SlashGear JP
One of the most exciting products from CES 2010 last month was Notion Ink‘s Adam tablet, the Android-based slate using the latest-gen NVIDIA Tegra chipset and Pixel Qi‘s innovative low-power display. The company had brought along a prototype they could exclusively show us, and now they’ve sent over renders of what’s likely to be the final Adam design complete with some mockups of a SlashGear digital magazine. And, since Apple’s long-awaited entrant to the tablet arena – the iPad – has since made its debut, we also asked Notion Ink just how Adam holds up to the new competition.
The short answer is “very well indeed”. Particularly of note is the battery life; Notion Ink CEO Rohan Shravan highlighted Apple’s “Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music” [emphasis ours] estimates for the iPad, and pointed out that, thanks to Tegra’s frugality, the same Apple hardware with the NVIDIA chip could run for 2-3x longer than the iPad manages. That’s before you factor in the Adam’s Pixel Qi display, which stretches out the longevity even more, and of course Tegra is capable of outputting 1080p HD video whereas the iPad maxes out at 576p/480p via its optional component cable.
Interestingly – and hitherto unannounced – Notion Ink are apparently considering two versions of Adam for release, one of which could measure 12.9mm thick and the other 11.6mm; in contrast, the iPad is 13.4mm. The company wouldn’t say what the difference between the two units might be, but considering much of the bulk of the tablet is from the Pixel Qi panel we’re wondering if they’re also looking at a slimmer LCD version. That could potentially be cheaper again, despite offering better battery life than the iPad. Of course, that’s just our speculation right now, and Notion Ink themselves are only considering the two models.
Shravan also tells us that Notion Ink’s digital content partnerships are progressing swiftly, and that the Adam will launch with digital magazines, ebooks and comics from some significant collaborators. No names we can share right now, but there’ll be more information at Mobile World Congress 2010 next week. There, they’ll also be demonstrating the Adam running Flash, again something the iPad can’t manage.
Finally, the company has told us that it will be running an Apps Competition, similar to Google’s Android Developer Challenge, to encourage software designed for the Adam tablet. Details of the Notion Ink competition haven’t been finalized as yet, but we’re told the prize fund will come in at over $1m. We’ll be talking to them more about it in Barcelona next week.
Looking for more on the Notion Ink Adam? Check out our hands-on report from CES 2010.
30 Responses to “Notion Ink Adam: Flash, iPad comparison & App Competition”
With a name of “Adam”, it’s going to be a winner!
+26Ewdison Then February 8, 2010
hahahaha that is one bias opinion coming from “Adam” himself :)
-6Kobaljov February 8, 2010
Hmm there was an old story about Adam and the Apple and..
+26like adam ate the apple, and adam was the first one to do so, but eve (dell or hp or acer or microft or some old pc manufacturer) will have her share of the apple
-2Jaek July 6, 2010
Um… not to burst your bubble or anything, but the snake (Satan) deceived Eve into eating it and she got Adam to take a bite after already eating some herself… in short, woman was the downfall of man =P
-1eufouria February 8, 2010
Looks like a winner to me. Looking forward to hearing more about it.
+8pepper February 8, 2010
Extra-large SSD or extra battery life may be other reasons for the thicker device. For them to consider an LCD version would mean that the PixelQi one has some significant disadvantage. There was talk about the colors being not quite as brilliant but judging from the OLPC I don’t think thats the problem. Cheap mass production is actually one of the benefits mentioned by PixelQi and NotionInk already implied the Adam gonna be rather cheap. So I don’t think its the price.
What NotionInk did not yet answer(and therefore the answer is probably “not yet”) is wether the Adam will be able to retain display content while in suspend to ram. The OLPC can do this, it saves a lot more battery when reading ebooks/docs.
+3pepper February 8, 2010
Possibly a wacom interface? that would be awesome….
+9Antimatter February 8, 2010
Would love to see a stylus and inking capability on this. With a name like Notion Ink, they really should have that.
+23eufouria February 8, 2010
Without a doubt, I would expect this to take over my tablet PCs duties in taking notes for class.
+13Kobaljov February 8, 2010
Where will be the Notion Ink’s booth at the MWC? (It’s name is not on the list)
+1Notion Ink won’t be at Macworld.
-34dasher February 9, 2010
MWC = Mobile World Congress
+20God if they had the Wacom Touch & Pen on this thing with the Pixel QI screen. I would be in heaven. I’d probably sell my St5112…
+14Actually Steve Jobs said in an interview with Mossberg that battery life for music would be 140 hours. So does the Adam have 20 hours battery life for music (7 times LESS than ipad), or 20 hours for video (twice ipad)? Either way the Adam looks very sluggish in responsiveness, and the touchscreen seemed to lack sensitivity.
-34I get the impression that that was more of a mockup than a prototype, tbh.
+9HotMoogleLove February 16, 2010
From The Notion Ink Website “Over 140 hours audio and over 16 hours of HD video playback”
As for speed, we’ve seen it run 1080p video flawlessly on the mock-up. I’m sure the android issues wont be issues in the final product.
+8Where would you get the 1080p source material? Is there a HD video store for open source outside of pirating off some torrent? The screen does not support 1080p. The device outputs 1080p via HDMI.
-10Stay tune, we’ll have much more information at MWC.
+8ArturMaly February 13, 2010
ADAM has a site: http://www.notionink.in
+5Adam Vs Apple.. where is Eve?
Neutraltwin-head February 15, 2010
Adam ate the Apple
+17Notion Ink’s site has the variants’ spec sheets listed as A and B. And as speculated, the thinner model is listed as touchscreen only with the thicker including the PixelQi.
+4kiranpande February 22, 2010
Lack of Camera in ipad:
Adam supports a 3 megapixel swivel auto focus camera. This implies that the device will support video calling.
However, Apple’s iPad lacks camera. Lack of camera being widely seen as a negative in iPad as the device is said to be placed somewhere between a smartphone and laptop.
Lack of multitasking in ipad:
According to Adam creator Notion Ink, the Tablet will support multitasking. This means the device will be able to run several applications in parallel.
However, there is no multitasking option in iPad’s OS. This means for example users can’t listen to FM while they surfing the Web, or switch back and forth between Facebook or Twitter, or write an email while talking on a VOIP call.
+9For those who are wondering the thinner model (11.6mm) wont have the Pixel Qi e-ink Display just the lcd
+4and also here is notions website with the specs http://www.notionink.in/adamtechspecs.php
+2its a great tablet its too sad it lacks Flash support
-26This tablet looks great. Specially the fact it has HDMI port for HDTV and support for Adobe Flash. I would love to buy this.
+9stuofandhra May 11, 2010
i dnot know how it will mover take ipad……. amercan love to say…. . its americn…and will buy…. from apple bcz he frm america… even adam is too good, how would the psychology of americans will change to buy…. one one… they got lots of their shares in apple, if the buy adam… apple will loose and their shares will drop…. who want to do that…
-12if u think indyans will buy adam… i am not sure… rich indys love foreign goods…
so there is tough life ahead for the adam team… there is an II-M mgmt grad in their team.. let see how he handles marketing and sales…..
stuofandhra May 11, 2010
i dnot know how adma will take ipad……. amercan love to say…. . its americn…and will buy…. from apple bcz he frm america… even adam is too good, how would the psychology of americans will change to buy…. one one… they got lots of their shares in apple, if the buy adam… apple will loose and their shares will drop…. who want to do that…
-11if u think indyans will buy adam… i am not sure… rich indys love foreign goods…
so there is tough life ahead for the adam team… there is an II-M mgmt grad in their team.. let see how he handles marketing and sales…..