technoholik

At a press conference in Mumbai today, nVidia showcased two tablets running on the Tegra 2 chipset – Compal and Magic Tile. The event was packed with tech journalists and bloggers.. They were here to see the Adam, but Notion Ink founders had apparently missed a connecting flight and were unable to make it. The other two Tegra 2 tablets took up slack, they were received with much enthusiasm. A horde of journalists descended upon the device, photographing every conceivable angle and aspect of it.

We take a look at the EAFT’s 7-inch MagicTile first, which is more interesting as it comes optionally, with a capacitive touch screen. Besides, the Compal tablet won’t be directly retailed to consumers, and is “being currently evaluated by a number of potential carriers”.

EAFT Technologies, a product engineering company from Bangalore sees the Magic Tile as a device that will fulfill their mission to make “Everything available at your Finger Tips”. They see it as an entertainment and communications and educational device. According to the press note, a version of the MagicTile, customised for the education segment was launched at PESIT College in Bangalore.

Notable features of this device: It has a 1GHz Tegra 250 dual core processor, 7-inch (1024×600) touch screen, it can render flash, runs on Android 2.1, and has a front-mounted 1.3 mp camera. 3G connectivity is optional, so is GPS. Apps for Google Maps, Latitude, Street View, Traffic, POI Search should make this a useful car companion.

While the demo unit was using a resistive screen, EAFT’s Jitendhar G S told us that there will be a version with a capacitive screen as well. No details on price yet, expected launch date sometime in Q3 2010.

The battery life doesn’t seem very impressive: 8 hours on a single cell battery. No word on price yet, but we assume that it will be at a lower price point than the Adam, which has a swivel camera, and a 10-inch PixelQi screen.

Update: We had a close look at the Magic Tile in Mumbai this month, and managed to film a studio quality user interface teardown. This video clip from Technoholik tells you about the different versions of the device.

Technical Specifications: EAFT’s Magic Tile

Technical Specifications: OS and Applications

Availability