Sharp Axes Galapagos Tablets, Pins Hopes On Incoming 7-Incher

Sharp has axed production of its Galapagos 5.5- and 10.8-inch tablets, though the company says that it still intends to launch a 7-inch version of the ebook-centric series. After the end of September, no further orders of the two Android-based slates will be accepted; however, Sharp's ebook store will continue to offer downloads.

As for the 7-inch Sharp Galapagos A01SH, which was officially announced back in August, that's on track though there's no exact release date yet. It will have a 1024 x 600 resolution panel, 5-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera, and an integrated modem for up to 42Mbps downloads on Japanese networks. OS is Android 3.2 Honeycomb running on NVIDIA's Tegra 2 dual-core, and Sharp reckons battery life will be in the region of 7.5 hours.

All well and good, but with Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 packing a 1280 x 800 panel the A01SH may start looking less than competitive too. Sharp hasn't said exactly why it's canning the two existing models, though to be fair they're now twelve months old and that's a long time in tech.