Innovative Converged Devices and T-Mobile today unveiled a new family hub tablet which will be available in the UK later this year. Visitors to CES were given a sneak preview of the first Android-based tablet with multiple mobile connections which will be featured in a new T-Mobile family package.

Exclusive to T-Mobile in the UK, the centrepiece of the family hub is ICD’s new Vega, a 15″ touchscreen device designed primarily to sit in the kitchen which T-Mobile research identified as the heart of family life. The tablet offers one-touch access to a household calendar so families can organise their busy schedules in one place that everyone can always reach. It can be accessed by the whole family, wherever they are, via the web on a mobile, work computer, home PC or other devices with an Internet connection. The calendar automatically sends SMS text reminders to the family’s mobiles, putting an end to scraps of paper and nagging phone calls. And because it comes with a T-Mobile SIM on-board, it’s easy to make a quick hands-free call at the touch of a button. The family hub is a full-featured tablet with Wi-Fi web browsing, on-demand TV, access to social networks, video chat and games, as well as an FM radio for the complete kitchen set-up.

The concept is in the final stages of development by T-Mobile UK and ICD and was created following extensive customer research and close collaboration over the past 18 months. The team wanted the most responsive experience available so the ICD Vega tablet is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 250 mobile web processor to provide uncompromised Internet browsing and full HD 1080p video playback even while the tablet is undocked from its base.

Richard Warmsley, Head of New Proposition Development, T-Mobile, said: “We spoke to over 1,000 families who told us they often found it a hassle to organise a busy family life without nagging or forgotten appointments. They said that something simple and affordable to help with this would be invaluable. We took this as a challenge to do something new with technology that would be relevant to the average person, not just gadget lovers. We’re developing a fantastic package to meet exactly these needs — by creating a family communication network — using ICD’s exciting new Internet and entertainment tablet, with T-Mobile’s award-winning network connections at its heart. We look forward to bringing it to market later this year.”

“Bringing a high-end, well designed and engineered device to shelves at a mass market price has always been a Holy Grail for the consumer tech industry,” said David Hayes, CEO of ICD. “The close collaboration between T-Mobile UK, ICD and NVIDIA has allowed us to work quickly to integrate insights from consumer research directly into a compelling product with supporting services, solutions and content.”

Image courtesy of http://recombu.com/

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