MWC: ViewSonic lines up Android 2.4 for ViewPad 4 smartphone-tablet

BARCELONA: ViewSonic has confirmed that its ViewPad 4 smartphone will ship with Android Gingerbread 2.3, but hinted that the device will have a newer version of the operating system when it ships in the second quarter.

The company showed off a demonstration model of the ViewPad 4 running Android 2.3 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but said that the smartphone will have "the latest version of Android" at launch, perhaps called 2.4.

ViewSonic marketing manager James Coulson explained that the ViewPad 4 can be seen as a smartphone or a tablet given its 4.1in screen and similar capabilities, but failed to clear up the issue around the operating system.

"The line between tablets and smartphones is hard to place, so we see this device as something that can be viewed as one or the other," he said.

"This is a Google-certified device, and will be one of the first in the market with the latest version of Gingerbread."

The ViewPad 4 is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm processor, and offers Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11b/g/n wireless and a 5-megapixel autofocus camera. The device can record video in 720p high definition and weighs 140g.

No pricing information was given, but ViewSonic said that it hopes to be " competitive" against other Android devices.

ViewSonic also demonstrated its V350 dual-SIM card smartphone and ViewPad10 Pro dual-boot tablet, both of which were announced on 11 February.