Vizio Readies 8-Inch Tablet

By Joseph Palenchar On Jul 5 2011 - 4:01am

NEW YORK – Vizio announced summertime availability of its first tablet, a Wi-Fi-equipped Android 2.3 model equipped with 8-inch touchscreen and IR blaster to double as a universal remote.

Although the company didn’t disclose a price, Internet photos of a Walmart display show a price of $349.

A 3G version will come “fairly soon,” said product marketing trainer Carlos Angulo during the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) Line Show.

The VTAB1008 tablet will use an interface that the company will adopt across multiple home entertainment products, including TVs and Blu-ray players that will also access the web and download apps from the Android Market.

The tablet, due in retail stores nationwide in the summer, features 1GHz processor, 8-inch 1,024 by 768 capacitive touchscreen, built-in GPS, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity and extended battery lasting up to 10 hours depending on usage, the company said. Other features include 2GB of onboard storage, MicroSD card slot supporting an additional 32GB, HD video playback, micro HDMI output and front-facing camera video chats. Three embedded speakers deliver stereo playback in portrait and landscape mode.

For video playback, the tablet features HDMI mirroring and HDCP (High-Definition Copy Protection) compliance to stream copy-protected video via HDMI output to a TV, said Angulo.

A built-in universal remote control app features codes for 95 percent of remote-controllable devices on the U.S. market, the company said.

Vizio showed the product and its first smartphone, also Android-based, at January’s International CES.