What we have in the ASUS Eee Pad Slider has an innovative design that reminds me of a smartphone. Except its a 10.1″ tablet device that slides out to reveal a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It is powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor with a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 and NVIDIA GeForce GPU. It also packs a capacitive touchscreen and a physical keyboard that slides out from behind the display panel, so you can tap out those important messages and emails at lightning speed.
The Slider feels pretty good to hold. It measures 273 by 180 by 18mm, so, while the keyboard definitely makes it bulkier than rival tablets, it’s not disastrously huge. More importantly, it’s pleasingly designed, with curved edges, a black glossy bezel around the display, chrome edging around the sides, and a big iPad-style ‘home’ button, flanked by touch-sensitive menu and back buttons. It feels well put together, and generally really classy.
It also has 2 built-in digital cameras the front offers 1.2-megapixel and rear 5-megapixel. It will be running on Android 3.0 with optional 3G. Tablets with sliding keyboards are a new proposition, and we’re yet to be totally convinced that they’re much better than their normal touchscreen cousins. But we can’t deny that the Asus Eee Pad Slider looks promising. If the keyboard proves useful enough to counter the fact that it makes the device bulkier than rival tablets, this machine could be a real contender.
Expect it from $500-$800 this coming May.
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