Telstra's T-Touch Tab in stores November 2

TELSTRA has unveiled its touchscreen tablet that the telco giant hopes will be a major rival to Apple's iPad in Australia.

Telstra says its T-Touch was created "with families in mind". Picture courtesy Telstra

TELSTRA has unveiled a touchscreen tablet that the telco giant hopes will be a major competitor to Apple's iPad in Australia.

Apple has denounced them as "dead on arrival" but an army of 7-inch tablet computers is poised to march into Australian stores and challenge the monster-selling iPad before Christmas.

The T-Touch Tab is one of several tablets set to flood the market and compete with the iPad just in time for Christmas.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab will launch next Wednesday, and Dell has promised its 7-inch tablet "within weeks".

But it's not only manufacturers gunning for top spot in the tablet race. Australia's biggest telco will launch its own tablet next Tuesday.

The Telstra T-Touch Tab will be one of the cheapest tablets available at just $299, and it will feature Google's Android software and apps, cameras front and back, space for a memory card, and the ability to make phone calls and send text messages.

Telstra consumer executive director Rebecca O'Flaherty says the company's first branded tablet - made by Huawei - is not designed to compete directly with Apple's iPad, which Telstra also supports.

Instead, the T-Touch Tab will be aimed at families who want to try the tablet market, price-conscious consumers who have yet to invest, and fans of Google's Android apps.

"iPads are priced very differently and will be used for a different purpose," she says. "This is perfect for younger hands, and... great entertainment unit for long drives. Kids are growing out of DVD players now and they want something more interactive and connected to the internet.'"

The T-Touch Tab certainly looks different to Apple's tablet. Its form is not just smaller but more rectangular, it weighs just 500g, and it runs Google Android v2.1.

The T-Touch has two screens to fill with apps in five categories: Home, Web, Entertainment, Communication and Favourites. Additionally, three buttons on either side of the screen provide quick navigation and access to menus and calls.

This tablet also has a retractable stand for hands-free video playback, and a 2-megapixel camera hides on its back for photos. Another VGA camera was added to its front at Google's request.

It connects to the internet with Wi-Fi and 3G and can be used to send SMS messages or make phone calls, either over a speaker or with a Bluetooth headset connected.

Telstra cut this tablet's costs in several ways. The biggest saving was made in its touchscreen that is resistive rather than capacitive, meaning users will have to touch it with pressure to make selections.

Its built-in memory is also just 512MB, though can be boosted with a MicroSD card, its processor runs at 768MHz rather than 1GHz and video playback is rated at 2 1/2 hours to the iPad's 10.

For these reasons, O'Flaherty says the T-Touch Tab will "co-exist" with the Apple iPad rather than compete with it directly. She also rejects Apple CEO Steve Jobs' assertions that smaller tablets will not sell, saying "seven inches does the job".

"There's a happy place for the iPad and there's a place in the market for 7-inch tablets," she says. "They will appeal to different people and they will co-exist."

Jobs recently let loose on the coming wave of 7-inch tablets, saying they should come with sandpaper "so the user can sand down their fingers to around a quarter of their size".

"Seven-inch tablets are tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with the iPad," he says.

But these small tablets could mean big business if their numbers are an indicator.

Samsung will launch the Galaxy Tab next Wednesday for $999, Dell's 7-inch competitor is due soon, and a RIM spokeswoman says the BlackBerry PlayBook is due in Australia in the second quarter of next year.

Furthermore, O'Flaherty says the T-Touch Tab will not be the only Telstra-branded tablet launched for consumers. It is the first in "a bigger tablet range" for the company that is already in discussions with other tablet makers.

"This is just one tablet but we'll be releasing more Telstra-branded products in future at different price points for different audiences," she says. "Some will have a different form factor, a different price and a different purpose."

It will be up to consumers to pick a side, and a size.