Those who like their ereading clients monster size and easy on the eyes for distance viewing are in for a treat. Some mighty mighty-size Android machines are about to debut, as the Android form factors get ever wilder and more woolly, taking mobile into territories where even few desktop OSs tread.

The Ematic Cinema Tab, already available from some retailers for around $300, offers a 13.3″ Android 4.1 tablet with kickstand and a  1.6GHz dual core chip – a 1.6 GHz Rockchip, unfortunately for performance freaks. That and the 720p display doesn’t exactly guarantee a five-star user experience, but at this price point for this size of device, purchasers may simply not care.

The ViewSonic SD-A245 – “Tomorrow’s Thin Client Today” – is a “24” Full HD LED smart display client” with NVIDIA Tegra3 Processor and “Embedded Android Jelly Bean 4.2 OS with Citrix XenMobile preinstalled.” Its sister SD-A225 is “a 22” (21.5” viewable) multi-touch smart display client with 1920×1080 Full HD resolution, and a TI Dual Core OMAP,” with Android 4.1 preinstalled. android

ViewSonic clearly intends these devices for entreprise use – hence touches like onboard Citrix. But I wouldn’t be surprised to find some in consumer hands. After all, a Full HD 24″ Android computer sounds like a dream device for some readers. Partially-sighted readers especially who still want to tackle print could find them superbly useful. According to reports, ViewSonic may be dropping its activities in other areas such as tablet manufacture anyway, and concentrating on display-size devices – which may make sense if these units work as well as the early materials suggest.

Next, coming soon to the Apple corner, the rubber iPad, which can stretch to fill an entire wall …

1 COMMENT

  1. I watch Netflix while I’m in my hot tub. I use a 10 inch table sitting on a table a few feet away. What actually happens is that I’m more listening to Netflix. A larger, but still fairly portable, screen would be great for that.

    For now though, I’ll pass and stick with what I’ve got. $600 for 22 inches is a little more than I want to pay, and 13 inches is a little small. $600 for a larger screen that I would use in various ways is one thing, but I wouldn’t. I’ve already got all the screens I need inside the house. $600 for a Netflix screen for 3 or 4 hours a week isn’t something I’m willing to splurge on.

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