cyrenepenya: ASUS Eee Pad MeMO and MeMic hands-on (video)

Monday, February 28, 2011

ASUS Eee Pad MeMO and MeMic hands-on (video)

Though we played with ASUS' Android-powered Eee Pad MeMO back at CES, the company spilled a couple new secrets here at CeBIT today: first, it'll be running Honeycomb by the time it launches in June -- current prototypes are running Gingerbread -- and second, certain MeMO bundles will include the MeMic, a separate Bluetooth handset that lets you take calls without holding a giant tablet to your face (it's pronounced "me-mike," by the way). Interestingly, the MeMic features a translucent LCD that we're told will make it to the production units; unfortunately, the units on display were running very early alpha software that had "given out" by the time we arrived at the booth, so we couldn't get a sense of viewability. In addition to making calls, the MeMic will let you stream music, control media, and perform a few other basic tasks that make sense for a tablet remote.

On the Honeycomb side, ASUS tells us the delay is simple -- as it stands, a commercial-grade Honeycomb port doesn't exist for Qualcomm hardware, which is what the Eee Pad MeMO is running (the Xoom -- the only released Honeycomb tablet so far -- is running Tegra 2). The company's confident that it'll be ready by the time the MeMO's slated for release in June, however. Follow the break for video!

Gallery: ASUS Eee Pad MeMO and MeMic hands-on