Image of 7-inch ASUS tablet leaks, possibly destined for CES release
Starting with the dual-core Transformer and now with the quad-core Transformer Prime, ASUS quickly made a reputable name for themselves in the Android tablet space. Unfortunately, both of their offerings were 10-inch behemoths far out of the pocketable realm. Today, however, it appears that is about to change. According to a leak from Notebook Italia, ASUS has noticed the return of the 7-inchers and is preparing to release a pocketable EeePad Transformer at CES.
As usual, the image you see above is all that this rumor is based upon, and we have no official or unofficial word on specifications. Still, it seems safe to assume that the tablet will be similar to the 10-inch Prime, and bring a quad-core processor, at least 1GB of RAM, and probably a 1280 x 800 display. Considering ASUS’s promise of Ice Cream Sandwich on their older tablets, it would also make sense that they would either release this new device with the latest version, or at least have an update ready in short order.
Pricing for the rumored tablet is unknown as well, but past products may provide some hints at what ASUS will do. One of the reasons the original Transformer made waves was thanks to its $399 price point, $100 less than other 10-inch slates at the time. It would be nice to see ASUS follow the same trend with this release, but competition will be stiff with the aggressively priced Kindle Fire retailing at $199.
We will, of course, have to wait for CES to see if this rumor comes to fruition, but if this is a sample of the kind of stuff we will see there, the next couple weeks will certainly be both exciting and busy.
[NotebookItalia via AndroidCentral]