Consumer electronics company Panasonic is getting ready to follow Sharp into the niche Android tablet market. Panasonic has started to show off a device that looks a lot like a general purpose Android tablet, but which the company will position as an eBook Reader with access to a digital bookstore with over 10,000 titles. It looks a lot like the Sharp Galapagos tablet.
Final details haven’t been determined yet, but a demo unit weighs 0.9 pounds and features a 7 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display and run Android 2.2 with a customized user interface. It feature WiFi connectivity, a microSDHC card slot, and a dual core processor. Basic Android apps including a video player, web browser, and email app will come preloaded, but I’d be surprised if the device had full access to the Android Market. Instead it looks like it’s designed to be used as an eReader with a few bonus features.
This is the second Android tablet we’ve seen from Panasonic. The other model is also aimed at a niche audience: It’s a high end, rugged tablet designed for enterprise customers or anyone that needs a sturdier device and has the cash to pay for it.