ViewSonic caused quite a stir when it revealed that its ViewPad 4 will launch with an as-yet unnumbered version of Android Gingerbread last week.
Although we weren't privy to this secret new version of the OS, we did get some hands-on time with the device at Mobile World Congress 2011, which ViewSonic isn't sure whether to call a tablet or a smartphone.
Our colleagues at T3.com grabbed some ViewSonic ViewPad 4 video footage which you can watch below.
Read on for our hands-on ViewSonic Viewpad 4 review, but do remember that we're talking about a pre-production model, so some niggles may be sorted in the final version, a full review of which we'll bring you as soon as possible.
The model we played with is running Android 2.3, and it's a fairly basic installation with no snazzy skins on top.
The handset itself looks smart from a distance, but up close it feels very plasticky and a bit fragile; we could imagine it coming apart quite easily if dropped. It's quite boxy as well, and the design seems a little unimaginative.
Like many gloss smartphones, the shiny covering is quite easily smudged and smeared with fingerprints, too.
With a four-inch touchscreen, ViewSonic openly considers the ViewPad 4 as sitting somewhere between a smartphone and a tablet. The screen itself is nice and bright, but you do have to be quite firm with it to get your touchscreen commands to register.
When it comes to connections, ViewSonic hasn't skimped; there's HDMI-out, audio-out and micro-USB for physical connectivity.
The five-megapixel camera sits on the back of the handset, while there's also a front-facing camera for video calling.
