Asus announces 8-inch Eee Tablet for October, priced at $599

Asus is all set to enter in to the tablet arena with its 8-inch Eee Tablet. Priced at $599, the ebook-reader/tablet will have a 64-grayscale TFT LCD without a backlight, and will hit the stores in October 2010.

Asus has plans for selling the tablet subsidized by wireless carriers, with whom they are currently in negotiations. This would point to an inbuilt wireless broadband connection. The new price is some $300-$400 over the expected price. While the price will go down when offered through carriers, there will be the inevitable attached contract.

The 1024×768 pixels display was manufactured by Chimel Innolux (CMI) and is specially designed for improved reflectivity due to the absence of the backlight. At that resolution, it outstrips its competitors in that area, and is also precise, at 2450 dpi. But where it comes short is with contrast ratio and reflective performance when compared to E-ink displays.

The tablet device was initially announced at Computex 2010 at a much lower price and was touted as a cheap and capable note-taking device. At the current price tag, and comparable lower features and specs compared to its competitors, Asus will have a tough time moving the stock.

Source: Electronista