Asus Introduces Hybrid Notepad/E-Reader Device

The Eee Note EA800 officially unveiled on Tuesday is 11-mm-thick and weighs 520 grams, with an 8-inch, 768 x 1024 pixel grayscale display.

Like the Eee Note tablet device the company introduced in August, the EA 800 runs the Linux operating system and includes a stylus for note-taking along with a built-in 2-MB camera, a 1-Watt speaker, a headphone jack, and a voice recorder.

The device features a monochrome, ultrasensitive touch screen designed for handwritten notes and sketches that can withstand up to 256 levels of pressure. It also offers support for a range of file formats including txt, doc, PDF, as well as PNG images and MP3 audio. These features suggest Asus is targeting the education market even more with this device than with its tablet predecessor.

The Eee Note EA800 comes with 4GB of internal storage and can add up to 16GB more with its micro SD card slot. Asus says the 3700mAh battery can last up to 13.5 hours when wireless is disabled and up to 10 hours with Wi-Fi 802.11b/g wireless turned on.

Asus has not said what kind of processor powers the Eee Note EA 800. The omission is intriguing given Intel's recent interest in mobile devices, with the acquisition of Infineon's Wireless Unit in August and the upcoming release of its Oak Trail platform for tablet-specific Atom processors early next year.

In addition, AMD has said it will increasingly invest in chips designed for tablets and ARM is preparing an ambitious new "Eagle" Cortex-A15 mobile processor, samples of which are scheduled to be available next year.

Asus has yet to offer detail on pricing or availability.