I was invited to Huawei MediaPad Launch event on the 20th Jun 2011. What makes this event so special is that it is Live in Singapore while the rest of the World watch it in Webcast.
The event was held at Red Dot Design Museum. There were quite a number of regional media. I guess they were here to attend the CommunicAsia 2011 too (starting from 21st June 2011).
When I first enter, I was greeted with 3 top models showing off the 7-inch MediaPad.
Moving inside, I was greeted with even more MediaPad. They were inside some enclosure (which means can see but cannot touch).
Finally at 5pm, we were ushered to another part of the area where the actual launch will take place. This was also simultaneously broadcast to the rest of the world.
Our host for the evening.
Our first speaker is Mr. Victor Xu. He gave us an insight of Huawei business approach and of course, the tablet business. I do not want to bore you with the slides. Basically, Huawei will incorporate the tablet in the “Cloud Pipe Device” model. It seems that Huawei is also coming up with its own App Store.
Finally, the topic focus on the MediaPad. FYI, Huawei MediaPad is the first MediaPad that will have Android 3.2 as its OS. It is also capable of playing full HD content and with its dual core 1.2 GHz processor, it really pack a punch in such a small form factor (7-inch).
Finally, the launch begins. We were greeted with music and we realized that the dancers are seated among the crowd. Here is the video.
Here is a shot of the model bringing in the Huawei MediaPad.
We have people from Huawei, Google, Qualcomm on stage.
And then also Huawei’s partners like GameLoft, Layar and etc.
After this, Mr. Victor Xu provided us more information on the MediaPad. He started with how Huawei has come a long way from the first Android version to its latest version.
Then he started to provide us more information on the specifications of the MediaPad. Here is a list of features you can find on MediaPad.
And here are more in-depth information.
Screen pixel density comparison with competitors.
As mentioned earlier, it can support Full HD, has a HMDI output and of course support Flash (10.3)
Powered by 1.2 GHz Dual Core processor, it has a battery life of 6 hours.
And the body is made of aluminum alloy.
And it is very light at 390 grams, although it is not the thinnest as compared to competition.
And it support HSPA+ and has WiFi 11n.
After the presentation, we had a Q&A session where the media started to query about the actual availability date and pricing. And as expected, the general answers provided is availability in Q3 and pricing will be competitive as studies is still on going.
And the next hot question is what is the features of Android 3.2. The answer that I can gather is that it is made for 7-inch tablet whereas the other version below 3.2 is for 10.1-inch.
Anyway, we did find out later that there are some other enhancement on Google maps and etc.
Finally, it comes to the end of the media event with Alicia Pan singing 2 songs.
Here is Alicia singing another song.
We were told that there are available units for hands on.
Here is a side profile of the MediaPad
And while most people are not looking, we took out the cover of the MediaPad to see what’s inside.
Here is video of some hands on.
And that is it. The end of the event.
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