TazTag plans for big year with its NFC-enabled TazPad, more slates to come
TazTag plans for a big year with its NFC-enabled TazPad & there's more slates to come
You may have seen our post a couple of days ago highlighting the fact that the NFC-enabled TazPad already exists and is readying for launch. Unique in its inclusion of NFC, ZigBee and a biometric authentication scanner, we were not satisfied with the current amount of information out there for this trendsetting device, we reached out to to the maker of the TazPad, TazTag, for a few more details regarding the little tablet that does it all. We're pleased to say they didn't disappoint, and we now have some fresh news to share.
We have a few updates and insights into the development and some projected launch details for the TazPad from TazTag. Firstly, TazPad will be available as a commercial sample in the third week of June for Integrators / Solution Providers, so we can take from that, TazPad is not a vaporware product. Those that pre-order their TazPad can benefit from an early adopter discount.
TazPad production units will be technically available as of mid-July, ready for deployment and pilots. Then all that has to happen to get your hands on one, is the FCC and CE certification. TazPad will then fully launch in the U.S. and its native Europe. No word yet on which online or offline retailers will carry the TazPad or for how much, but we are sure that information will come a little closer to launch when dates and times have been firmed up.
As you may have read in our earlier article, we suggested a couple of features we felt the TazPad would benefit from. Turns out TazTag are already on the case. The TaZPad shown at CeBiT was a prototype model, it was running on Froyo but we now know that the production model will ship with Gingerbread. We had stated that we were a little worried that the TazPad wouldn't be able to access the Android Marketplace. The company let us know that an update to Honeycomb would likely happen before the end of the year and possibly sooner.
The news we are excited about though is that the company is also working on some dual core models with higher screen resolution. TazTag let us know they are developing a range of TazPad's. TazTag's, Michel Delaux, International General Manager & Co-Founder, told NFC Rumors that "We are planning other versions of the TazPad, to enlarge our portfolio from low-end to high-end," and, "we are going to propose [a] high-end version of our device for more demanding markets and usages."
The TazPad was certainly the first announced NFC-enabled tablet, it looks like it may be the first to market. If more models are forthcoming TazTag could become an NFC force both here in the U.S. and certainly in Europe. "We wanted to go fast and provide a first version, generic enough to answer fast to market demand since we envisioned long ago the booming of NFC coming this year," Michel explained.
The picture we showed you of the NFC-enabled TazPad in the last article was the prototype knocked up for CeBiT
Looking a little more svelte and in higher resolution we can clearly see that the side of the TazPad sports the charging port, HDMI, USB and the obligatory 3.5mm headphone jack. The back is wrapped in white plastic, while the front has a black bezel that houses a 7 inch 800 x 400 capacitive multi-touch screen and what looks to be an aluminum bar at the bottom where TazTag have put some physical buttons.
Other TazPad Specifications
The Tazpad is currently running Android 2.3.
It weighs slightly less than the iPad 2 (1.33 pounds or 601 g) weighing in at .99 Lbs or 450 g.
It has a 2 megapixel shooter that can, oddly, either be built on the front or back of the device and it sports an A8 1Ghz processor. This may well be great for B2B applications. Choice never hurts!
Networking: ZigBee PRO which can work up to 50 m in an open environment, NFC courtesy of INSIDE MicroRead which includes a secure element from Infineon Technologies. Wifi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR & 3G comes in the flavor of HSDPA (Think T-mobile & AT&T). A slim slot is onboard - you pick your network.
Other features include 1080p video, 3-axis accelerometer, stand alone GPS and a 4800 mAh, LiPo battery. The TazPad has 512 MB of Mobile DDR memory, has 4 GB of internal storage and can accommodate a Micro SD card up to 32 GB.
So from this we can see it has security, a lot of connection options, including Zigbee PRO which we see a big future for, alongside a pretty capable NFC chipset.
Obviously we are interested in the NFC capabilities of this slate and the TazPad doesn't cheap out in that department. TazPad is compliant with both ISO 14443 A/B & ISO 15693. It supports Tag Types 1,2 & 4 but doesn't support FeliCa which is mainly used in Japan anyway. No loss there. TazPad, does however, have a trick up its sleeve the Nexus S is yet to master: Emulation.
We wanted to know a little bit more about the tech that TazTag is using to add in the ZigBee capabilities.
We did a little digging and found a press release from last year where the CEO of TazTag speaks about the feature set and potential uses. You can also see how TazTag has evolved the concept into the TazPad.
"The TazCard is a new multi-purpose, highly secure NFC device in a slim pocket format. This personal wireless safe with a large touch screen, biometric sensor and various communication interfaces (NFC, USB and ZigBee) allows a wide range of secure applications. These applications include Smart Metering, Home Automation and Geo-localization - all applications that can benefit from the ZigBee features in the device." ~Eric Fouchard, CEO of TazTag.
To give us a clue on what the TazPad is using chip side to accomplish this we need to look no further than down a few lines in the same press release.
"The Atmel single-chip ATmega128RFA1 ZigBee solution is the right choice for adding ZigBee functionality to a portable compact device with energy constraints such as the TazCard from TazTag," said Magnus Pedersen, product marketing director of MCU wireless solutions at Atmel Corporation." ~ Magnus Pedersen, product marketing director of MCU wireless solutions at Atmel Corporation.
NFC Rumors view
We think as it stands, the TazPad is suited for the B2B market. It has the security, enough graphical power for presentations and will be fully capable of video conferencing. We also feel, however, that with the tweaks the company is considering to the product, it could attract a mainstream demand, dependent on retail pricing and availability. In concept, as we haven't got our hands on a TazPad yet, we really like its reported features and although there are tablets out there that can out pace it on this or that spec, in general the TazPad has a pretty solid feature set. If the slate gets some bigger brothers with higher specs in the screen resolution and processor area and keeps its NFC and Zigbee roots, we think TazTag could become a name to watch in the tablet space because they are already showing us they are innovative and we hope to see them break more boundaries. Are you ready to lust over a TazPad?