LG has finally made its long awaited return to the tablet game, launching the new Tab-Book hybrid in Australia.
Sitting somewhere between a traditional tablet and hybrid PC, LG's Tab-Book sports a one-touch mechanism that slides the screen up to a 45-degree angle and reveals a full QWERTY keyboard, giving users full use of both the screen and keyboard.
"There's a lot of people experimenting with detachable keyboards. A lot of people have complained that they take the tablet away leave the keyboard at their desk, so the benefit here is that it is always with the product," said Lambro Skropidis, marketing general manager for LG Australia.
Super slider
When asked about the sliding mechanism, Russ Prendergast, LG's head of marketing for home entertainment joked: "We have done testing of the opening and closing about 20,000 times. As you can imagine, that took one person three days without a break."
"We wouldn't put anything out their unless we knew the quality was excellent. [We] haven't rushed this to market. We've taken the time to develop [the mechanism]," Skropidis added.
The tablet will be available into two configurations, though both will run on Windows 8 and feature an 11.6-inch IPS touchscreen at 1366x768 resolution, USB 2.0, HDMI, microSD, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and WiDi, which allows users to mirror onscreen content in Full HD.
Measuring 286x192x19.4mm, the Z160 Tab-Book weighs 1.25kg and will feature an Intel core i5-3337U chip running at 1.8GHz, 120GB SSD, 4GB RAM and an additional USB 3.0 and mini LAN port.
The lower priced H160 is 4mm thinner, weighs 1.05kg and is powered by a 1.8GHz Intel Atom chip, with 64GB of storage and 2GB of RAM. LG is claiming 12 hours of battery for the H160 and 6.5 hours for the Z160.
How Ultra can an Ultrabook get?
Like the Tab-Book, the Z360 Ultrabook will also run Windows 8. The mid-range ultrabook measures 3.6mm thick and weighs a very light 1.15kg.
Inside, it has an Intel core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and 128GB SSD, features a 13.3-inch Full HD IPS screen and with extra USB ports, features the same connectivity options as the Z160 Tab-Book.
With a focus on design, the ultrabook has won the 2013 Red Dot design award and allows users to open it with just one hand, lifting the screen up without needing to hold the keyboard base down.
"We've taken our time to get the right product with the right design at the right time," Skropidis said about the range.
Launching in partnership with Harvey Norman in early July, the H160 Tab-Book will retail for $999, the Z160 for $1499 and the Z360 Ultrabook for $1399.
