Friday, February 4, 2011

T-Mobile details “3D-capable,” Honeycomb-powered G-Slate tablet

After getting little more than a fleeting glimpse at the LG-built G-Slate at CES last month, T-Mobile has finally spilled the beans about its upcoming Honeycomb-based Android tablet, including the news that the device will boast a 3D display—well, "3D-capable," anyway.
Expect the G-Slate to arrive this spring, T-Mobile said Wednesday, complete with a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, support for T-Mobile's 4G HSPA+ network, and Honeycomb—the latest, tablet-centric version of Android—under the hood. Still no word on pricing.
As for the G-Slate's display: it'll be 8.9 inches, a little smaller than those on the current iPad and the upcoming Motorola Xoom, but bigger than the seven-inch screens on the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the newDell Streak 7.
T-Mobile didn't reveal the exact resolution of the G-Slate's screen, although the carrier promised that it'll handle both 720p video playback and 3D.
So, wait—are we talking another glasses-free 3D display, like those on the Nintendo 3DS and the upcomingLG Optimus 3D? Well … probably not, given that T-Mobile says only that the G-Slate's screen is "3D capable." In other word, get ready for glasses. Update: A T-Mobile rep has confirmed that the G-Slate will ship with a pair of anaglyph 3D glasses (think red and blue lenses).
In back, the G-Slate will boast a stereoscopic camera in back, good for shooting 1080p-quality 3D video that you'll be able to view on a 3D-ready HDTV via the tablet's HDMI-out port, T-Mobile said. You'll also be able to shoot stills with the rear camera's 5MP sensor, while a front-facing lens (no details on the resolution) will handle video chat.
Other details include a built-in gyroscope and accelerometer, 32GB of internal storage, and support for in-browser Flash video.
Still to be determined: whether the G-Slate will come with a USB port or an SD card slot, as well as details on battery life.
News of the G-Slate comes on the heels of the Dell Streak 7, another Android tablet that went on sale through T-Mobile Wednesday. There's also Samsung's Galaxy Tab, which all four of the big carriers began selling late last year.
While the Streak and the Tab are both running on Android 2.2, an earlier version of the Android OS, the G-Slate and upcoming competitors from Motorola and Samsung are powered by Android 3.0 "Honeycomb," the first iteration of Google's mobile OS to be designed specifically for larger tablet screens.
— Ben Patterson is a technology blogger for Yahoo! News.

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