The WePad’s track record for public demonstrations isn’t great: the first time around, the iPad alternative was found to be playing a video demo rather than actually responding to direct control, prompting Neofonie to wheel out a prototype just to prove that it actually works. Happily third time is the charm, with a new press event giving NetbookNews the chance to grab some hands-on time with a working WePad slate.
Since the WePad is headed to Germany first (and this was a German presentation) the videos are, unsurprisingly, in German. Still, it’s enough to show that the Atom N450 based slate is reasonably slick in its responsiveness, the 11.6-inch touchscreen doesn’t look hugely unwieldy, and Neofonie’s custom UI looks pretty darn impressive.
Last we heard, the WePad would drop in Germany for €449 from July, with a second €569 version bringing with it twice the storage (32GB rather than 16GB) and integrated 3G. No word on when we might see it spread into the rest of Europe or head overseas.