Albatron mini tablet Tee PC

Albatron, who you might know from the video card market, has announced they’re releasing a mini tablet computer, dubbed the Tee PC that sports a rather large screen for the hardware it has crammed inside. While not exactly a netbook or a true tablet computer, Albatron has targeted an audience that I think evaporated when HP stopped producing the iPAQ. Still, that said, I have a fondness for these things that makes it hard to hate on it too much.

Except, of course, that it uses the awful Windows Mobile. Come on, when even one of your biggest fans hates Windows Mobile, why bother? Then again, there may not be a whole lot of support for this sort of device, tablet and all, on the linux side of things. Just thinking about it, most of the devices that came out when this sort of thing (let’s call it an oversized PDA tablet) were around were either running Windows Mobile or were Palms.

Sure, Sharp had the Zaurus that ran linux, but those were rare to see stateside (although it was especially cool to whip one out and watch everyone ooh and aah over it and ask you what the “funny writing” on the keyboard was, the clamshells at least.

Anyhow, so what’s in the Albatron Tee PC tablet? Well, the standard array of an ARM processor, 128mb of RAM, and 128mb of storage. That almost sounds like exactly an iPAQ or a Zaurus. The interesting thing is that they’ve opted to include a 7″ LCD (800×400 resolution, same as the Eee PC 4G) that could make for a decent, somewhat portable internet platform, except that Nokia’s net tablet is probably a better solution, if only because it’s not running Windows Mobile.

Unless one really needs an ultra-portable tablet computer, a netbook, be it an Eee, Wind, or One would likely be a better choice all around. Aside from the netbooks having a proper operating system, they have superior hardware. While the ARM is a proven processor, it can’t hang with the big boys. A netbook would leave this thing in the dust, tablet functionality aside.

Points for trying, Albatron, but who wants a (sort of) tablet computer running Windows Mobile?

Oh, and the guy who doesn’t like Windows Mobile but is a big Microsoft fan? Paul Thurrott. Listen to his Windows Weekly podcasts to hear him rain on the Windows Mobile parade — it’s funny.

See Albatron’s press release for the Albatron Tee PC mini tablet computer at Digitimes.