The Toshiba Thrive isn’t the only Android tablet that can handle USB peripherals such as a flash drive or mouse. In fact, Google Android 3.1 includes USB host capabilities out of the box — but not all Android tablets feature full-sized USB ports like the Thrive. One upcoming tablet that will is the Asus Eee Pad Slider.
Yesterday we got a good look at the tablet with a slide-out keyboard thanks to a Romanian blogger. Today he’s posted another video and this time he’s focused on the USB capabilities of the tablet.
In the video below you can see what happens when you plug in a USB flash drive or a USB mouse — but not just any mouse: a wireless mouse.
If you’ve been using Windows or even Linux computers for a long time, it might be hard to get excited about the ability to plug in any old mouse or keyboard. But this is kind of a big deal in the realm of Android tablets. Up until recently there wasn’t much support for third party peripherals, aside from the occasional Bluetooth headset or joystick.
The Asus Eee Pad Slider features a 10.1 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display, NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, and Android 3.1 operating system. It’s expected to launch in the US this fall.
via Notebook Italia
I would prefer it if the mouse was built into the tablet. If I had to choose, I’d rather have a mouse pointer than a physical keyboard.
FYI, on the Transformer, you can use the sync cable and a female to female usb adapter to plugin usb peripherals with the same support / results.
I’ll be really excited once Android gets native printer support (wired via USB or wireless), perhaps via the CUPS service being ported by OESF
what do you mean source is Notebook Italy the video is in Romania language and its from Imidoresc.ro
I didn’t say Notebook Italy was the source. I gave them a via link because they’re the ones that found the video and pointed it out to me. That’s how via links work on most blogs.
The user didn’t include a direct link to his article on YouTube, but now that you’ve pointed out the website I spotted the original link and I’m adding it to the post as well.Â