ZaReason ZaTab
 

Interesting new tablet out there. It comes loaded with Android 4 Cyanogenmod 9. Nothing to special about that but the manufacturer is tossing Ubuntu on it as well.
They will (or do) make all the source open (or as much is possible).
Seems really promising to me.

Zatab

Specs:

Pure Android
Allwinner A10 SoC
9.7" IPS 1024x768 display
5 point capacitive touchscreen
16 GB internal storage + microSD for additional storage
1 GB RAM
WiFi (802.11 b/g/n)
Front and Back cameras
Sturdy metal back
High-capacity 8000 mAh battery
9 hours battery life playing 3D games
14 hours battery life watching videos
Ultra-light 630 grams

Ports:
Headphone
microSD card slot
microHDMI video out
2x microUSB ports
Package includes:

Tablet
AC Adapter
USB Cable
User Manual
Source Code

ZaReason seems to be a really cool company.

Oh and the tablet will set you back $350 (USD) when it ships soon.

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

so basically ubuntu costs more than windows 7 ultimate in this setup...nice

this is ******ed, there are atom powered x86 tablets for 400$ out there and that is a much better option with this price tag, this guys are not realistic at all

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

Maybe I suck at the internet. I'm having a hard time finding these much better options you speak of. Feel free to link some.

Cheapest price I can find on Win7 Ultimate ( from a well know reputable retailer) is bout $200. I can find a similarly (maybe exact same) specced tablet for about $250. So it'd cost me an extra hundred bucks to get Linux on a tablet, and support from a US based company (personally works for me as I am in the US). I also get the satisfaction of supporting a company that is interested in Linux.

I also only found one (although im sure there are probably a few more chinese ones) x86 tablet (Archos) for less than $400. You can have your Win7 on atom cpu. I dunno if the thing even has drivers for Linux.

I'm really looking forward to Intels next mobile x86 chipset but the "current" atom line is unimpressive.

But hey don't let me stop you from handing your money over to Microsoft. I'm sure a good portion of it goes to their new open source division.

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

for 350$ i can buy this
http://www.pandawill.com/acelead-tab...ck-p52459.html
and put regular ubuntu that is actually going to be updated on it (and unlike on arm i can even run applications using wine)
and current atom is a piece of crap, but is better than any arm for real life use


thing should be done right or not done at all

and yes, w7 ultimate costs 200+$
this tablet costs around 100-120$ and 350-120= more than 200$

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

Are you sure you can load linux up on this thing? Just cause its x86 doesn't mean you break out Unetbootin and Ubuntu is gonna magically work on it.

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

only problem could be touch screen, but most likely everything would work
if nothing i can run it in VM inside windows, it will still run better than on this...oh and have a future

plus im sure that tablet for around 400$ that would run ubuntu can be found just if someone bothers, this was the first one that i found and there are dozens if not hundreds chinese x86 tablets...

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

Thanks for your opinion grimy!

The atom pad is almost 2 times the weight of the arm tablet.

It's got a bigger battery but probably lasts half the time, but as the allwinner arm just sips its power well.. maybe a quarter of the time, not specified.

It all depends on what you want to use such a device for.

I have a quad core on my desktop, thats quite a bit faster than the atom or the arm. Wouldnt want it in such a portable device though.

Then again weight and battery life may not be important to some.

And two touch multitouch atom... Thats just barely multitouch:) But it IS running windows so it doesnt matter:)

Well good luck finding a great deal, i'm betting on the chinese for the innovation on this one.

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

1. the Zatab weighs 1.4 lbs, the atom device you list weighs 2lbs. For me, even 1.5lb tablets I own(ipad, HP touchpad) are a bit on the heavy side, I don't think I would want 2 lb

2. The battery life on the Zatab is 14 hours, battery life isn't listed on the atom device, but a unlikley best scenario to be 7hrs, and could be quite worse than that.

3. It doesn't list what video chipset it uses, but most of the atom tablets use the Poulsbo chipset, which is somewhat problematic in linux,

4. The Zatab has a 5 point multi-touch, the atom you list has two point multi touch

5. The Zatab has an IPS panel, the atom you list does not

6. The Zatab has a microsd slot, the atom does not.

7. The atom comes with Windows 7 Home Basic, which since this is a chinese seller, this is the one Windows edition that has an emerging market price, I'm guessing it costs them less than $20

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

1. zatab will probably never get updated or have a decent community to update it, x86 will have constant updates same as the desktop version
2. zatab wont run x86 linux applications, not to mention the possibility of running wine
3. it costs 350$ for what is basically a cheap *** chinese tablet that is not worth more than 100$
4. on x86 you can probably run most distros, on zatab you are stuck with what you get
5. for everyone outside US the price will probably be at least 50$ more(not including customs and taxes in that)

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

1. Who knows what type of community it will have? You can always get the latest community android image.
2. My n900 doesn't run x86 apps and that somehow didn't ruin the experience. Most any app can be easily recompiled for ARM. The issue is OpenGL.
3. How is it a cheap chinese tablet but the one you linked isn't? Please show me tablets with the same specs that you can get for $100.
4. Like I said before just because a computer is x86 doesn't mean its magically going to run Linux.
5. Since these guys are releasing the source, there is nothing stopping you from getting the same hardware straight from China at a cheaper rate and using it. Who wants to support people like this?

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

Ubuntu is still difficult to use with pure touchscreen. So the lenovo S10-3t is still the best choice for me, with android x86 for touch friendly surfing and ubuntu for the real work. A bit heavy though and battery not-so-awesome, especially as ICSx86 can't yet sleep on that device (or couldn't, havent checked recently)

And a price that beats both those tabs

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

look if you dont have the sense that for this price tag in 2012. a 7$ arm soc is not enough and that for a 350+$(more like 500$ for the rest of the world outside US) gnu/linux device x86 is the best choice at this time than i dont see a point of discussing this
sane people use the same device for a couple of years, this thing is for someone that will buy anything and will change it after a few months because no one will give a **** about this device 2 months after its release...

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

agreed
and "my" tablet was just a quick example that there are(many) x86 tablets in this price tag and not something carefully chosen

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

isn't this essentially running Ubuntu for ARM. so would support for Ubuntu mean this tablet is supported for a long time to come?

I agree this is overpriced though.

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

with probably some aditional code without which this tablet probably wouldnt run ubunt and which isnt in the official ubuntu arm port

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

Just found out it has a 9" IPS screen. The price isn't that bad actually considering the Viewpad 10e which has similar specs (but runs gingerbread and no Ubuntu) goes for $400.

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

price is horrible
here you have 12" ips with much better specs for the same price:
http://www.pandawill.com/joojoo-tab-...ld-p49341.html

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

How many people here have actually used Ubuntu or Windows 7 on a tablet?

I have (I have an HP Touchsmart 1025dx), and let me tell you something. Both of them suck, but Gnome shell is somewhat useful.

Never have been able to get the multi-touch to work under Linux, and under Windows nothing but their few stupid apps use it. And who really wants that monstrosity of Windows 8 on anything...

The ZaTab looks cool for one reason, and one reason only. It uses Cyanogenmod 9 by default. This WILL be updated constantly (there are even nightly builds for it! The fact that it has an open boot loader and is rooted by default doesn't hurt either.

Eventually Gnome-Shell will be very much like Maemo / MeeGo and will work fantastically on a tablet. And since the majority of software for Linux is open source, it usually just takes a recompile to work with ARM.

By the way, even Wine is working on an ARM version (for those Windows Mobile programs) and you can emulate x86 via qemu, though it's currently pretty slow.

slaapliedje

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

im not interested in android at all, especially on a device this large
and i know wine is working on arm, but it is useless as pretty slow is an understatement of the year

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

I wasn't terribly interested in Android either, for the very reason that it doesn't always get updated, and I don't think of it as being anywhere near 'real' Linux. Maybe if they started using X11 on it, along with Qt and Gtk+, then I would consider it a viable option.

The thing is, the current setup of Desktop operating systems are not very usable in a touch screen environment. Gnome-Shell is probably the best one so far (it could be argued that it looks like they designed it more for a touch interface than they did for a standard desktop.) I don't see anyone but them hitting that happy medium of usefulness and usability anytime soon.

But there is still a long way to go before you can just run desktop style applications on a tablet. Namely because the UI design needs to be so much different. So even if you get a x86 tablet that you can then run Wine on, it won't do you much good because without a keyboard and mouse, it'll be difficult to use a lot of software. In which case, it's no longer a tablet!

slaapliedje

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

i would use keyboard with it anyway...
and yes, tablet can even have a laptop form as there are several forms of tablet PC-s(PC means that i dont mean those mobile phones with 5+" screens without phone capabilities)

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

You can't say the JooJoo has better specs. It has ddr2 vs the same amount of ddr3 ram of the Zatab. A 4800 mah battery running on x86 vs an 8000 mah battery running on a much more power efficient arm processor.

Sure it can crunch pi faster but that is not what most people look for in a tablet. And its got twice the built in storage which might be great for some people, but for the people with flick and pandora or spotify chances are its not a big deal. Not even sure which has the faster gpu.

These guys are working withKubuntu Active . They base their business on Linux. I think that is fantastic and worth supporting. I think there is a much stronger chance of ever seeing Mer on this device.

In the end I think we are looking for two different things. You seem to think that a netbook flipped over on it self running WIn7 and *might* be able to run a Linux distro is where its at. Where what I am talking about is a tablet with a mobile architecture from a company willing to work with open source companies to get Linux on a consumer product.

At the moment it seems as if they are having trouble getting the internal display to work with U/Kubuntu. They'll get it sorted and push patches upstream. What are you gonna do when you run into an issue getting Linux on a no name tablet? Call China?

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

if i wanted to spend that amount of money i would find a x86 tablet that has all the drivers available for linux and not waste 350$ for a tablet that shouldnt be over 200$

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

So otherwise, you should get something like I did, the HP Touchsmarts are exactly that. They have a keyboard attached already, they are in essence a laptop with a touch screen. Sounds to me that's exactly what you need / want.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-TouchSmar...item3a74a642a6

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

that is a convertible tablet, the best kind of tablet

Re: ZaReason ZaTab
 

china tablet pc online shop.

i recommed to all.

http://www.trustedbuyonline.com/:)