Asus Eee Pad Slider tablet reveals hidden keyboard in hands-on video

The Asus Eee Pad Slider is a tablet with a twist. With a slide-out Qwerty keyboard nestling under its display, it aims to offer laptop and tablet fanciers the best of both worlds. We recently filmed the living daylights out of it, so you can see how the hardware works.

The 10.1-inch Slider runs on Android 3.0 Honeycomb, a version of Google's mobile operating system that's been optimised for tablets. A dual-core, 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor should keep it ticking along cheerfully. 

The Slider could also make for a useful media hub, thanks to its multitude of connectivity options. Among them are a mini-HDMI port for hooking it up to a TV, a USB port, a microSD card slot, and a SIM card slot for surfing over 3G. 

As we mentioned in our preview, the Slider feels like a classy piece of kit, even if the keyboard does make it bulkier than many rival devices. We were particularly impressed by the 1,280x800-pixel screen, which is really sharp and lends colours a pleasingly natural appearance.

The keyboard itself is impressively large and lets you place the screen at an angle for easier typing. Even if the keyboard shortcuts you're accustomed to don't work on the Slider because of its Android software, the keyboard should still prove useful for bashing out emails and other messages quickly.

We'll have a full review of the Slider just as soon as we can get our filthy paws on one. Until then, fill your tablet-craving boots by reading our previews of the Motorola Xoom, Asus Eee Slate EP121, Eee Pad Transformer and Eee Pad MeMo.

Finally, let us know in the comments section below whether you think the Slider can sock the iPad in the guts.