First Look: eLocity A7 Tablet

Posted 09/03/2010 at 1:55pm | by Jon Phillips

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If you’ve been following our tablet coverage, you know we’ve been waiting patiently for legitimate iPad competitors. You also know we gave a disappointing 6 verdict to the Dell Streak – more of a large smartphone “phablet” than a legitimate tablet – and that we’re looking forward to the Samsung Galaxy Tab, though one can only guess when that piece of gear will hit US shores.

But just when the whole world is focusing on the big-boy hardware vendors – your Dells, your Samsungs, your Toshibas and your RIMs – up pops the little-known Stream TV Networks with a clean, for-all-intents-finished prototype in hand, along with promises to hand off a reviewable unit next week. The tablet is called the eLocity A7, and we basically liked what we saw during 30 minutes of hands-on use.

Screen size is 7 inches diagonal, a soon-to-be popular dimension that you’ll be seeing in a lot of would-be iPad killers. This screen size allows for a smaller, lighter hardware chassis than what you’ll find in the iPad, but still provides enough screen real estate for comfortable virtual typing and other tablet-specific activity. Resolution is 800x480, which isn’t class-leading (the iPad does 1024x768), but you’re not going to get much better with any Android tablet, as the Android resolution limit is currently 854x480. 

Resolution limits aside, the A7 comes with Android version 2.2 (Froyo), the current best-available OS version. Some completely fine smartphones are running version 2.1, so we must commend Stream TV Networks for offering the best OS in the Android ecosystem.

Here’s how the physical footprint compares to the iPhone. Please note that this A7 prototype’s red shell will not be available at launch. Instead, all units will be black as seen in our beauty shots.

The A7 tablet is anchored by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 T20 system-on-chip. It’s a dual-core, 1GHz SoC that boasts 1MB of L2 cache, support for Adobe Flash, and of course Nvidia’s famous programmable 3D mojo. All of this processing power is mated to 512MB of DDR2 system memory, and 4GB of flash storage (plus a microSD slot for up 32GB more storage capacity).

Ports include HDMI and a full (not mini) USB slot. Thanks to the HDMI port and the video power of the Tegra  2, the A7 can output 1080p video to your HDTV or computer monitor. We saw it in action, and, yes, it was 1080P with no visual hiccups, at least in the brief video demos we saw. Of course, the A7’s built-in screen can’t display 1080p, but it’s nice to have the option available for external displays.

The A7 includes a 1.3MP front-facing camera for videochat, but that’s the extent of its camera offerings (which is fine by us, because we don’t expect pure tablets to double as digicams). Data I/O is handled by 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth. You’ll find no 3G inside this tablet, but a 3G version is in the works.

And, finally, the price: We were impressed to learn that everything above – along with an HDMI cable and a USB-to-USB “networking cable” – will cost you just $349. At launch, the only way to buy the A7 will be through Amazon, but other retail options will open up in time.

All in all, the eLocity A7 appeared to be an interesting package, but one can only glean so much from a half-hour of use. Stay tuned for the official review.