More details on Acer’s mysterious Chrome OS tablet have recently been uncovered in a new Chromium Gerrit commit and other parts of the web, suggesting that the slate is equipped with a 9.7-inch TFT LCD screen. The commit was added after the tablet was spotted at the Bett Show 2018 in London last week, and it refers to the device by the codename ‘Scarlet’ which has circulated the industry for about a year now. It’s worth noting that although there is no direct evidence to link the Acer tablet with the Scarlet codename, there have been no other clues regarding a different Chrome OS tablet being in the works aside from Scarlet, and this makes Acer’s creation the safest bet for guessing what device is the codename referring to.
Previous commits have revealed that the Scarlet tablet has front and rear-facing cameras, a fingerprint scanner, a stylus, and is powered by the same chipset as the Samsung Chromebook Plus, i.e., the Rockchip RK3399. So far, all of these checkboxes seem to be ticked by the Acer tablet seen in London earlier this month; however, the tablet’s overall dimensions and display characteristics weren’t revealed on that occasion. According to the commit asking for an initialization sequence to be added, the Scarlet tablet is equipped with an Innolux P097PFG display. No other hardware details are shared by the source, however, there already is enough information online pertaining to Innolux’ product. Specifically, the screen is based on TFT LCD display technology which sits at the basis of IPS panels; it measures 9.7 inches in diagonal and has a resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 pixels.
Regardless of whether the Scarlet tablet is actually the Acer Chrome OS slate seen in London last week, it will be interesting to see how Google’s operating system will manifest in a new form factor that isn’t reliant on physical keyboards or touchpads like conventional Chromebooks are. This would be the first incarnation of Chrome OS in the form of a tablet and such original implementation will likely pave the way for other future products in this category, assuming the Scarlet won’t end up being a one-time experiment. It also remains to be seen whether Acer’s Chrome OS tablet will be geared more toward entertainment and media consumption or education, but the inclusion of a stylus opens additional possibilities in the latter segment.
