Dell Latitude 10, first Windows 8 tablet shows up

While Nokia shrugged aside reports about a Windows 8 tablet, calling it ‘misconstrued,’ a Windows 8 tablet unexpectedly emerged from Dell. As per reports by Neowin, the image (as seen below) is of the Dell Latitude 10 Windows 8 tablet. It’s a 10-inch tablet with HD capacitive multi-touch screen with 1366 x 768 resolution. The device is powered by Intel Clover Trail Atom Dual Core processor with 2GB RAM and graphics chipset from Intel. This Dell tablet wouldn’t come across as the lightest and slimmest in the market, as it weighs 710 grams and measures 10 x 7 x 0.4-inches. Dell, a renowned PC maker, hasn’t been able to make a mark in the smartphone market. Its Streak could not make waves like Samsung’s Galaxy Note, although both were intended to bridge the gap between tablets and smartphones.

PCWorld, however, points out that the spec sheet revealed about the first Windows 8 tablet is weak and underwhelming. It says that although the RAM and storage is higher than most tablets available, the Dell Latitude 10 is an Intel x86 device and not based on the ARM architecture. It claims that several entry-level laptops have specs similar to the Dell Windows 8 tablet and cost just $300 or so. Reportedly, when someone buys a bargain laptop with hardware that just meets the minimum requirements to run Windows, performance is expected to suffer. The question arises that will users pay premium to get the same in a tablet form? Windows 8 RT can’t run traditional Windows software, and won’t be able to connect to a Windows network domain, so it doesn’t offer a very compelling proposition. Windows 8 tablets may gain traction only if they are priced cheaper than the iPad and same class of Android tablets.

The Dell Latitude 10’s spec sheet displays 128GB SSD and an 8 megapixel camera and a 2 megapixel front facing camera. We think the camera bit is usually given least priority when building a tablet, so this is a welcome change for the first Windows 8 tablet, if it happens to reach the market with the above stated specs. It also includes a fingerprint reader, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, integrated speakers, a microUSB charging port, and a stereo headphone/microphone combo jack.