Apple will reportedly announce their tablet on January 26th, but the competition is not sitting still: Manufacturer Freescale Semiconductor will unveil their own tablet design(s) at the Consumer Electronics Show, which starts in a couple of days.

The images you see above are reference designs--Freescale manufactures the guts, and it will be up to those it supplies to fine-tune the final designs--but what they're aiming for is a sub-$200 machine that will "provide instant-on functionality, persistent connectivity and all-day battery life" in a 7-inch touchscreen device that they hope will help fill a new product category: Portable touchscreens, keyboard-less netbooks, or big-ass smartphones, call it what you will.

"Freescale's new tablet opens the door to an exciting new world of compelling form factors specifically designed and optimized to support common online activities including social media, high-quality audio/video playback and light gaming," said Henri Richard, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for Freescale. "We believe the tablet will emerge as a popular form factor for the next generation of smartbooks. By introducing this prototype reference design, Freescale intends to play a vital role in propelling the mainstream adoption of smartbooks."

via cnet and tmc net