20 Innovative (Concept) Tablets We Wish Were Real

It’s been around 1.6 years since the initial release of Apple iPad, and regardless the criticism, the device has achieved tremendous success in the tablet market. It’s so successful until so many great companies have risen up to challenge its realm by designing and releasing their own version of tablet.

(Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

While great companies are competing each others by showing off new designs and devices, an interesting phenomenon happened: another group of very talented designers have also implemented their own vision on their tablet design, and these so-called concept tablets have received praises from consumers like, “I hope it’s true!”.

Be it dual screen tablet, fold-able tablet or smartphone powered tablet, in this post you will see concepts which designers combined innovation and art to become something that consumers really thirsts for. Enjoy them and let us know which tablet you hope it’s true!

MacBook Duo By Kane Yanagawa

“My proposal is for a hybrid device that is a unique combination of Apple’s existing portable media device technology with an e-reader / netbook. A device that offers enough usability in each arena to make it a standalone solution for frequent travelers. Now you can work + browse, read + write, and share + play all on one device.”

MacBook Duo. (Image Source: iLounge)

MacView By Patrycjusz Brzezinski

According to an article in blog.moridin.pl, MacView project arose from a need to have such a device. It was designed to substitute the laptop, which is mostly uncomfortable in many situations. When creating the project, the designer bought a MacBook in order to better understand the philosophy of Apple. For sure great studies gave birth a great concept.

Macview. With keyboard on the second touchscreen. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Desktop View. With mini music player on second screen. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Front View. With keyboard on the second touchscreen. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

PDF View. With page thumbnails on second screen. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Video Playlist. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Back View. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Charging Station. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

MacBook Page By Devindh Baburam

“The MacBook Page is based on the size of a standard sheet of A4 paper. It maximises screen ‘real estate’ by presenting the user with an edge to edge interactive desktop. It also incorporates a hidden solar panel to supplement the power supply.”

MacBook Page. (Image Source: iLounge)

Doodle Book By Pyeong Yeol Yoo, Hun Park

“Doodle book is a lifebook able to make creative work. Portable enough to be carried out, it can be easily used as memo pad in any place. Included the concept of layer in its input system, it can attach or overlap an existing document, image, sketch or video comment with pen.

Doodle book is able to make creative work between idea and realization.”

Doodle Book. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Handling. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Synchronization. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Ecopad By Yonggu Do, Jun-se Kim, Eun-ha Seo

“Electricity is made automatically by using your ecoPad. Currently commercialized tablet PCs and smartphones have a very limited battery life – often not more than a day before having to be recharged.

However, on average, people press their touchscreens over 10,000 times a day. The ecoPad does not require special charging from an adaptor. Instead, it generates electricity when a user presses the touchscreen, due to the nano piezoelectricity film that is located below the display.”

ecoPad. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Layer View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Front View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

File-top By Fan Zhang

“This tablet is for the people who want a more portable and lighter computer. The inspiration comes from traditional Chinese liber. The foldable File-top composes of several translucent touchscreens and can be used as a touchpad or widescreen PC.

In the future the environmental papery material might take place of current memory devices. You are able to put all the documents into this “file” and it will store the information for you.”

File-top. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Product View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Usage Situation. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Fractal By Pedro Calle

“Fractal is everything you need, it can be split into pieces each of which can work individually as laptop, pad, music player and you can tweak them with apps and widgets.

It can also work together as a console with different touchscreens with programs, menus, tools, palettes, brushes and audio samplers, all separated physically. Find all the fun on customizing your Fractals, share them with your friends and enjoy making the digital realm a more analogous experience.”

Fractal. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Featured View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Hermes By Yeongwom Jeon, Sangmin Park, Seokho Yu

“Previous tablet PC has two disadvantages. The typing work is not as good as the original keyboard and others can easily see what you are doing on the computer. Now, you do not need to worry about emerging of personal information with Hermes. You can send messages and call with Hermes as well.”

Hermes. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Product View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

HTC Evolve Tablet By Timur Pinar

A HTC branded high-end tablet with smart Android OS running on it. Doubtlessly the design is sleek and the user interface seems to be very promising. There’s also an extra tab on the left side of the tablet which gives more dedicated spaces for apps. I must say this is probably one of the best concepts which I wish it to be materialized.

HTC Evolve Tablet. (Image Source: Timur Pinar)

Features. (Image Source: Timur Pinar)

Extra Tab. (Image Source: Timur Pinar)

HTC TUBE By NAK Studio

Another sleek concept for HTC brand, but the idea revolves around the “Cartridge powered multimedia device”. The concept is not much explained, but this might be the tablet which will function as a big monitor when the phone is plugged in. An interesting idea, and I must say the device is well designed.

HTC TUBE. (Image Source: NAK Studio)

Product View. (Image Source: NAK Studio)

MPad By Volker Hübner

MPad is for professional designers. It combines the advantage of intuitive multi-touch operation with the precision of a pressure-sensitive pen, probably sounds like a very, very advanced Wacom tablet.

For its features part, essential keyboard commands are arranged next to the 15.6″ OLED display, 9 fixed buttons, 2 programmable buttons rockers with e-ink display, with up to 24 shortcuts for each software application. Monstrous tablet, but of course I hope there’s a model for left-handers like me.

MPad. (Image Source: Yanko Design)

Back View. (Image Source: Yanko Design)

Piggyback By Brooks Benefiel

Piggyback tablet is the similar concept with HTC Tube which suggests that, you have a smartphone, and what you really need now is just a bigger screen.

With the tablet, you will be able to plug in the smartphone to get a bigger screen for more complicated tasks like typing out long report or, if the processing power allows, doing graphic editing job. Yes, all you need is a bigger screen.

Piggyback. (Image Source: DVICE)

Desktop Dock. (Image Source: DVICE)

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ XL by Frank Tobias

“Well, here I made a XL-version of Vivaz. It features an 8 megapixel camera at the back, of course with HD video recording and the interior capacity is about 75GB. I hope you like it ”

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ XL. (Image Source: Frank Tobias)

Sony Ericsson X10™ Maxi by Frank Tobias

“So here I expanded the Sony Ericsson X10 to a tablet called X10 Maxi. It features like the X10, an 8 megapixel camera, the system is OS Android 2.0 and the interior capacity features 100GB.”

Sony Ericsson X10™ Maxi. (Image Source: Frank Tobias)

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ XTab By Juris15

Seriously this guy needs to be hired by Sony Ericsson, and I’m sure you will know why by looking at 2 distinguishing designs below. Sleek and sexy.

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ XTab. (Image Source: juris15)

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ XTab10 By Juris15

Another great design from the XTab series, also one of the series that I sincerely hope it was true.

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ XTab10. (Image Source: juris15)

The Part By Jun Se Kim, Yong-gu Do, Eun-ha Seo

“Do we really have to buy a smartphone and a pad? Do we really need both? Actually, the only difference between the smartphone and smartpad that we are using separately is the screen size, and the advantage and disadvantage are identified by the size.

Carrying two kinds of devices, smartphone and smartpad, is not only inefficient for users, but it is an uncomfortable waste that the smart era created. In that aspect, the ‘part’ is not a separate device, but an efficient and convenient smart device with a new concept that a smartpad can be combined with a smartphone.”

The Part. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Component Breakdown. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Smart Extension. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Unknown Tablet by Frank Tobias

“Here I made another tablet. Unfortunately I don’t know which brand and user interface I should take for it… Well, the tablet itself sports a 3.5 mm audio jack on the left side, 2 USB ports on the right side, and a camera with 10 megapixels, HD video recording and a triple LED flash…”

Unknown Tablet. (Image Source: Frank Tobias)

Unnamed Tablet by Frank Tobias

“So here’s another tablet concept. It’s running Windows 7, supports a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash at the back, 4GB ram, 300GB interior memory, an Intel i5 processor and HD video recording ”

Unnamed Tablet. (Image Source: Frank Tobias)

Volumni By Dulyawat Wongnawa

“Volumni is a new concept of PC which integrates various types of PCs into one single device with only a size of an envelope once it’s folded (23 x 10 cm). It consists of 4 units of ultra-slim touchscreens linked together by a 360 degrees pivot hinge. It serves as both a portable device and a workstation depending on user preference. Users can define their usage of the device by just folding and turning it.”

Volumni. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Product View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Featured Modes. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Original Source

New Samsung Series 7 Slate PC (700T1A) Windows 8 Tablet

New Samsung Series 7 Slate PC (700T1A) Windows 8 Tablet: The new Samsung Series 7 Slate PC is Windows 8 tablet, which include second-generation Intel Core i5-2456M 1.6GHz processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 11.6 "Samsung Super PLS touchscreen display with resolution of 1366 × 768, 64GB SSD, and support for USB 3.0, Micro SD slot, HDMI output, UEFI BIOS as well as run the latest Windows 8 operating system. The retail price of the Samsung Series 7 Slate PC is $ 1,099.

New Samsung Tablet - Samsung Series 7 Slate PC (700T1A) Picture

Amazon creates first viable non-iPad tablet by not copying the iPad

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is likely to be the first successful tablet not sold by Apple, and there are several good reasons for it: the low price of $199, the convenient, portable size of 7 inches, and a rich catalog of books, movies and music offered through Amazon’s Web-based services. But Amazon’s smartest move was to avoid the fatal temptation of creating an iPad clone.

One by one, Android vendors have failed by selling tablets the same size as the iPad, for the same or higher price, but without an app store that could rival Apple’s. RIM came out with a 7-inch form factor device before Amazon, but the BlackBerry Playbook’s high price and technical limitations spelled its doom. HP tried another iPad-sized and iPad-priced tablet with the TouchPad running webOS, but it was so unsuccessful they were unloaded in a $99 fire sale. (You might argue the discounted TouchPad was the first popular non-iPad tablet.)

Amazon hasn’t raised the bar in technical specs. While it does offer a dual-core processor, the Kindle Fire has just 8GB of internal storage, relying on Amazon’s cloud instead of cramming more flash memory inside, and doesn’t even have a camera or 3G access. But Amazon has built out a giant digital media catalog, along with an Android app store to rival Google’s, smartly getting the services in place before it delivered the key piece of hardware. The Kindle Fire itself isn’t groundbreaking as far as devices go, but it should provide the most convenient platform for accessing Amazon’s many services. And by selling the Kindle Fire for $199, Amazon will reach consumers who want some of the media consumption capabilities of the iPad but weren’t willing to spend $500 or more.

“I don’t think this is really an iPad competitor,” Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg tells Ars. “This isn’t an iPad-killer. The Kindle Fire can be very successful without killing anything.”

The Kindle Fire won’t replace a laptop on a business trip, Gartenberg says. You’re not going to hook it up to a Bluetooth keyboard or a TV. But Amazon is rolling in cash from selling Kindles targeted for reading only, and adding a broader media-consumption device to the mix will build on that success. Gartenberg said the Kindle Fire could sell out during the holiday season.

Although the Kindle Fire runs Android, Amazon’s de-emphasis of the core Android platform in favor of its own custom interface and media consumption services isn’t likely to make Google happy.

“The loser here is not Apple,” Gartenberg says. “The loser, if anything, is Google and the Android ecosystem.” At today’s Amazon press conference, “Android was barely mentioned and Google wasn’t mentioned at all.”

Gartner’s tablet forecast, which shows sales to end users of 47 million iPads and 11 million Android tablets in 2011, hasn’t been updated yet to include the Kindle Fire. But Forrester researcher Sarah Rotman Epps predicts “Amazon will sell millions of tablets, and the rapid-fire adoption of the Kindle Fire will give app developers a reason—finally—to develop Android tablet apps. Apple’s place as market leader is secure, but Amazon will be a strong number two, and we expect no other serious tablet competitors until Windows 8 tablets launch.”

Amazon is competing on “price, content, and commerce,” Rotman Epps notes, drawing in video, music, games, magazines, apps and a free 30-day subscription to Amazon Prime. The Fire also features a super-fast browser called Silk, which offloads much of the processing requirements to Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud, reducing the number of requests sent over the network and in some cases reducing request times from 100 milliseconds to 5 milliseconds.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is US-only at launch, while Apple’s global ambitions have brought the iPad to 64 countries. Unlike the iPad, the Fire isn’t much of a productivity device, making it unlikely to be deployed in enterprises at large scale. But compared to previous tablet competitors, analysts expect the Fire to do quite well.

At the same time, Amazon has lowered the entry price for book-focused Kindles, with a $79 Kindle and a $99 Kindle Touch. Amazon leads the e-reader market with 51.7% share, ahead of Barnes & Noble’s 21.2%, according to IDC. With Amazon’s new price points, Gartenberg says “the question is how long it takes for Barnes & Noble to start dropping prices” for the Nook.

Adobe announces new tablet apps and cloud service

Adobe has announced a new suite of mobile applications for content creators that will allow users to do graphical work on tablet devices like the iPad. Adobe is also launching a new Web service called Adobe Creative Cloud that can be used to sync and share content between devices.

The Adobe Touch suite consists of six tablet applications, including a photo editor, a collage toool, a Creative Suite file presenter, a vector drawing program, a social color palette manager, and software for designing wireframes. Although the flagship mobile photo editing application is called Adobe Photoshop Touch, it's not a fully-featured port of its namesake—it's a lightweight tool that offers a selection of "core" Photoshop features with a finger-friendly user interface.

Unlike the expensive Adobe Creative Suite, which is intended largely for a professional audience, the new tablet tools are designed to be more accessible to mainstream users. They are also priced accordingly: Adobe's website indicates that the Android version of Photoshop Touch will sell for $9.99 at launch.

The Android application is built for Honeycomb and is shown running on the Motorola Xoom in videos on Adobe's website. The software will also be available on Apple devices, though Adobe hasn't yet announced the price of the iOS version.

Five of the six applications in the Adobe Touch suite are new, but the vector art program—called Adobe Ideas—has already been out for over a year and is currently available for purchase from the iOS App Store. The other tablet applications are not yet available. Adobe plans to release the Android versions next month and will disclose a release schedule for the iOS versions early next year.

Alongside the new tablet applications, Adobe also announced the Creative Cloud, a hosted storage, synchronization, and sharing service for users of Adobe Touch applications or Adobe Creative Suite. The Creative Cloud will allow content creators to easily move their work between desktop computers and mobile devices. It will also have social features and integration with Adobe's digital publishing technologies.

Adobe also revealed today that it has acquired TypeKit, a company that hosts fonts in the cloud and serves them to users through the HTML5 @font-face feature and sIFR. The company's services will presumably become part of Adobe's Creative Cloud offering.

Adobe hasn't yet announced the pricing for Creative Cloud, but promised that more details will be available next month. The service will initially offer users 20GB of storage capacity in the cloud.