The recently announced Velocity Micro Cruz tablet renews our hope for an agile, inexpensive Android alternative to Apple's runaway hit. Due out in September with a 7-inch capacitive bit screen and a reasonable worth of $299, the Cruz tablet delivers a (mostly) complete Android OS two.1 experience, including compatibility with Flash ten.1.
You also get 802.11n Wi-Fi, an SDHC memory card slot with an included 8GB card, 4GB of integrated memory, 800x480 native resolution, multitouch, accelerometer control, a front-facing camera, speaker, microphone, headphone jack, and many of media playback support (music, video, and e-books).
Unfortunately, the caveat with the Cruz tablet is the same for all current Archos Android tablets, which is the inability to use Google's Android Marketplace app to browse, purchase, and download any of the thousands of apps made for Android. Like Archos, Velocity Micro offers their own integrated storefront for apps they've handpicked for the Cruz, but the pickings are presumably slim and also the plan of limited access sorta goes against the full ethos of Android.
Regardless, it's smart to see another horse in the race, and Velocity Micro is not stopping with just one tablet. Set for an August unleash are the Cruz Reader ($199) and Cruz StoryPad ($149). as the names imply, both of those tablets are geared primarily as e-book readers, with the least expensive of the 2 designed as an interactive reader for children that includes preinstalled content.
Stylistically, the Cruz Reader seems indistinguishable from the Cruz tablet, employing a similar 7-inch TFT color bit screen, but it uses an 800x600 resolution instead of the Tablet's 16:9-optimized 800x480 resolution. The $100 difference between the 2 merchandise comes right down to the Reader's limited storage (256MB integrated, 2GB SD), slower Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), resistive screen, lack of multitouch, diminished video playback support, and half the system memory (256MB).
Processor specs haven't been made official yet, thus there may be a difference in horsepower between the three tablets, as well. The Cruise Reader does keep company with a charging dock included, however, which Cruz tablet house owners can have to be compelled to shell out for separately.
Hardware limitations aside, the Cruz Reader still strikes us as a capable little Android tablet, as demonstrated in the video below. It actually ain't fast, but the worth is true and also the built-in eBook storefront does not look half dangerous.
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