Nvidia's Tablet Of Its Own - And Others

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) has formally announced the Tegra Note - an Android tablet with a price tag of $199. It's a device designed to compete directly with the Google (GOOG)/Asus Nexus 7. [Read: New iPhone or Not, Smartphone Owners Aren't Moving Up]

The new Tegra Tab runs on Nvidia's Tegra 4 processing unit with 72-core GeForce graphics processing and quad-core Cortex CPU, designed to get more graphics capabilities out of the tablet. There is a fifth core just to help save battery power. Nvidia says the tablet is good for as much as 10+ hours of HD video playback before you need to tether it to an A/C outlet.

Nvidia shares were down slightly in Thursday trading, recently changing hansd at $15.99.

According to the announcement the Tegra Note boasts "exceptional sound" from front-facing speakers, a "groundbreaking cameras" (5 MP on the back, VGA up front), "TegraZone-optimized" games as well as "accessories galore". The Tegra Tab differs from the competition by including a stylus. Nvidia says its DirectStylus technology "transforms a normal stylus into an incredibly responsive experience". Nvidia claims the system is capable of fine line/broad stoke control especially when using the new apps bundled with the tablet. The Tegra Note's screen resolution comes up short when compared to the competition. Nvidia's tablet offers a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, compared to a 1920 x 1200 pixel display for the Nexus 7, which costs $229. The company had demonstrated a early version of the tablet at the Computex industry show in Taipei back in June. At that time the device was simply known as the Tegra Tab. [Read: Blackberry Fails at the 'Vision Thing'] The new device will also be available in re-branded form. This morning HP (HPQ) announced a Tegra Note tablet as part of its new line of Android and Windows devices. HP calls its version the Slate 7 but didn't announce what it plans to charge for it. --Written by Gary Krakow in New York. >To submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.com.