iSlate youSlate everyoneSLATE!!!!!!!!

Last month I said that people looking to buy an iPod touch should perhaps wait for Apple to announce on the 26th/27th of January that they're releasing a new tablet device. Well, it's not gone by yet so we'll still have to wait and see. There has however, been a recent event called CES which basically showcases the upcoming devices of almost all other electronic companies from around the world. And some have released tablets of their own in what seems to be an attempt to preempt Apple's forthcoming release. There's videos of them up on youtube.
The question is though, would this sort of device appeal to you? It, if marketed in a particular way COULD seem to have a very niche audience, though I feel tat won't be the case.

In the next few quarters, I'd predict a plethora of these things hitting the market, the first few being quite underwhelming, but after some modification, some understanding of what people want, we'll begin to see some groundbreaking stuff. I'd imagine they've been under development for at least the best part of a decade now, so there's been significant groundwork. What with the recent arrival of the Tegra 2 processor by arm, the upcoming mainstream issuing of OLED screens, the smaller, more capacious hard drives and multi touch displays, they should be really, really FUN.

Tegra 2, for those of you who don't know is a new processor revealed in a showcase recently. It's developed by a company called NVidia. The benefits of it are that it's tiny. Uses very little power. And produces a great deal of computing power; 10 times more powerful than the average smart phone, using 20 times less battery power than a pc.

What does all this jargon mean? HD Video playback, for one.
It can play good quality 3d games.
It has the potential of having a really long battery life.

OLED screens, though expensive, mean the images will be much more crisp and display more vivid colours than standard screens at the moment.

Big Hard Drives, more crap to save on your device.

Multi Touch, you get to look like a prat swiveling your finger across a screen on the tube.

All in all, lots of fun.

But again, I post the question, How many of you would like to own one? How practical would it be for you to carry one around with you- in your bag, not your pocket. Magazines and newspapers are writing up content deals with manufacturers, meaning you'd be able to subscribe to magazines and read them on your tablets, download movies, watch them on the go. Potential Wi-Fi deals with providers like BT Openzone and the Cloud mean you can surf on the go.

Would you sacrifice carrying the thing in a bag over having an ordinary mp3/mp4 player? Well, would you have one in ADDITION to your mp3 player? Would it replace your laptop? I know a lot of people buy laptops on the pretense that they want to take them out with them but never do. I've been with people who simply cannot carry the bulk of their laptops, it hurts their arms. These slates shouldn't weight more than a kilo. Which is minuscule compared to the average laptop. So by that account, would you sacrifice the physical keyboard for a touchscreen device?

I reckon people (I myself for sure) would probably keep an mp3 player or consolidate music onto a phone and buy this as a laptop replacement for going out. I love my ipod touch to bits which is why I'm hoping Apple release a slate that is relatively similar to an iPod touch in its interface.

I know I've just let my inner geek shine through, am I the only one looking forward to their release?!