Fresh on the heels of Telstra’s launch of its own self-branded Android tablet device, Optus has confirmed it will launch a similar tablet at a price point $20 cheaper than Telstra.
Like Telstra’s T-Touch Tab, the Optus tablet — dubbed the ‘Optus My Tab’ — is a 7″ tablet device manufactured by a Chinese vendor, ZTE. The device will sell for $279 outright, $20 cheaper than Telstra’s T-Touch Tab, and will come with up to 3GB of pre-paid data, a 2GB micro SD card, and a 3 megapixel in-built camera. It will go on sale from mid-December and will feature version 2.1 of the Android operating system.
Telstra’s T-Touch Tab has received mixed reviews, with some critics concerned that the tablet’s resistive touch screen didn’t measure up to the more sensitive capacitive touch screens found in rival tablets such as the Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. An Optus spokesperson confirmed its tablet would also feature a resistive touchscreen.
Like Telstra, Optus will market its own branded tablet as an “entry level” device — providing “the Android tablet experience at an affordable price”.
Optus also today confirmed some details around how it would price the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet device, which it will start selling on Wednesday 10 November.
As previously reported, the Galaxy Tab will cost zero dollars up-front on a $59.95 monthly plan over a 24 month contract, with Optus stating the device would come with “$800 worth of data” quota included — which the telco said equated to 10GB of on-peak data or 20GB of off-peak data. Free access to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter is included.
The telco added that the Galaxy Tab would be available on a range of other monthly plans, ranging from $29.95 per month up to $79.95, and including what Optus said was data value ranging from $320 up to $1,280, with data being valued on a cents per megabyte basis. The actual Galaxy Tab will cost customers an extra fee of $30 or $15 per month respectively if they sign up for a $29.95 or $39.95 monthly plan — but the fees are waved for higher plans.
Optus said it has also also overhauled its most-paid mobile broadband plans — although details are not yet available. The telco said its plans now included “significantly more on- and off-peak data”, as well as free access to the social networking sites.
“The tablet market has well and truly exploded,” said Optus consumer managing director Michael Smith, stating that the company’s move to add the two new devices would give customers options. “This new category of device truly pushes the boundaries for what is possible in a mobile internet device,” he added.
Optus also confirmed News Ltd reports today that it had inked a partnership with the publisher to include free access to The Australian newspaper’s Android application — normally valued at $8.99 a month — for the length of customers’ contract, if they bought the Galaxy Tab on a 12 or 24 month plan.
Image credits: Laihiuyeung Ryanne, Creative Commons, Optus
LMAO.
Haven’t we learnt anything from years of shitty sales of shitty Windows CE tablets and then the overwhelming success of the iPad?
The only people that could possibly be sucked into buying one of these pieces of shit are a) people that have never used a real capacitive tablet or b) poor suckers that order this tablet over the phone or via the net, never having used it (only to discover its the most annoying slow buggy experience imaginable) or c) weird stylus loving freaks like ‘what’s his name’ in the T-Touch tab comments .
These things will fade away into the ether as the iPad continues to dominate sales. That is at least until the Blackberry Playbook arrives, which is the first serious competitor I’ve seen to the iPad yet (I don’t count the Galaxy Tab as it’s priced out of reach for the vast majority of people).
I agree wholeheartedly with you Simon — I expect the Optus tablet to be just as crappy as the Telstra one. However, I disagree with you on Playbook — surely it will be priced even higher than the Galaxy Tab — and it doesn’t even have 3G yet.
I expect the Galaxy Tab to be a hit in the Australian market irrespective of its pricing — the device is simply “that great”. It is awesome. I’ve been playing with a review unit over the past week.
Really? Very self-centered to think you know all the needs. How about people who would love a nice and cheap but still electronic noting device. People who are Android lovers and do not want anything else for an OS? You think it is possible?
You know what, you’re probably right with pricing of the Playbook. I just hope it will be around the same price as the iPad, as it would be good to have a fast business orientated tablet at a competitive price.
I haven’t held a Galaxy Tab yet, but I feel like I’ve watched every single video review of it on the net, and have spent hours reading all the reviews. The general consensus seems to be that it’s an awesome piece of hardware, however for it to survive and thrive it need a lot of developers to build native apps, dedicated to the tab’s size and pixel density. At the moment, a lot of apps designed for 840×480 or even 320×480 screens, are going to be pretty useless, or at the very least very ugly, scaled or windowed on the tab’s screen.
Just like iPhone apps suck on the iPad, most existing Android apps are going to suck on the Galaxy Tab. Remember when the iPad launched there were already hundreds of dedicated 1024×768 apps available, that really utilised the extra screen real estate, and had that slick wow factor to them. You’d be in a better position to tell me, are there many dedicated apps available for the Galaxy Tab yet, and if so what are they like?
Everything about the Galaxy Tab makes me drool except the price (and the usual issues with Android fragmentation but I won’t go into that ;) ). I just wish it was priced a little more realistically and then I think it could do extremely well. If it were $699 I’d seriously think about grabbing one myself.
Yup — I think most people can agree that $1k is just too much for a tablet … that is the price of a whole laptop these days. The price will need to come down as competition enters the market. And I think the apps are already coming – certainly I have had no trouble finding usable apps for the Tab over the past few days.
agreed, I love the idea of the Galaxy Tab, but as I already have a netbook and a HTC Legend, which combined cost the same amount as the Tab. I really don’t see the tab getting anywhere.
Also these cheap tablets from Optus/Telstra are just useless crap and if you really want a cheap tablet like these then go get something from DealExtreme.
I totally object!!!
it’s so stupid to use capacitive screens that make you scroll like a kids’ toy. Capacitive is just useless when you want to draw precisely, and then they invented some donut tip pen to draw on capacitive which would cost you 50pounds? so stupid.
While resistive is a good old technology that can do swipe just like capacitive and accept all sorts of touch, you can even use a pencil to draw on a resistive screen even you don’t have a stylus on hand. Capacitive is a new but practically inferior technology that has changed people’s usage of device into pure simplicity, not applicability. I can say everything has been stripped off of its options just because you can’t point precisely using capacitive. I can do lots of stuffs on windows old phone, than on iphone 4.
However, Capacitive technology shows us yeah it’s a good idea to swipe swiftfully, and more better softwares have improved UI thanks to capacitive. Since resistive can do capacitive but not the otherwise, resisitive has improved a lot thanks to capacitive(particularly iphone). But resisitive is still the mother of screen and practicality. I can tell you out there, good old tablet pc users dearly WON’T want to change into capacitive because they want to handwrite on their OneNote, which requires resistive screens/technology.
If you just like to scroll pages or swipe around your tablet, better opt for Minority Report spacial hand movement recognition UI in the future. I just can’t find the real practicality of capacitive. It is just a fancy technology trick that iphone android has been earning out of YOU!!! Everytime you watch a sci-fi movie you wonder how the person hack computer networks with lots of typing codes in the screen, or in youtube you can see artists playing around with photoshop altering a fat lady and stuffs, you wonder how they DO it. People want to get skilled, and should go for completeness and control of their softwares, not simplicity. Iphone is just for old people who has not been catching up with computer advancement and pc-illiterate, not for geeks, at all.
You make me laugh.
I have to agree … anyone who thinks resistive is better than capacitive has not used both technologies sufficiently, in my opinion.
Agreed. The fact that people don’t seem to understand the importance of inertial scrolling, multi-keyboard input and multi-touch gestures alone (let alone the vastly superior sensitivity and accuracy for finger input) mean they obviously don’t fully get what they are missing out on.
But some people may not need / require that!
again, practicality is an issue between resistive and capacitive. resistive can do the upgraded functions in present, but capacitive lacks precision. if you chaps disagree, based on what? cannot resistive do what capacitive can? multitouch is available in resistive too. now the question is can you handwrite a full page of little words on capacitive using pen, it’s absurd. fingertips just lack resolution. resistive is logically and technogically as accurate as capacitive, never say I’m wrong at this. you can using fingerskin on resistive just like capacitive but rather much insensitive, i agree. for example, just to highlight a sentence is a one-step on resistive but for capacitive it’s a few step process.for another instances. ipad just can’t supersede windows tablet in our decade, where functionalites lie at the roots. comparing an ipad and windows tablet say hp at their cores, which do you think is more worth it? you just can’t take full length long notes on ipad. for other functions, both can do equally GOOD. perhaps what you guys think is no no get the stylus as far as you can, but that stylus is crucial for GUI experience too. perhaps what i would like to conclude is capcitive and resistive must coexist in a software, which you can scroll swiftfully in an album but are able to write like jottng on a paper. i don’t think the stylus and resistive is TOTALLY obsolete as what everyone would suggest. again, i never see tablet PCs without resistive and stylus. Thus, i am pro-resistive, but just as what i have said in my first commentary, capacitive has revolutionised software UI constructively which are indispensable too, however resistive would still be the mother of touch technology!!!(guys provide examples if you disagree)
And why does it have to be all or nothing? I enjoy my capacitive mobile and my resistive windows tablet (the windows part, not that much). I use both for totally different things.
I agree sylwia.
it looks like some people want everything in a $300 device. I bought the Mytab yesterday and so far am loving it.
Yes it is a bit slower than my Galaxy S and the screen doesn’t support multi touch etc but I’m not expecting it to for that price point.
I bought it mainly for general web surfing and email and for that purpose it is good.
If you want everything go out and buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab at triple the price!
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