Asus, one of the biggest companies to embrace the world of netbooks and tablets, has announced the completion of its first tablet to be powered by Android 3.0.
The Eee Pad will begin selling this Friday, but only in the company’s home country of Taiwan. It is expected to roll out to other parts of the world at a later time.
The Eee Pad joins an exclusive group of devices to use the so-called “Honeycomb” version of Android. The only tablet on sale in the US to run Google’s latest OS is Motorola’s Xoom, which costs as much as $800.
Asus, meanwhile, is a company focused on affordable tech. Its Honeycomb tablet will be sold for as low as $400.
Additionally, Asus wants users to have total control over their computing experience, so for those who want a more traditional feel, there is a keyboard attachment that turns the Eee Pad into a netbook. What’s unique about the keyboard is it houses another battery, doubling the Eee Pad’s battery life to a whopping 16 hours.
Android 3.0 isn’t the only bleeding edge part of the Eee Pad. It also sports Nvidia’s new Tegra 2 dual-core processor, allowing for strong computing power. The device also comes with two USB ports and a microSD card slot for expandable memory.
As for built-in memory, consumers have a choice of either 16 GB or 32 GB.
Asus has not announced a rollout window for the Eee Pad, but we have no doubt the US is on its radar.
