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Since Apple’s late-January launch of its “magical” iPad, tablet computers have been all the talk in the tech community.
It seems like everyone’s jumping into the mix. HP is set to lauch their $550 (price rumored) Slate this summer in the UK, Microsoft is teasing the world with its amazing Courier mock-ups. The Slate will definitely hold more powerful insides than the iPad and boast a full Windows 7 experience. The Courier is mainly a mystery at this point but if its capable of the things these mock-ups we’ve been seeing say it is, then it must have some impressive innards.
But there’s one big tablet player you may not have heard of: Fusion Garage.
For a while, Fusion Garage teased us with their tablet device the CrunchPad, but after a legal dispute over development of the CrunchPad led to its demise, what Fusion Garage delivered was the JooJoo.
The JooJoo weighs 2.4 pounds and boasts a 12.1-inch multitouch screen with 1366 x 768 resolution capable of HD quality video playback. It has one USB port, power input, audio jacks and Bluetooth capability to support external keyboards and mice. It also has a front-facing camera for video conferencing.
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The device is powered by an 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and a NVIDIA Ion graphics processor. The tablet runs on a Unix-based OS and boots straight into a Web browser in a super-speedy 9 seconds. However, JooJoo says you’ll only get five hours of use from one charge of the battery.
The above specs beat all of the iPad’s. Apple’s product has a smaller 9.5-inch display with slightly less resolution. It has no USB port, no front facing camera, a less powerful 1GHz A4 processor (custom made by Apple.)
A spec missing from the JooJoo’s lineup is 3G connectivity. iPads equipped with 3G cards will ship a few weeks after the device’s WiFi-0nly launch for an extra $130 plus $30 a month for unlimited data. In a user manual part of its FCC filing, Fusion Garage has made show a 3G card but the device they’re shipping now doesn’t include it. It could be available in a future release.
The only JooJoo feature that causes serious concern is its 4GB solid state hard drive. At its lowest, the iPad offers 8GB of space. Forget uploading your music library or a ton of movies onto the JooJoo. Heck forget loading up an HD movie at all since most of those take up well over 4GB if its in 1080p. (The device does allow you to hook up a USB thumb drive and play content from it however. But the less stuff to keep up with the better in my opinion.)
But in the JooJoo’s defense, the device does support Flash content, a huge deal for a lot of people out there considering a tablet device.
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Most importantly the JooJoo is meant mainly to surf the Web and enjoy the content that lives there. There is no access to an app store, because it’s Fusion Garage’s belief (and many others) that app stores are just ways to make money off of things that are already free on the Web created in Flash.
The interface of the device still features “apps” but they are simply Web addresses accessed when the user touches an icon on the home screen.
Only one model of the device is available for purchase for $499. So can this device beat the iPad?
A lot of those deeply entrenched in the tech community say that’s besides the point. I happen to agree with them.
Will Fusion Garage sell as many tablets as Apple? That’s doubtful. Apple has already sold well more than 100,000 iPads and the thing isn’t even in stores yet.
The real question is can the JooJoo do a great job at what it claims to do best: surf the Web.
Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan refuses to even call the device a tablet since it boots into a Web browser and says the goal is to give a “fuller Web experience,” not a full computer experience.
The iPad on the other hand seeks to do what its iPhone/iPod touch brethren do well (with the more than 160,000 (and counting) apps in the App Store) along with the added functionality of Word processing and more video watching.
In other words, the iPad seeks to do a thousand different functions well. It wants you to find directions on it; read restaurant reviews; watch movies; read a bestseller; listen to music; type up a report for work; e-mail your sister; research first aid tips; play air hockey; control your TV like a remote; etc.
The JooJoo seeks to do one: surf the Web.
So it really depends on what you want. Do you want apps or do you want a Web experience that includes Flash content like Hulu and tons of free games?
Do yourself a favor and check out hands-0n tests with the device at Engadget and Gizmodo and let me know what you think.
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