图说2011台北电脑展：新奇平板混战

台北Computex 2011吸引了超过2000个参展商，预期会带来12万游客来台。和往常一样，当地人期待着我们到访，观察最新技术，同时掏光钱包。没人否认今年的大批产品是在追赶大获成功的苹果iPad，但很显然有创造力的人不会指望通过完全复制iPad来赢取消费者。所以这里将重点关注将在未来几个月通过创造力与多样化登陆货架的产品。

Computex 2011会场

宏碁Iconia VS. 三星Galaxy Tab

首先来看一对样式、尺寸、功能方面与市场领导者相似的平板。

三星Galaxy Tab看起来更适合游戏等高分辨率任务，由于无法进行一对一的对比，姑且算它们平局吧。这两款产品的尺寸与大多数产品相近，但明显是作为高品质产品进行设计。

宏碁Iconia

三星Galaxy Tab

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华硕变形金刚(Transformer)平板

来看些创新的

对我们这些离不开实体键盘的人来说，华硕变形金刚(Transformer)平板似乎是个值得期待的设计。第一眼看上去，它就像寻常的上网本或笔记本电脑，但机身/键盘其实只是屏幕的底座，可以取下后作为平板使用。接上屏幕后不但可以像笔记本电脑一样打字，而且底座还可以为平板充电并提供 USB 接口接入标准设备。

华硕Eee Pad Transformer

华硕Eee Pad Transformer

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华硕新概念产品：手机即平板

但华硕没有在这里止步。他们还开发了一种可以将平板和手机组合起来的办法。手机可以用作正常通话或短信，但当你想浏览网页或使用平板尺寸应用程序的时候，只需要将手机塞进平板的特制插槽，平板就能用上手机的联网功能。手机里的一张 SIM 卡可以用作两种用途——手机和平板。

华硕平板手机

手机变平板

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富士通转轴平板

富士通的平板PC解决方案是我介绍的这些产品中唯一一个真正的平板“PC”，因为只有它搭配了英特尔CPU与Windows系统。它采用了一种聪明的铰链结构，可以像普通笔记本电脑一样使用，也能收起来作为平板操控。它比其他电脑更重，但这种方案显示出PC可以在用作传统用途的同时提供时髦的触屏界面。

富士通转轴(hinged)平板

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优派Viewpad平板

最后要介绍的是优派的一款平板设计。虽然它不像前面提到的一些设计那么具有差异性，但优派在演示时将平板与高清显示器相连。Computex上展出的很多平板都支持HDMI接口，但优派是我见到的唯一一家将这功能作为标准配置进行演示的产商。优派的吉祥物Gouldian在南港会展中心四楼徘徊，希望吸引参观者来自己的展台。不过也可以看到，很多厂商都在用更传统的展会技巧——让美女穿上塑料衣物吸引参观者。

优派Viewpad

优派吉祥物Gouldian

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点击参考原文：Trip report: The tablet wars (aka Computex 2011)

《电子工程专辑》网站版权所有，谢绝转载

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Trip report: The tablet wars (aka Computex 2011)

Robert Hollingsworth

The current rose in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday (May 31) on the 31st edition of Computex, the second largest computer show in the world.

The show has attracted more than 2,000 exhibitors and is expected to draw 120,000 visitors to this tiny island, and as usual, the local population is elated to see us come and spend our dollars to observe the latest trends in new technology. While no one can deny that this year's crop of products is playing catch-up to the wildly successful Apple iPad, it is clear that creative minds up are not relying entirely on duplication of the Apple formula to win consumer dollars. Without trying to be judgmental, this report will focus on trying to identify the breadth of creativity and diversity that could adorn the shelves of retail stores around the world in the months to come.

Acer Iconia, Samsung Galaxy Tab

First, let's start with a very good pair of tablets that represent fair form, fit, and function comparisons to the market leader in this category.

The Acer Iconia tablet.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab seemed to be a better solution for high resolution activities like gaming, but since it was not possible to perform side-by-side comparisons, let's call this a draw. These solutions fit the mold typical to the basic definition of a tablet these days, and clearly have been designed as high quality products.

Asus

Now for some creativity.

A diagram of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer.

Another view of the Asus Transformer.

The Asus Transformer appears to be an alternative designed for those of us who just cannot leave behind the trusty keyboard for touch screen typing. At first glance, this looks like a typical netbook or notebook, but the base/keyboard is really a docking station for the screen, which can be detached and then used as a tablet. When the screen is attached, not only can you type as if the device were a notebook, the dock also charges the tablet and offers USB ports so you can also attach additional standard peripherals.

More Asus

The Asus Padfone.

The Asus padfone installed.

But the Asus guys were not finished. They also developed a solution that actually combines a tablet with a phone. The phone can be used as normal for calling and texting, but when you want to explore the internet or use a full size tablet device for any application, you install the phone into its customized slot and the tablet uses the phone for its connectivity. A single SIM card in the phone now acts to serve two purposes ... phone and tablet.

Fujitsu

Fujitsu's hinged tablet.

Fujitsu's hinged tablet (again).

This Fujitsu Tablet PC solution (the only one of these devices that can truly be called a Tablet PC since it is a real Intel CPU running Windows) accomplishes the trick of appearing to be a tablet by using a rather clever hinged mechanism which allows the screen to be used as a traditional notebook or reversed and then it becomes a true Tablet PC. It's heavier than the other alternatives, but this solution shows how a PC can still provide its legacy functionality while offering a modern touch screen interface as an alternative.

Viewsonic

Viewsonic's Viewpad.

The last tablet to be included is one of several designed by Viewsonic. While not specifically differentiated from many of the other choices, Viewsonic chose to demonstrate their solution in a booth where they emphasized connectivity between a tablet and existing high resolution monitors. Many of the other tablets at Computex also supported the same HDMI interface, enabling monitors and TVs to be connected to the tablets, but Viewsonic was the only vendor that I saw who demonstrated this connectivity as a standard part of their story. Viewsonic's mascot Gouldian finches wandered around the 4th floor of the Nangang Convention Center, trying to attract traffic to their booth. But as you can see, other vendors were relying on more traditional tradeshow techniques, dressing attractive young women in plastic clothing, to achieve the same results.

Viewsonic's mascots on the loose.

I have been careful to not spend a lot of time in this update commenting on CPUs (ARM versus Intel ATOM) or operating systems (Windows versus Android), since any serious buyer knows that the Intel solutions already support both Operating Systems and that Microsoft has announced that Windows 8 will execute on both the Intel and ARM CPUs. The one specific technology comment that was obvious in this tablet comparison was the dominant presence of Nvidia's Tegra (ARM-based) CPU in the tablets that were not supporting the Intel ATOM processor. A year after Freescale, Marvell, Qualcomm, and TI were all represented in the SmartBooks, which have been replaced by this tablet revolution, the ratio of Nvidia design wins to everyone else was remarkable.