The month of many pads

It’s a busy month for tablet computers. As every geek knows, the iPad launched over the weekend, selling over 300,000 systems on the first day. Quite impressive, though below the 700,000 analysts had predicted. We’ll have to wait and see how well the average consumer responds to the iPad.

At the same time time, Fusion Garage started shipping the JooJoo, an iPad-style Intel Atom-powered tablet PC running a custom version of Linux. There’s a bit of a backstory to that one (it was originally a collaboration between tech news website TechCrunch.com and Fusion Garage, going under the name CrunchPad, until there was something of a split between those two companies and other bad allegations). Engadget have just reviewed the JooJoo, and weren’t overly positive about the user interface or crummy 2.5 hour battery life.

Now another sexy pad (or tablet/slate PC) has been announced – ICD’s Gemini (pictured above), an Nvidia Tegra 2 powered 11″ device running Android OS, with Flash support and enough horsepower to decode full 1080p HD video. The spec list should make a lot of nerds giddy: 1Ghz Nvidia Tegra 2, 11.2″ 1366×768 multitouch screen, WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, FM Radio, GSP, SD card slot, Micro USB, two cameras (5MP back, 2MP front), and hopefully a battery that can cope with all that.

No word on any price or release date yet, though we expect the world will be flooded with tablet PCs by the end of the year.