Huawei MediaPad Honeycomb 3.2 tablet unveiled

Shenzhen china based Huawei Technologies Co., China’s largest phone-network equipment maker, introduced its second line of tablet computers today.

Huawei’s new MediaPad tablet with 7-inch screen runs Google’s Android Honeycomb 3.2 operating system. The MediaPad will have more than six hours of battery life; and comes pre-installed with software to use the social networking sites of Facebook and Twitter.

Huawei MediaPad specs:

1) Has on Qualcomm’s 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor (It will be the world’s first tablet to have this processor)

2) Runs on Android 3.2 Honeycomb (Android 3.2 Honeycomb is the first version of the Android operating system that’s been optimized to run on 7″ tablets)

3) Has a 7″ display, with a pixel density of 217 PPI or Pixels per Inch (in comparison Apple iPad 2 has 32 PPI, Galaxy Tab 10.1 has 149 PPI and Motorola Xoom 160 PPI).

4) Has a 5-megapixel rear camera with HD video recording, and a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera.

5) supports 1080p full HD video

6) Supports Flash 10.3

7) Collaboration with RealNetworks resulted in the ability to play audio and video files of any format. Announced formats include: WMV, Flash, Mp3, and H.264.

8) Connectivity options include HSPA+ 14.4Mbps, WiFi, HDMI output and Bluetooth2.1+EDR
9) Has inbuilt GPS radio, and A-GPS support

As expected the tablet will have access to the Android Market. In addition the tablet will have access to Huawei’s own app store, and other 3rd party app stores.

Pricing and availability: No word is out on Pricing Yet. The tablet will be available globally in Q3 this year (America, Asia and select European markets) via carriers and retail outlets.

Notably, Huawei had introduced the 7-inch Ideos S7, also running the Android operating system at a Beijing trade show late last year. Huawei’s S7 tablet and an updated S7 Slim announced in February are already on sale in Europe and Asia.

The company plans to sell MediaPad tablet globally as well.

Although it took Huawei eight months to launch its second tablet; the company is focusing on consumer markets; by broadening offerings of devices such as smartphones and tablet computers; and by expanding into business-computing services. This is to maintain sales growth amid slower demand for its traditional phone-network gear.

Huawei aims to triple annual sales to about $100 billion in the next five to 10 years.

In the first quarter of 2011, the company captured 1 percent of global tablet shipments, which is still dominated by Apple’s iPad globally.

A rather unknown or not much trusted name amongst the consumers of computing devices, it’s a big challenge for Huawei to make its mark in the tablet arena. Basically a phone-network equipment maker, Huawei expects the total sales this year to reach 199 billion yuan ($31 billion) from 185.2 billion yuan last year. The company expects the sales of smartphones and other handheld devices may increase to $20 billion in the next five years, from $5 billion in 2010, reports Bloomberg. --------

Huawei MediaPad Honeycomb 3.2 tablet unveiled

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