RCA has unveiled, and will be showing off an Android tablet during CES. The device is called the RCA Mobile TV Tablet, and as the name would imply — a big feature of this device will be television related. In fact, the tablet will be a dual-tuner device featuring a standard over-the-air tuner and a Dyle mobile TV tuner.
Some may recognize the Dyle name as MetroPCS released the Galaxy S Lightray 4G with support for mobile TV through Dyle back in August of last year. That aside, this tablet will allow users access to 130 mobile television stations across the country. Otherwise, the RCA tablet will feature an 8-inch IPS display at 1024 x 768, 1GHz Cortex A5 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage space and a microSD card slot.
The remaining features include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, HDMI, microUSB, USB, GPS, a pair of speakers and both a front and rear-facing camera. The tablet is said to weigh in at 1.4 pounds and for those wondering — will arrive will access to the Google Play Store. The battery should hold out for up to 4 hours in mobile TV mode or up to 10 hours for web browsing.
Touching back on the TV support for a moment. Dyle currently has service in 35 markets and the tablet will feature goodies such as real-time signal strength display, on-screen program information display and digital closed captioning as well as language settings, auto channel scan and a favorite channel setting. Lastly, the RCA Mobile TV Tablet is expected to come available this spring with a price tag of $299.
Wow, I didn’t know RCA was still around, and breaking ground in the tablet/TV market no less. I work with a few people at DISH that think this is a novel idea. Sadly, I think RCA is a little late to the game. That tablet is under powered compared to this generation of devices, and OTA TV doesn’t exactly offer much in terms of selection. I have a Nexus 7 with the DISH Remote Access app on it. Its light, doesn’t have an antenna sticking out of it, and thanks to the DISH Remote Access app, I can stream live TV or DVR recordings anywhere I can get a wireless signal.