We assumed that most German folk would support the WePad, their home-grown iPad competitor. But – German ISP 1&1 has released their own tablet, the so called SmartPad, which sports Android and a 7-inch screen. Where did this thing from come? However, it’s not Vollkommenheit as it has some weird design decisions – like a locked-down proprietary app store.

Under the hood, the SmartPad has what appears to be adequate tech specs:

• 500MHz ARM processor
• 7-inch display
• 256MB RAM
• 2GB ROM
• Android 1.6
• SD card reader/USB slot
• WiFi/3G

1&1 has promised that the tablet is capable of Android 2.2 and they say it’ll eventually get the update. Right now, the tablet is only out in Germany and probably will stay that way for a long time.

1&1, also know as United Internet in their native Germany, is one of the biggest ISPs on Germany and is pretty popular amongst their customers, with many citing affordable monthly tariffs for net access.

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