We can’t help thinking that the new Cisco video tablet is really one just for a handful of corporates to buy into and will be extremely expensive once the price is revealed. But it is one of the growing numbers of planned tablet devices emerging, which aim to take a small slice of the tablet market which the iPad has unearthed.
It is called the Cius and it will be expensive, give back control of your communications to the IT department where it clearly doesn’t belong, and leave you as the only man (or woman) on the block to NOT be allowed an iPad.
In social networking terms this is ‘Linked In’ when all your mates are on Facebook.
The 7 inch Android based tablet is for busy execs, and ties into the Cisco Telepresence systems ‘ both those it had before it acquired Tandberg and those that will happen once Tandberg devices all use the Cisco Telepresence protocol.
The device IS a tablet, and we said before that specialist tablets will do better than generic ones while the iPad is still around. We have seen a TV remote tablet mooted from Motorola and now this is a teleconferencing tablet from Cisco. Likely it will be an easy add on sale for existing Cisco teleconferencing corporate customers, but few others, although that WILL depend upon price.
The device comes with all of the Cisco collaboration applications bundled and pre-loaded and the video is real HD, albeit low end 720p. And it’s a nice looking device ‘ it can sit on a specially built VoIP handset, adding the video dimension to communication or it can be taken into meetings where people can continue to work when they are supposed to be talking, a little like texting or using a Blackberry at a board meeting.
The Cisco Cius also offers multi-party conferencing, email, messaging, web browsing, and access to collaborative content stored locally or centrally in the cloud. You can also use the Cius to link back to your desktop and carry on with some work while you are waiting.
The best part of the Cius is that developers can target it, probably with expensive, highly corporate apps, just as much any other device that can reach into Android Market.
The thing weighs just over a pound, more like a Kindle than the bulky iPad, comes with WiFi and HD DisplayPort and USB ports, and has a front-mounted 720p HD camera which refreshes at up to 30 frames per second; a seven inch, high-resolution widescreen super VGA touch screen.
The tablet also has a 5-megapixel rear facing camera to transmit what you are looking at, as well as your image, and dual noise-canceling microphones for audio conferencing. In hardware terms this is why this device has to be expensive, but also because unlike some tablets that will come onto the market, this is unlikely to attract cellular operator subsidies.
The Cius has an on-board accelerometer to applications for viewing in portrait or landscape modes, and also comes with 3G cellular services when off-campus. Again, another reason it is likely to be in the $800 to $1,200 pricing category once it reaches the streets in early 2011. The device goes for trials in the third quarter of 2010. The battery offers eight hours life and is detachable.
The Cisco Cius comes with Cisco Quad, Cisco Show and Share, Cisco WebEx Connect, Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, Cisco Presence, and interoperates with Cisco TelePresence and can use Cisco AnyConnect VPN Security.