Android Powered Tablets Can Compete With the iPad But They Have to Lower Their Price Points To Do So

ars technica…

MSI’s 10-inch Tegra/Android tablet coming this year for $500

…and Engadget…

Engadget: MSI’s 10-inch tablet launching this year at $500, patently ignoring the elephant in the room?

…both reported on MSI’s near future release of a $500 10-inch tablet (pad?). I haven’t seen anything about its features beyond the fact that it has a 10-inch display, a NVIDIA Tegra SoC processor and runs the Android operating system.

However, I’ll add this to the conversation about tablets/pads: I’ve been using my iPod touch as a mini-iPad around the house for several years now. A SIM-less (no phone service) Nexus One has been serving as an Android-powered pad in my home and office for a couple of weeks now. I am definitely looking forward to buying an iPad even though I think a 10-inch display is too big to easily carry around outside of the home or office. And, I would really like an Android powered tablet with a 7 or 8 inch display. The browser experience on the Nexus One (as well as my Droid) has been great so far. It is far zippier to use it as compared to the browser on my iPod touch or iPhone. Yes, I wish it has pinch-to-zoom gestures. But, it does just fine even without that feature. And, yes, I wish Android’s web browser would tell me how many windows it has open while browsing. But, that will probably come some day. And, don’t forget that Android provides multi-tasking while iPhone OS 3.2 for the iPad does not. Yes, this leads to some app management issues. But, there are good process managers like Advanced App Killer to help with managing this issue.

The reality is, however, that MSI and other Android tablet makers will have to lower their price points to compete with the iPad just like MP3 makers have had to lower their price points to compared with comparable iPod models. Look for 8 to 10 inch Android powered devices in the sub-$500 range.

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