TEGA v2 tablet
The iPad has set a new standard in the communication world. Its sales have gone high because it has covered a practical niche: quick using of a simple interface for connecting to the web. It has though some shortcomings, such as no embedded camera and no Adobe Flash capability, no multitasking. That’s why I was expecting a reaction, from companies adopting Microsoft platform, to manifacture a similar, but upgraded, product.
Actually the response has materialized with some delay, mostly because
any new machine would have been immediately compared with Apple which has a nice
screen and a quick response to your fingers' touch. Recently some companies have
produced 7’’ tablets, but quite
frankly this size it’s not the best one: just think if you want to read a pdf
file.
Now a new iPad competitor has come out of the australian reef barrier:
the TEGA v2 designed by
This TEGA v2 picture was made with a SIGMA SD14. Note the partially hidden Eyesboard virtual keyboard
TEGA v2 is the first of the Pinetrail
Tablets to hit the market and, as such, comes with several benefits over previous
processors, including better battery life (about 3
hrs) and
support for up to 2GB DDR3 667/800Mhz
RAM. The TEGA v2 is the thinnest 10” X86 Tablet
ever witnessed and, at 14mm, it is only a dismal 2mm thicker than the iPad. With
capacitive multi-touch standard, 2x USB ports, micro SD card slot, front
camera, storage
up to 64GB SSD, a weight of 870g including battery, 1024 x 600 pixels/16:10,
1080p, it should be a very exciting piece of hardware. Connectivity is
available by Bluetooth and WiFI (BG) as standard, and 3G as an optional extra.
As for software it will be offered with Windows 7 and, in the near future, in dual boot
with Android 2.2, with full upgrade path to all first round buyers
and the current added benefit of both Thinix
and Eyesboard
preloaded into the system as extended trial.
On
friday 15th october 2010
Tegatech
Australia & Europe, as previously announced,
has revealed a special
limited time introductory offer
for a base model
SP-TEGA-v2-W7H-32-2GB
On that same day - I didn't know up to now that Australians were so precise - I received one TEGA v2 tablet sample which I'm now testing "on the road": that means looking at it not as a nerd, but as a normal user. The first impressions were beyond my expectations. Enough to say, for the moment, that compared to iPad it has been beefed up with a webcam, 2 USB ports, multitasking, a speedier processor, external monitor connection, micro SD card reader and 1080p.
TEGA v2 on its stand connected to a scanner while on it is running Photoshop. Since I got this tablet, I have been making a lot of old picture scanning waiting in a drawer for five years. On the screen a picture made by Frits Thomsen.
One impressed me most: my father Beniamino servicing in the corps
of the Carabinieri portrayed with his fellow soldiers on 10th november 1925 in
Caprino Veronese (near Verona, North Italy). I mean, look at their faces, how
life must have been hard at that time. One of the few exceptions, my father's
look, expressing steadiness and satisfaction (he lived to be 95 years with his
brain working at full steam), a mood following him all along his life: in other
words he fully enjoyed it. He appears here standing on the second row, third
from left. Sitting in the center, the station commander with his daughter and
son.
The
nowadays Carabinieri station in Caprino Veronese.
(Photo by courtesy of L'Arena.it)
Another picture scanned with the TEGA v2: my father Beniamino, on the left, during a shooting party in the desert not far from Gasr Garabul, in Tripolitania, in 1935. Despite the barren area, the group had scraped together seven rabbits, two doves and a crane: not just LIPU was missing at that time.
So, it's time to summarize my impressions on this machine. First of all TEGA v2 it's useful and sturdy: during the test it happened to fall on the floor twice from my sofa (height: some 40cm) without suffering at all; I even inadvertently threw my TV remote controller on top of the tablet screen without causing any scratch on its surface. Moreover it isn't a bulky device; I've been using it all day, forgetting the desktop, whose next model should have the touchscreen feature implemented, as, the lesson I learned from TEGA v2 is that once you try the touch feature you can't do without it. I even surprised myself tapping twice with my forefinger my desktop screen after I had turned it on.
If you buy the Windows 7 Professional model with Microsoft Office Professional - the version I've been testing which, by the way, enables you to free download a tailored Microsoft antivirus - it would be better to opt for the 32 Gigabytes SSD, remembering that if you want to buy a micro SD memory card, to choose one with at least speed class 2 (range 1 to 5), otherwise a HD movie will appear jaggy on the screen. On this current model there was also the Android 1.6 version which you won't have it now (you can later download the 2.2 version) so you will experience more space free in your SSD memory than me.
TEGA v2 is a computer, not a gadget, so sometimes you expect it to behave like a big laptop. I mean, I would have preferred the loudspeaker to be "louder", even if, in a calm enviroment the pitch is reasonable. You are also tempted to run on it all the programs you use on your desktop, but it's better not to crowd it too much because speed - as in any other future machine of this kind - will suffer. Later on I will test a 32 GB Micro SD after which, if any, I think this TEGA v2 could be considered a world top class tablet among the ones apt for industry and commerce.
The colours are vividly shown, but if this tablet should serve you, say, to show your customers the infinite colour hues of you marble slabs, you need first to shoot them with a camera which is able to render those sometimes evanescent hues: I mean buying a SIGMA SD15 or a pocketable DP1 camera. This is not a commercial, but just a belief in top quality.
This TEGA v2 computer doesn't come cheap at all, but as I haven't witnessed a glitch since a month, it reminded me a fact happened to me more than 40 years ago (Wow!) when I brought to a bookbinder the 1969 National Geographic copies to bind in two separate volumes covered with leather and inscriptions in pure gold. Well, when I visited that nice workshop again to get back the books I was surprised at hearing the bill: the artisan looked at me bending his head on one side and without saying a word opened one of the two volumes weighing 1,8kg (I have checked this just now on the scales) and heaved it holding a single NG page with his two hands, adding curtly:"Quality has its price". I thought he had deserved that money even if I would have preferred to settle for a lower price, so when came the time to bind the next NGs I brought them to another artisan who was charging less.The result? After some years leafing through them I discovered that some pages were loose and many more were going to be, while the former two volumes, which I photographed here, look still as new ones.
And by the way, as we are talking about quality, this gorgeous and clear picture has been made with a camera which has inside a sensor - even if a downsized one - of the same type (three layers: RGB) embedded on SIGMA cameras.