ViewSonic Viewpad 7 now available in the US

ViewSonic’s Viewpad 7 is now available in the United States. The 7-inch tablet costs about $480 and runs Google Android 2.2 Froyo. Viewpad 7 has been unveiled in India as well and will be available in leading retail chains by mid-January 2011 at a price of Rs. 32,000.

The ViewSonic tablet has 512MB RAM, 512MB of flash memory, a standard sized SIM card slot, and a micro SD slot supporting up to 32GB additional storage. Viewpad 7 (or VPAD7) has two cameras – a 0.3 megapixel VGA camera on the front for video chats and a 3 megapixel camera at the back for taking pictures. The device has a WVGA 800 x 480 pixel capacitive multi-touch LCD screen as well as a G-sensor, assisted GPS and uses 3G, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 networks. Related: Android tablets in India

Photo: ViewSonic Viewpad 7 Android 2.2 tablet

All of this is powered by a 600 MHz ARM 11 based Qualcomm MSM7227 processor. This processing speed has been reduced from the 1 GHz Snapdragon processor which is in the European version of Viewpad 7. Perhaps ViewSonic reduced processing speed in the U.S. edition of the Viewpad 7 tablet because it figured that the European version had very short battery life. ViewSonic’s Viewpad 7 runs on a 320 mAh battery that is said to support the tablet device for up to 10 hours of running time. Also read: Android 2.3 Gingerbread tablets

Viewpad 7 Android tablet comes preloaded with full suite of Google mobile services including the App Market. So, with VPAD7 you can access Gmail, Google Maps, while watching YouTube or reading digital book from Aldiko. For constantly on-the-go professionals, Document-To-Go makes it easy to view and edit Word, Excel, PowerPoint and see PDF files.

Viewpad 7 isn’t bundled with a wireless network unlike one of the alternatives – Samsung Galaxy Tab, and has a distinct advantage over Apple’s iPad in that it can use microSD cards, a SIM card and has built-in cameras as well. A front-facing camera is particularly useful in a tablet device because tablets can be used video conferencing. VPAD7 is also cheaper than both these devices.

However, it seems ViewSonic Viewpad 7 does have its failings. Its keyboard isn’t very well designed, and the device tries too hard to be a hybrid between a phone and a tablet, despite being too large to be used as a phone all the time. Also see: Top 10 Android tablets

There’s been a lot of talk about ViewSonic’s tablets coming to the United States, especially after the company displayed a whole range at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, including a 3D capable device.

Around August there was news that ViewSonic bought Android tablets from Indian manufacturer Olive Telecommunications and stuck its logo on these pads. But then there was further news that the two companies were merely sourcing their products from the same original equipment manufacturer. (Olive Telecommunications’s Olivepad is available in India for Rs. 26,000.)

ViewSonic is best known for its monitors and has diversified only recently to produce portable computers as well.