NEC, the electronics giant from Japan announced their LifeTouch Cloud Communicator, an Android powered tablet device with a customized UI. It is planned to be sold in japan around October this year. But that device has one big problem in my eyes: It does not look sexy enough. See yourself:
And this is what NEC packed into their LifeTouch:
| Specifications | NEC LifeTouch Cloud Communicator |
|---|---|
| Processor | ARM Cortex A8 (The cortex A8 can be from 600 to 1000Mhz, I think this one is closer to 600Mhz) |
| RAM | 256MB Mobile DDR |
| Screen | 7-Inch / TFT LCD / 800 x 480 / WVGA / resistive touchscreen |
| Storage | ??? unknown |
| A/V Input | 3MP front and back camera / mono microphone |
| A/V Output | stereo speakers / stereo headphone ja |
| Network | WLAN (802.11 b/g) / Bluetooth 2.1 / can be customized to support 3G |
| Connectors | 2 x USB (1 x Standard A / 1 x Micro B) / 3.5mm mini-jack |
| Sensors | Accelerometer / Megnetic sensors / ambient light sensor |
| Battery | 8hrs battery life |
| Extras | Android 2.1 / Customized UI in Japanese Language / Stylus / GPS / SD card slot (full size)/ NEC cloud computing access / cursor buttons / Docking Station |
| Price Range | unknown yet |
| Manufacturer | NEC |
You see, the technical details are not stunning, even a bit disappointing, as they are pretty average. NEC should be able to pack better components into a nice looking tablet, but this is far away from that. Maybe it is just the prototype design. NEC wants to sell it to other companies, so they offer optional 3G and changes in the design. There is a bit hope for a better final look of this thing.
The UI customization could be fine and well made for the customers they target, but looks a bit bloated. I wouldn’t spend any of the narrow processing power on such menu animations as you can see in the video from diginfo.tv:
