Freescale Debuts Designs for $199 Tablet

By Dena Cassella January 4, 2010

Do we see a cheap tablet on the horizon? Of course—it’s 2010 now. Freescale Semiconductor announced it will unveil the designs on its new “smartbook” tablet computer at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week. The company says this new device will be priced at $199 and hopefully entice consumers with the notion of an affordable tablet. The Freescale tablet includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and also features a 3D desktop framework with touch screen/QWERTY keyboard support. And, Freescale says this petite tablet will also boast its power-efficient ARM processor: the i.MX515 chip based on ARM Cortex-A8 technology.

“Freescale’s new tablet opens the door to an exciting new world of compelling form factors specifically designed and optimized to support common online activities including social media, high-quality audio/video playback and light gaming,” said Henri Richard, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for Freescale. “We believe the tablet will emerge as a popular form factor for the next generation of smartbooks. By introducing this prototype reference design, Freescale intends to play a vital role in propelling the mainstream adoption of smartbooks.”

According to a statement, the smartbook reference design is expected to be available for evaluation beginning February 2010 through local Freescale sales representatives.

Here are some quick specs on the Freescale reference design:

Display: 7-inch (1024 x 600) touch screen
Processor: Freescale i.MX515 processor based on ARM Cortex-A8 core
Connectivity: 3G modem (option) 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS
Memory: 512 MB DDR2
Storage: from 4GB to 64GB internal storage; removable micro SD
Camera: 3 Mpixel (video recording up to VGA 30fps)
Sensors: 3-axis accelerometer and an ambient light sensor
Adobe Flash Player support
Operating system: Android or Linux
Price: under $200

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