Smartbook AG, the company that wants to prevent the rest of the world from calling cheap ARM-based netbooks with 3G capabilities smartbooks, has launched a device that doesn’t look anything like a smartbook… or a netbook, or laptop. The new Smartbook Surfer is a 7 inch Android tablet that actually looks an awful lot like the Augen GenTouch78 which recently went on sale in the US.

The Smartbook Surfer has a 7 inch, 800 x 480 pixel display, a Telechips TTC8902 720MHz processor, and runs Google Android 2.1.

The tablet has 256MB of DDR2 memory and 2GB of internetl flash storage. it has 802.11b/g WiFi, a miniSD card slot, GPS module, and a webcam.

The webcam and GPS definitely set this tablet apart from the Augen GenTouch78 which lacks both of those features. The Smartbook tablet also has 2 USB ports instead of 1, and a HDMI port for 1080p video output. On the other hand, it has a lower capacity 1400mAh battery (the Augen tablet has a 2100mAh battery).

Smartbook says the device supports Flash, but I find that hard to believe since you need Android 2.2 to run Adobe Flash, and the Smartbook Surfer ships with Android 2.1.

Touch Me Mobile has a hands-on video with the hardware, which was shot earlier this year on a similar device running Windows CE instead of Android.

The Smartbook Surfer is on sale in Germany for €179, or about $234 US.

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