ViewSonic ViewPad 10pi

ViewSonic announced a 10.1-inch tablet that may be booted into either Windows 7 or Android 2.3. The ViewPad 10pi has a 1.5GHz Atom Z670 processor, 64GB of SSD (solid state disk) storage, a capacitive touchscreen with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, and up to four hours’ battery life, the company says.

ViewSonic’s new ViewPad 10pi is the company’s second tablet to feature Intel’s Z670 (“Oak Trail”) processor and SM35 I/O controller. It’s also the second one that’s being touted as ready to run Windows 7 and Android applications.

On the latter point, the company has created some confusion. ViewSonic said nearly a year ago that its earlier ViewPad 10Pro would boot into either Windows or Android, but when that model finally shipped, it did so with Windows as well as BlueStacks software.

As we’ve reported separately, BlueStacks allows users to run many Android apps, but it does so via an emulation layer that runs within the Windows environment. For better or worse, this isn’t a dual-booting situation, and there’s no Android desktop.

Now, ViewSonic is providing what it first promised last year: a tablet that comes with full copies of both Windows 7 and Android 2.3. Further, the new 10pi is more than just a 10Pro with a heftier operating system load: Its 10.1-inch screen, for example, now has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels instead of the 10Pro’s 1024 x 600.

According to ViewSonic, the ViewPad 10pi includes 2GB of RAM (likely non-expandable), 64GB of SSD storage, and an SD slot that accepts a further 2GB. It has a 3.2 megapixel camera at the rear and a 1.3 megapixel camera at the front, two USB ports, and a connector for an optional docking station, the company adds.

Unfortunately, it would appear the dock is required to obtain an external video output. (The 10Pro, in contrast, came with a mini-HDMI slot.)

The 10pi is, however, a little more svelte overall than the 10Pro, which weighed nearly two pounds and measured 10.7 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches. The newer device is 10.5 x 7 x 0.5 inches and weighs 1.8 pounds, according to ViewSonic.

Specifications listed by ViewSonic for the ViewPad 10pi include:

• Processor — Intel Z670 clocked at 1.5GHz
• Chipset — Intel SM35
• Memory — 2GB of RAM
• Storage — 64GB SSD
• Display:
  • 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen with 1280 x 800 resolution
  • 350-nit brightness rating
  • 1300:1 contrast ratio
• Camera — 3.2 megapixel (rear-facing) and 1.3 megapixel (front-facing)
• Expansion:
  • SD slot
  • docking connector
• Networking:
  • WLAN — 802.11b/g/n
• Other I/O:
  • 2 x USB 2.0
  • headphone jack
• Power — 2890mAh battery lasts for up to four hours
• Dimensions — 10.5 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Weight — 1.8 pounds

Further information

ViewSonic did not release pricing or availability for the ViewPad 10pi, as far as we’re aware; the earlier ViewPad 10Pro was priced at $699 with a 32GB SSD. More information may be found on the ViewPad 10Pro product page.