buzz alive until this thing actually launches. This go ’round, a team gathers around a blindfolded individual who takes his frustrations out on a piñata, er, tablet PC, and does a fine job of making sure it never boots up the same way again. Per usual, the video of the massacre is after the break, but we’re still not sure what all it proves about Dell’s forthcoming solution.

[Via GottaBeMobile]

Hopefully you haven’t forgotten all about TabletKiosk’s Sahara i440D Slate PC, because the time has finally come to lay down your hard-earned coin and snag one for yourself. Dubbed the first slate tablet PC with “dual pen and touchscreen input,” the i440D can be ordered with Windows XP or Vista, and features a wide array of ports including PCMCIA, eSATA, USB 2.0, and FireWire. Additionally, you’ll find a biometric fingerprint reader, an Intel Core Duo LV processor, and options for up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM and a 160GB SATA hard drive. The base configuration starts at $2,295, and just in case it somehow escaped you earlier, it is indeed shipping right away.