We just stopped by T-Mobile’s booth here in Orlando during CTIA to get up close and personal with the G-Slate, T-Mobile’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet that’s capable of running on its 4G HSPA+ network. Right off the bat, one of our biggest issues was that the G-Slate was covered with fingerprints, a sign that it definitely lacks an oleophobic coating on the display. The tablet felt great in the hand though, and we really liked the metal on the back, which gives it a premium look and feel. Hit the jump for our thoughts, and check out our gallery of images that’ll give you a closer look at this sleek tablet.
The G-Slate is powered by a 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. The user interface was pretty snappy when we moved around from program to program, and it seemed to handle Android 3.0 Honeycomb pretty well overall. The G-Slate is nice and thin, but after seeing Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 10 which measure in at just 8.6mm thick, the device felt a little bulky. While the G-Slate is equipped with dual-cameras on the back for shooting 3D video, the display itself doesn’t support 3D viewing, so that seemed a bit odd to us. Instead, you’ll need to output your 3D video to a 3D display to get in on the eye-popping action. There wasn’t a 3DTV at the booth, though, so we couldn’t test just how well those 3D cameras functioned.
T-Mobile has said the G-Slate will launch this spring for $529.99 after rebates with a new two-year contract but we’ll bring you an in-depth review as soon as we get our hands on a demo unit.