Notion Ink’s Adam Tablet PC of Bangalore-based EAFT Technologies and Hyderabad-based Notion Ink has generated enormous buzz on tech websites. This Android “smartpad” is considered to be a big contender against the iPad. It is a new type of hand-held, multi-tasking media device.
It is to be based on a NVIDIA Tegra T20 chipset that supports 1080p Full HD video playback, has WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities. It is the first confirmed device reportedly to use a Pixel Qi transflective display. It has a 10.1-inch screen, it will weigh about 1.7 lbs, connectivity for USB, HDMI, a 3.5 mm headphone jack and microphone input, 16GB or 32GB, with an SD slot for expandable storage. It will be using Android UI, with full gesture support, with a matte-finish anti glare, oleophobic and scratch resistant coating to the Pixel Qj display, Indoor or outdoor capabilities. Unlike traditional screens, PixelQI screen has a dual mode, and can be read in bright sunlight like an e-reader. With the backlight off, the company claims that it can increase battery life between charges by a factor of five. It boasts a 64-level gray-scale mode. It has HDMI-out and 3 USB ports, and can output video at 1080p resolution. There’s a 3-megapixel autofocusing camera.
The battery life is estimated to be 48hrs standby, 8hrs video playback, and 16hrs of surfing the net over WiFi. In direct sunlight, with the backlight off, it should shoot up to 160 hours. The eight-core Tegra T20 chipset is said to be the primary reason for such longevity.
The Adam tablet is the first device in the world to integrate two breakthrough power saving components NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chip and a PixelQi screen. Notion Ink co-founder Rohan Shravan said, “The chip provides an edge over the iPad with its ability to play full high definition videos and Flash on the web browser. It can offer the performance of a computer with the power consumption of a cellphone.”
The Beginnings of Notion Ink’s Adam and the men behind it.
Rohan Shravan- IIT- KGP (2008)
Rohit Rathi – IIT- KGP (2008)
Sachin Ralhan – IIPM
Mohit Gupta – IIT- KGP (2008)
Anirudh Gupta –IIT Delhi (2007)
Notion Ink has worked with the National Institute of Design’s R&D development campus in Bangalore to build a unique touch interface that runs on Google’s Android mobile operating system. They have faced many obstacles in filing patents and finding the right engineering talent. They opted to recruit and train their own engineers.
“We got the infrastructure at their Innovation Center, and the students as well. We knew the technology in and out and started training them. Within two months it started paying off, and we started developing the professional applications for the product we wanted to design.”
They have designed a lightweight product that adapts well, for the new desire to read newspapers and magazines digitally. The company is also working on an application store platform of its own, where users will be able to find their own wide variety of content. “It will offer everything from apps, books, video, audio, to magazines, newspapers and comics,” says co-founder Rajat Sahni.
Head of Consumer Graphics, Nishant Goyal, of southeast Asia, Nvidia, told Financial Chronicle, “Tegra is an inflection point. It is going to revolutionize the industry.”
Goyal also pointed out, “with mobile Internet usage on the rise, telecom firms can improve average revenue per user by driving higher amounts of rich multimedia content through their networks with Tegra, which is capable of delivering up to 1080p HD video playback. Media and entertainment firms as well as application developers will also stand to gain, as they will now be able to disseminate HD video and superior multimedia content to a great number of users.”
Makarand Kulkarni, the designer of Notion Ink’s Adam tablet said that:
Notion Ink was very clear that they wanted to have a camera that works on both sides of the product, I mean the front and the rear. “We gave it a complete analog rotation and integrated it into the spine of the Adam. It fit in so well that nobody wanted to go back on that despite complications in engineering it.”
“The spiral book is very intuitive. Metaphorical approach to form always gives this quality to the overall design. We have spent a lot of time figuring out the details. The character is kept rich and inviting. The buttons, their locations, the camera, the hexagon mesh – everything will be engaging you to explore the product in all its physical reality.”
From the youngest member of the team, Rohit Rathi, “Current PC technology is like a Hummer on a city road.”
The Notion Ink Adam has been referred to as the “iPad Killer,” due in part to the Tegra chip technology, the chip is smaller than a dime, but delivers 10 times better performance than smartphones, and the resolutions are four to eight times higher, and consume power at 20 times less than a PC.
PRICE AND RELEASE
The Adam is expected to be released sometime around July 2010. A rough guess of the cost is being calculated from around $300 to $800.
March 8th, 2010 at 8:35 am
it is a very nice article…..but please note that the OS of the ADAm is not designed by NID Bangalore. It is by Mukrand Kulkarni it self.when i came through the blog of the notionink…….Mr.Rohan Sharvan ,one of the co founder of notion ink, says that it is a widely spreaded misunderstanding,