Intel's Quanta Redvale tablet shows MeeGo tablet experience

Published by Rafe Blandford at 16:05 BST, June 1st 2010

During their Computex keynote today Intel briefly showcased a MeeGo based tablet. The Quanta Redvale tablet  is powered by an Intel 1.5 Ghz Moorestown processor with a 10 inch touchscreen. This also marked the first public outing for the MeeGo tablet experience, the UI that will be used in MeeGo tablet devices. An SDK for application development is expected to be available later in the summer. Read on for further details.

The Quanta Redvale tablet is an early stage reference (example) design. Manufacturers can use it as the basis for their own devices, which we would expect to see on the market in the first half of 2011. There are several tablets being shown of at Computex, which would appear to be likely candidates for a consumer launch of a MeeGo tablet.

Intel's Moorestown Quanta Redvale tablet [large version], showcasing the MeeGo Tablet Experience

The MeeGo for tablets user experience is different to the netbook user experience, which debuted as part of the MeeGo 1.0 release last week. It has two modes of operation: simple view and panel view (as shown above). MeeGo will have a variety of user experiences (UIs) including netbook, tablet, automotive and handset. The tablet experience looks set to be a marriage of ideas from both Maemo 5 and Moblin 2.1 respective user interfaces.

The simple view of the tablet user experience is based around a standard application grid layout similar to current high mobile handsets and tablet devices like the Apple iPad. The panel view attempts to create a flatter and more fluid user experience; it is made up of a series of columns, which can be completely customised, showing the users photos, images, web pages, social network updates and other current activities. 
   

Hands-on video and images of the Quanta Redvale tablet

Here's a video of the MeeGo tablet courtesy of @chippy from Carrypad and UMPC portal. Engadget also has some hands on commentary and extensive image gallery.

Here some of the key points from the video:

• Running on MeeGo 1.0 with tablet user experience
     
• Simple mode - easiest way to access applicatios from icons
     
• Panel mode - 'more personalised, rich and dynamic environment where users have access to their own content'. Library panel for eBooks, friends panel for social network status updates, video panel for quick access to videos,  image panel for image.
    
• There's a demonstration of media player and playback of 720p video clip. 
    
• Demonstration of multi-touch - zooming of images via pinch and five finger multi-touch in a finger paint application. 
    
• Battery lifetime of 'around 6 hours'.
    
• Multi-tasking of applications, with a task-switcher bar along the bottom of the screen. 
     

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