Photos: iPad clones come out to play at Computex gadget fest
Tablets galore plus a bendable screen, super-skinny netbook and 3D camcorder...
The launch of Apple's iPad has shocked the moribund tablet-PC market back to life - with analysts forecasting millions of slate devices will ship this year.
Little wonder, then, that the Computex tradeshow which took place in Taipei last week was awash with tablet news - as electronics companies scrambled to offer new competition to the iPad.
Netbook and PC maker Asus announced two main flavours of tablet at the show - pictured above is the Asus Eee Pad EP121, a 12-inch Windows 7-based offering which packs an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processor.
Photo credit: Asus
The company also has a 10-inch version of the Eee Pad - the EP101TC - in the pipeline (shown above).
The device will run Windows Embedded Compact 7 - a stripped-down version of Microsoft's OS aimed specifically at tablets, which also debuted at Computex.
Photo credit: Asus
Asus also announced this device, known as the Eee Tablet.
More old-school notepad than iPad, the device has a monochrome TFT-LCD display designed for viewing e-books, and sketching or making annotations with its accompanying stylus.
Photo credit: Asus
Another tablet that popped up at Computex was this Quanta Redvale prototype - shown off in a video demo during Intel's keynote.
The tablet was demoed running the open source OS, MeeGo - a product of Nokia and Intel's merger of the Maemo and Moblin 2 platforms.
Photo credit: Intel
Yet another shiny tablet taking in the oxygen of publicity at Computex was this offering, made by PC and netbook maker MSI.
The 10-inch touchscreen MSI tablet will come with either Windows 7 (shown above), or Google Android 2.1 (shown on the following page). The pair are known as the WindPad 100 and WindPad 110 respectively.
Photo credit: CNET Taiwan
The Windows-based WindPad 100 has an Intel processor, while the Android-based WindPad 110 (shown above) runs on the Nvidia Tegra 2 platform.
Photo credit: CNET Taiwan
Tablets weren't the only tech story coming out of Taipei: Intel also had this skinny dual-core netbook on show.
At 14mm it's the world's thinnest netbook, according to the company - shaving millimetres off even Apple's fits-in-a-manila-envelope MacBook Air.
Photo credit: Intel
However, Apple's Steve Jobs doesn't need to fret just yet: the 'razor book' is just a reference design.
Intel is using the prototype to show off the capabilities of its Canoe Lake platform - which it says enables netbooks that are up to 50 per cent thinner than those in the market today.
Photo credit: Intel
Toshiba also had a futuristic slice of kit on show at Computex: this prototype flexible screen enables a user to zoom in and out of digital content by bending the screen, as seen on this YouTube demo video.
Screenshot: YouTube by silicon.com
Another innovative piece of kit on show in the Far East is this 3D mini-camcorder made by Aiptek. The device has two lenses for recording high-definition footage in 3D - glasses for viewing are included in the box.
Photo credit: Aiptek