eAccess, Sharp to Launch 7-inch Screen Tablet

[.BZU.]

eAccess Ltd and Sharp Corp announced a tablet computer equipped with a 7-inch LCD panel Aug 3, 2011.
The tablet computer, "Galapagos (A01SH)," will be released in late August 2011 in Japan. It does not have a 3G communication function. The A01SH and the "Pocket WiFi" mobile router can be purchased as a set.





"We cannot disclose its price, but it will be equivalent to those of our competitors' products," said Motonari Abe, executive vice president of eAccess.
The A01SH measures approximately 195 x 122 x 11.9-12.6mm and weighs about 389g.





"We realized a size equivalent to that of a pocket planner made by Italy-based Moleskine and a weight equivalent to that of a 350mL plastic bottle (filled with a beverage)," Sharp said. "Also, we decided the screen size of the LCD panel in consideration of the dimensions."
The A01SH comes with LED backlight, and its pixel count is 1,024 x 600 (WSVGA). A capacitive touch panel is mounted on the surface.
The software platform and processor of the A01SH are Google Inc's Android 3.2 and Nvidia Corp's "Tegra 2," respectively. It is equipped with two 1,620mAh lithium-ion (Li-ion) rechargeable batteries connected in series.





The maximum power consumption of the tablet computer is about 18W. When still images are displayed, it can be continuously operated for about 7.5 hours. The battery cannot be replaced by the user.
The A01SH has a wireless communication function that uses a wireless LAN based on the IEEE802.11b/g/n standard and the Bluetooth technology.
As for the reason why it does not have a 3G communication function, Abe said, "We considered how many communication lines our customers will subscribe to and concluded that they have one line for a smartphone or mobile phone and another line for a data communication machine and will not want to subscribe to yet another line only for a tablet computer."





It is possible to download a variety of applications software from the Android Market to the A01SH. In addition, the "Tsutaya Galapagos" electronic book service, which is run by Sharp and Culture Convenience Club Co Ltd, can be used.
With a function to work with Sharp's "Aquos" series of LCD TVs and "Aquos Blu-ray" series of Blu-ray Disc recorders, the tablet computer can display an image shown on its screen on an Aquos TV and can be used as a remote control for the LCD TVs and the Blu-ray Disc recorders.
The A01SH is targeted at (1) businessmen in their 30s and 40s (2) women who consider that netbooks and 10-inch screen tablet computers are too large or heavy and (3) family use. The sales goal for the tablet computer was not disclosed.