The one thing we noticed at CES this year was the lack of new tablets being unveiled by many companies. Most seem to be using older molders to promote their apps, controllers, and software. LG has buckled this trend by debuting two new devices that have built in slider keyboards; you can think of them as a new breed of ultra-convertible tablets.
LG was showing off the Tab Book and Tab Book Ultra, which were basically Windows RT tablets with a built in keyboard. You can slide the screen down to cover the keyboard entirely, if you want to use it strictly as a touchscreen device. If you have the hankering to do something productive, you can slide out the keyboard and type up some emails or edit some spreadsheets.
Both units featured a 11.6 inch screen and a resolution of 1366×768. The Ultra is running on an Intel Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor and has 8GB of RAM and a 160GB solid state disk. The Tab Book has a Intel Atom Z2760 Clover Trail, 2GB of RAM, and a 64GB solid state disk.
Each of the these tablets are WIFI only right now and LG has confirmed that they will be issuing 4G/LTE models within the next few months. LG is going to start selling them in Korea first and then work its way into Europe and North America.
It seems most people are either using dedicated e-readers or tablets for their digital textbooks or ebooks. This tablet seems fast and robust and might make a solid device to use for your online course materials and to take notes while in class. It is extremely light and portable, which makes it a modern device to incorporate into your digital lifestyle.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
