Creative Announces Two New Android Tablets, Don't Look Very Promising

Creative has just announced two new Android tablets; the Creative ZiiO 7 inch and the Creative ZiiO 10 inch. The Creative ZiiO 7 inch features a 7 inch resistive touchscreen display with a resolution of 480x800, Android 2.1, a ZiiLabs ZMS-08 processor, WiFi 802.11g, Bluetooth 2.1, and a microSD card slot. Aside from this the ZiiO 7 inch also features a front facing VGA camera, a mini USB port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a built in microphone, and a built in speaker. All this is in a 207.4x133x13.7mm package that weighs 400 grams, pretty heavy for a tablet with these specifications. As for storage, the Creative ZiiO 7 inch comes in two different capacities, 8 GB and 16 GB. They are priced at €249, or $349 (8 GB) and €269 or $378 (16 GB), will both come in white, and should be shipping some time in December. The Creative ZiiO 10 inch features many of the same specifications, and the main difference is the screen, which is a 10 inch resistive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024x600. The ZiiO 10 inch features the same ZiiLabs ZMS-08 processor, Android 2.1, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi 802.11g, a front facing VGA camera, a built in microphone, a built in speaker, a mini USB port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Creative ZiiO 10 inch, like the ZiiO 7 inch, also features memory expansion, but this time in the form of an SD card slot instead of a microSD card slot. As for size and weight, the Creative ZiiO 10 inch measures 262x173x13.7mm and weighs a hefty 650 grams. Also like the ZiiO 7 inch, the ZiiO 10 inch will be available in both a 8 GB capacity and a 16 GB capacity, and will cost either €299 ($420) for the 8 GB or €319 ($450) for the 16 GB. The Creative ZiiO 10 inch should be shipping sometime in December and will be available in black. Neither of the tablets will have access to the Android Market, which is another big downside. Looking at the specifications of these tablets it doesn't exactly seem like they will be competitors to the Galaxy Tab or the iPad. The Creative ZiiO 7 inch and the ZiiO 10 inch might not even fit into the lower end tablet market as they are so overpriced. They also don't have some of the specifications that some other lower-end Android tablets do, including Android 2.2 Froyo or a capacitive display. You would think that the lack of features would make the Creative ZiiO tablets more portable, but it has actually made them more bulky and heavy. You would probably be better off looking at Archos' new line of tablets if you are looking for a lower end tablet, or the Galaxy Tab or iPad if you are looking for a higher end device. Some more images of both the ZiiO 7 inch and the ZiiO 10 inch are below.

BlackBerry PlayBook Getting a 64 GB Version and A Huge 5,300 mAh Battery

You probably already know most of the specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook from our previous post, but some new specifications have just been revealed. Aside from the 16 and 32 GB versions that were previously reported there will also be a 64 GB version of the BlackBerry PlayBook. Another amazing feature that has just been announced is that the PlayBook will feature a 5,300 mAh battery, which is amazing for a laptop, let alone a tablet. We imagine that this will give the PlayBook over a day of battery life. This will probably give the BlackBerry PlayBook a huge advantage over competitors like the iPad. There is still no information about pricing or a release date, though. Aside from these new specifications there is also a video of the tablet in action below.

CherryPal Announces Cheap New Android Tablet, The CherryPad America

CherryPal, the company that brought you the $100 netbook, has just announced a cheap new Android tablet. The CherryPad America is a 7 inch tablet running Android and has plenty of features, despite the low price point. The CherryPad America features a 7 inch resistive touchscreen display with a resolution of 800x480, Android 2.1 (An upgrade to Android 2.2 is planned to be released later), 256 MB of RAM, 2GB of memory, a microSD card slot, WiFi 802.11g, an 800 MHz ARM processor, and an accelerometer. The device will also feature a built in microphone and speaker. As for battery life, the CherryPad America runs off of a 3200 mAh battery, which should give you six to eight hours of use. The device also has an aluminum case and weighs just 1.1 pounds. Another great feature of the CherryPad America is that it will have access to the Android market, unlike other cheap Android tablets. CherryPad is saying that the CherryPad America is by no means a competitor to the iPad, but insists that it is "neither an iPad killer nor an iPad clone, it's a completely different product designed for a different market". The CherryPad America is available now through online retailer Zecozi, and will cost you just $188. Overall, the CherryPad America seems like a great tablet for the lower-end tablet market. Below is another image of the CherryPad America and the full press release. 

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cherrypal, a California-based manufacturer of high quality, low-energy consuming and affordable personal computers, today announced the availability of its new sub $200 tablet computer, the CherryPad America.

The CherryPad was designed for consumers who are looking for an affordable, powerful, high quality, and low energy-consuming tablet computer with the ability to run the Android operating system. CherryPad is powered by the fast Samsung ARM11, (CPU + GPU + DSP, OpenGL 2.0) 800 MHz processor and runs Android 2.1 and all Android applications. An upgrade option to 2.2 is planned for the fourth quarter 2010.

The CherryPad America features a 7-inch resistive touch widescreen display (no stylus needed) at 800x480 resolution with built-in gravity sensor. Memory, storage and wireless functions include 256 MBs of DDRII RAM; 2 GB NAND Flash; Micro SD (1x) reader, and WiFi 802.11 b/g.

Standard I/O ports include USB 2.0 supported by an external adapter; 3.5 mm headphone jack, built-in speakers and microphone, DC port, optional external 3G modem. The CherryPad America's Polymer 3200 MAH battery has a run time of 6-8 hours. The device weighs just 1.1 pounds and is housed in a sturdy aluminum case. MSRP of the CherryPad America is $188.

"The CherryPad America does not compete against the Apple(C) iPad. The CherryPad addresses the sub-iPad market," said Cherrypal CTO Max Seybold.

According to Seybold, CherryPad has been designed for consumers who seek a lower cost, more compact tablet PC with the ability to run Android.

"The CherryPad is neither an iPad killer nor an iPad clone, it's a completely different product designed for a different market," Seybold said. "The screen of the CherryPad is only 7-inches big, the processor is slightly less powerful, and the CherryPad comes with Android 2.1 and not Apple's iOS." At a MSRP of $188, the price for a CherryPad is also less than half of the iPad.

"Early user tests confirmed the CherryPad user experience has been extremely positive. Users appreciate full access to the Android Market, its powerful processor, battery run time, and high quality," Seybold said.

Cherrypal Partners With Zecozi Cherrypal also announced a strategic partnership with Zecozi (www.zecozi.com), a new online shopping site for conscious consumers. All Cherrypal products will be exclusively sold through Zecozi in the United States, with the exception of volume buyers. Every Cherrypal comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, as well as a 1-year replacement warranty.

"We are a hardware manufacturer first and need to focus on our core competence in order to drive down costs and offer quality products that consumers can afford. We can offer our products for such a low price because we are frugal with non-product related costs. When we looked for a strong partner who shares our green, open and fair corporate value system, Zecozi was the obvious choice," said Cherrypal CEO John Collier.

About Cherrypal Corporation Cherrypal (http://www.cherrypal.com) is a Palo Alto, California based manufacturer of high-quality, energy-efficient and low-cost computers with worldwide sales operations. Cherrypal's products are designed in Palo Alto, California and manufactured in Asia.

About Zecozi Zecozi (www.zecozi.com) is a community-driven marketplace for conscious consumers, that enable users to shop with friends and come together in real-time with the community to collectively define sustainability. The Zecozi community is the next generation of sustainable commerce.

iPad and Apple are registered trademarks of Apple. Other products/company names are either trademarks or trade names of their respective holders.

The Lack of Tablets Available Readily for Consumers to Purchase

Let’s say you want to buy an internet tablet, a MID (mobile internet device), or whatever you want to call it. You go to the usual technology stores and some other stores, but guess what, you are only going to find two tablets, that’s right two. Currently there are only two tablets available for consumers to just go out and buy from the store, at least that I know of. Those are the iPad, and the new Augen Gentouch 78. Those are about the only two you will find. Let’s say that after your little scavenger hunt for a tablet you decide that the iPad is too expensive for you, but you still don’t want something as crappy as the Augen Gentouch 78, so you decide to expand your search online. You go to Google and search for “internet tablets”, you will find two more internet tablets, the Archos line of tablets, and if you delve a little deeper, the Fusion Garage JooJoo. That totals your tablet tally to four. Let’s say none of these tablets meet your needs either, so you look some more. You will most likely find the Nokia N900, and maybe some Vilivs. Other than that, there is nothing, nothing! At least this is what I have found in my experience of searching for a good internet tablet. Then you will decide to spend another 3 hours looking for an internet tablet. At the end of those two hours, you find yourself looking at you computer about to crash because of all of the tabs you have open. The tabs are mostly full of Chinese wholesale sites offering you strange tablets with manufacturers you have never heard of, unclear specifications, and you will have absolutely no sense of wanting to buy any of these tablets. You have never heard of the manufacturer, the OS is probably something you have never seen, or a hacked version of Android, and you are extremely depressed because you just spent about 4 hours of your life looking for a normal internet tablet, which, in the end, you did not find. Thinking of this will probably cause you to start yelling at your computer. This, sadly is how the actual tablet market is these days, and I have experienced this myself. You will only find a few, or five in my case, internet tablets that you have actually ever heard of or you can trust even a little. The rest is Chinese (no offense to the Chinese, they actually make some pretty awesome stuff) craptablets from sites that will probably steal your identity and never even send you the tablet. This is not how the market should be. In my opinion the tablet market should be like the laptop market, except for with a little less confusion. And I think that it is a shame that tablets are nowhere to be found now, but I think that in the next couple of years the tablet market will experience rapid growth. This is mostly because people have a growing need for devices and tablets that they can take anywhere and actually be productive with. So, I hope this has shortened those tablet lovers’ searches for a new internet tablet, and I really hope that tablets become a lot easier for consumers to purchase.