Dell Quietly Announces 7″ Android Tablet | Hacker News Reader

Dell Quietly Announces 7″ Android Tablet

techcrunch.com

12 pointsvijaydev12 comments

I'm curious as to why we're seeing a large number of 7" tablets and few 10" tablets. Usually there are more than a few hardware manufacturers copying the form-factor of Apple designs very closely.

It's just a matter of time. Once a tablet-friendly Android version comes out more manufacturers will get on board and you'll likely see huge diversity. Android phones right now range from 2.8" screens in the low end to 4.4" in the high end.

As to why we're seeing 7" tablets right now, I can think of two good reasons:

- it's easier to hack android into a 7" screen versus 10" as 2.2 isn't tablet-friendly.

- Differentiates the product fairly well - compared to the ipad it is lighter and smaller with a higher pixel density.

IMO, 7" is a better form factor for e-reading (at least for novels, as opposed to magazines or textbooks). Holding an iPad in one hand is possible, but becomes tiresome quickly. I suspect they're intended to compete with Kindle-type devices as much as the iPad, and their size creates also creates a nice differentiation point, up until Apple makes an "iPad Mini" or somesuch.

Have you tried to put the iPad in your pocket yet? I think a 7" tablet fits better in a jacket at least.

A good point, but from what I have observed, it is common for people to copy Apple blindly. It's curious that they're not doing so here.

Just a guess: competing directly with the iPad may be too hard to even try. Apple has a quality product _and_ may have the economies of scale to be price competitive, even with their margins (pricing of the Dell Streak may be evidence of this) "Fits in your pocket" is an aspect on which the iPad can easily be beaten.

TechCrunch's excerpt of CrunchGear's summary of Engadget's summary of

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870386010457550...

Engadget has a picture though.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/22/michael-dell-teases-new-7...

currently have the 5" dell streak, amazing phone / tablet, barely turned on my pc at home since I got it.

5" makes more sense to get people using them. 7 will just be too much for most people to carry all the time and get use out of.

I've been following the 5" devices closely for a while now. The iPhone class is just too small for serious work, and only farmers have pockets big enough for 7". Can you elaborate on your time with the Streak? How is typing on that thing? Do you code?

hi, using it now. I don't code, I produce sites though. at home I mainly view blogs, read a lot of news, watch videos, listen to music and play games. I used to do all that on a pretty meaty pc, but now I exclusively use the streak.

it's got loads better since getting 2.1. typing on it now, its pretty fast. error correction is good. not quite as fast as a real keyboard, but fast. as fast if not faster than the qwerty on my old Nokia e71 (which I was really happy with). can add a Bluetooth keyboard if needed.

it makes a fine phone, no problems there. fits fine in my pockets and the screen is prefectly big enough for browsing and reading.

any other specific questions let me know.

Thanks! That's good input. I'm encouraged about the typing speed, especially because the 5" size leaves decent room for the text area.

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