Adesun AD-708 tablet PC taken for a spin

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Adesun AD-708 tablet PC taken for a spin
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Tablet PCs being all the rage lately, we thought we'd take a closer look and see how the Adesun AD-708  stood up to scrutiny.  Designed to be used either as a regular handheld or on the dash of your car, the Adesun AD-708 is a seven inch tablet PC that opts for the x86 based VIA C7-M platform. Read on for a closer inspection.

Many of the tablet styled devices currently out there use an ARM chip as the main brain of the device, including the largely rumor-fueled Apple tablet that is either the world's worst kept secret or a world-class hoax. It remains however, a fairly solid bet that there will be plenty of ARM-based tablet offerings in the new year or earlier, many will apparently use Google's Chrome. Others, like the The P88 from Great Long Brother (covered here a week or two ago), opt for the Intel Atom chip. Intel of course means x86, or basically a scaled down version of your regular PC processor. The advantage of x86 is software, allowing you to run a familiar PC style environment, i.e. Windows and all your favorite apps.

The VIA C7-M processor platform is also x86 and a clear rival to Intel's Atom. VIA have the Nano CPU which is apparently a force to be reckoned with when compared to an Atom, but while VIA's more mature C7-M is far from a performance beast, it's still reasonably adept in applications that we'd see on a Tablet, i.e. browsing, GPS navigation, etc. It'd also be interesting to see how the VIA C7-M's low power signature translates in terms of battery life.



In terms of technical specifications you get a 7 inch (800×480) WVGA touchscreen powered by a 1.2GHz VIA C7-M, bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, G-sensor, 2 USB ports, VGA port and SD card reader. Dimensions are 2cm × 121.5cm × 3.5 cm which is reasonable for an x86 tablet, but not exactly wafer-thin.

Adeson offer two varieties of the AD-708; the regular, and the much more compelling deluxe version.  With the regular one you get 512MB of DDR2 memory, an 8GB SSD, and a 3200mAh battery, while the deluxe version gives you a more robust 1GB of DDR2, a larger 16GB SSD, with a 400mAh battery, a 2GB SD card and a GPS receiver thrown in. Regarding price, it's 1999 RMB or approx USD 293 for the regular sku, and 2999RMB or USD 440 for the deluxe.




Above you can see the product package, which includes the usual stuff and a very fetchingly bright red carrying bag. It's interesting to see the box referring to the device as a UMPC, a segment and category name that has remained quite peripheral compared to the broader tablet and more modern MID and PMP categories.



Just in case your Chinese is a bit rusty, let me help you grasp the ample portage and button schemes employed. On the front, clockwise from the top; built-in microphone, camera, delete button, left click, right click, backspace, speakers, wi-fi connectivity status lights, keyboard toggle, Windows key, a small track pad, and escape key. The track pad does look quite small, and I'd prefer it on the right, but I like the idea of a hardware backspace button as well as a keyboard toggle switch.

Gadget Types - MIDs