Michelle Mastin

The Samsung 7 series is an interesting take on the convertible tablet. Rather than look for a new way for the screen to rotate, like Dell's Inspiron Duo, Samsung went the slider route. This form factor is common among cell phones, but does is it work for a 10" tablet?



Yes, yes it does. Samsung has managed to keep their slider to 2.2lbs, which is the same weight as the ExoPC and clones. Sure, you're getting 1" less screen space, but the same number of pixels, and a full physical keyboard. Samsung has also managed to get their slider to open to a much more useful angle than Asus. The Asus slider's screen still sits back at a pretty steep angle, even when fully open. The Samsung's screen will come up to a normal netbook level. The main advantage to this option over the tablet + BT keyboard option (which are best on a table), is that the Samsung will sit comfortably in a lap in laptop mode. With no twisting hinge to bulk the device up, it's also smaller and lighter than other traditional netvertibles like the Asus t101-mt, which was also on display at the Intel booth. While Samsung was rather stingy with their device, hiding them behind velvet ropes and never letting them leave the hands of the reps, Intel's tablet folks allowed me to hold it in both tablet mode and netbook mode, although they did the sliding. The tablet is thin and light for being a full convertible, and would definitely be worth the minimal bulk over a slate for those who want an attached keyboard.



Now for the meaty bits. The 7 series will be powered by an Atom Oaktrail processor running at 1.66GHz, which is a notch up from most of the Oaktrail machines we've seen. It will also come with 2GB of RAM, and either a 32GB or 64GB SSD. WiFi and Bluetooth will be standard with optional 3G connectivity. The 10.1" capacitive multitouch screen runs at 1366x768 which I find to provide a significant boost in usability over the netbook standard 1024x600. Samsung is also promising 9 hours of run time.



A final bonus usage case as described in the press release:

"The Samsung 7 Series acts as a connective hub with other devices to improve the entertainment experience thanks to Samsung's device-to-device connection solutions. Samsung AllShare™ enables users to control, search, swap and play videos, photos, and music across a full range of DLNA® (Digital Living Network Alliance) certified Samsung devices, ranging from cameras and smart phones to TVs and PCs. "