Audi teased its tablet at last year's CES but then went completely quiet until its press event at this year's show. The quick demo we were treated to focused on just how well the tablet is integrated in to the Q7, the specs were just a passing thought. Audi has this dead right, sure it's a 10.1 tablet being driven by a Tegra 4, but we didn't care about that at all. We were wowed by how beautiful it was and how well thought out every little thing about it was. For example, the matte display was designed to reduce micro vibrations passing through the car and as we saw in a demo are incredibly distracting. The display was also tested to ensure that during an accident it wouldn't shatter -- from your face hitting it -- and have the shards cause further injury to the people in the car. The tablet's housing is a solid piece of beautifully sculpted aluminum with curved corners and smooth edges. While it certainly weighs more than your average slate, that heft is exactly what you'd expect from a vehicle like a Q7.
While the primary purpose of the tablet is entertainment for your rear passengers, the Audi Tablet also controls most of the car's electronic functions. Passengers in the Q7 can have a look at the current route via a map app and can even set a new waypoint and pass it to the main stack in the front via WiFi. Music choices, media access, speed and even if your driver has been keeping up with the maintenance. Charging and a serial port that interfaces with the car's CANBus -- for communication with the auto's systems -- are on the back of the device and a standard micro-USB port and headphone jack are, too. The Audi Tablet is without question the nicest example of one we've ever held. Was the OS fast and responsive? Absolutely. Touch response top notch? Indeed it was. Would we buy one to have at home? No, not likely, but the experience in the car is exactly right and we think that's precisely what Audi was aiming for and has definitely achieved.
Aaron Souppouris contributed to this report
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