Wired shows Android tablet-based tech demo

Adobe AIR tablet
Wired showed off the tablet at its SXSWi panel

Wired magazine showed off an Android-based tablet at its South by South West Interactive (SXSWi) panel today. The Adobe Air-based tech demo has been spied before but there's now a video to go with it, see below.

The tablet is slightly less big than an iPad and, while Adobe hasn't confirmed it is an Android device, MobileBeat suggests it is using the AIR tablet tech shown off at Mobile World Congress which was due to roll out on Android.

"Similar styling, but slightly smaller; the iPad could have some serious competition," observed .net magazine Editor Dan Oliver, who was at the panel.

AIR technology is, of course, platform agnostic, so the Wired mag app won't be fussy. But it will also be available for the iPad.

"Although the Wired Reader starts as an AIR app, Adobe has created tools that allow us to easily convert it for major tablet and mobile platforms," said Wired's Editor in Chief Chris Anderson last month.

Wonder what hardware he means?

"It is our intent to make it possible for Flash developers to build applications that can take advantage of the increased screen size and resolution of the iPad," said Adobe on its Flash Platform blog recently.

How? Adobe Flash Professional CS5 will include a Packager for iPhone to enable developers to publish AIR projects to run as native applications for iPhone. Adobe plans that these apps will then be available via the normal App Store route.

Contributor

Dan (Twitter, Google+) is TechRadar's Former Deputy Editor and is now in charge at our sister site T3.com. Covering all things computing, internet and mobile he's a seasoned regular at major tech shows such as CES, IFA and Mobile World Congress. Dan has also been a tech expert for many outlets including BBC Radio 4, 5Live and the World Service, The Sun and ITV News.