Is this device meant to actually be a tablet? No. It's a home media device, something that would go in the room or something.
When the device was initially unveiled, we (the media, posters, bloggers, etc) briefly thought it had a battery. When it turned out it didn't, a lot of people lost interest. If you follow the replies in this thread, you can see that process for yourself -- starting with gibbz's post, some three weeks and more than a dozen replies ago.