Huawei S7 tablet upgraded with capacitive touch screen spotted in the wild
The Huawei S7 Android tablet initially caught our eye when it made its debut at the Mobile World Congress in February and stepped further into the limelight at Computex in June when the full specifications were revealed. These included a Snapdragon processor underclocked to 768MHz, 3G, b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, full phone functionality, Android 2.1, and access to Android Market. The device remains as a fairly competitive member of the 7-inch tablet category, being available for $299 from Best Buy (WiFi only version) or $359 from Expansys US (3G version).
One blemish on the spec list for many potential buyers is the S7's 7-inch resistive touch screen, which hampers the Android experience on the tablet at times. Back when the device was making the trade show rounds, Huawei had mentioned that a capacitive touch screen may be an option at a later date but there haven't been any further details, until now.
Members of the Android Tablets Forum have discovered two videos of an upgraded Huawei S7 with a capacitive touch screen supporting multi-touch gestures.
The fact that one of the videos appears to be an official Huawei promotional video (above) indicates the company may be planning to release the new model in the near future. The second video from Russia (below) is a brief hands-on demonstration of the capacitive S7, although the multi-touch performance looks a bit rough currently, something which will hopefully be ironed out prior to the launch.
No word on a release date or pricing of the upgraded S7, and also no information on whether Huawei took the opportunity to upgrade anything else in the device, but the touch screen upgrade is definitely a welcome addition to what is already a decent value-orientated Android tablet.
In other positive news for existing S7 owners is a rumor that an update for Android 2.2 should be released early next year.
[Android Tablet Forum via Liliputing]
