Alternatives to the iPad or Two Times By The Seven Samurais - The Second Seven
Second seven
Continuation of the list of alternatives iPad iPad version CrunchGear and with my comments. The previous issue can be read here . And here - the second seven alternatives, which in my opinion are much more interesting than the first.
Spring Design Alex Ebook Reader
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Personally, this device at first glance reminded me of a vertical Nook reader from Barnes & Noble store. Also a color screen at the bottom and a reading screen at the top. It is, however, tied to a direct competitor - Borders, but it also understands any standard ebook-format. The size of the top e-ink screen is 6 inches, the bottom color one is 3.5 inches. Works on Android OS, promised on April 14th. Inside her
Advantages compared to the iPad
* USB charging
* Replaceable battery (in the iPad, as in the iPhone, the battery is not replaceable)
* Longer battery life in the top screen only mode (which is obvious)
disadvantages
* Both screens are small
* Not enough memory (however, I could not find how much specific memory in this device)
enTourage eDGe dualbook
Very unusual and interesting, in my opinion, the device. However, unlike Microsoft Courier, which is unknown whether it will be released at all, you can buy eDGe right now: for 499 you can buy a dark blue version, and for 539 dollars - white, red, light blue or black. You can read the full review at CrunchGear (in English). On the left of the e-ink device is a screen for reading or drawing: size 9.7 inches, 1200x825; judging by the video, you can draw and write on it with a style. On the right - the usual color touch screen: 10.1 inch, 1024x600, microphone, video camera. In addition, the device has WiFi, Bluetooth, 2 USB ports, one SD Card slot and a removable battery. Given the price of $ 499, it is safe to say that despite the strong academic focus (the developers are positioning the device for schoolchildren and students), none of the students will buy it. One of the reasons is clearly visible on the video in the review - around the seventh minute, the reviewer prints on the virtual keyboard and you can see the whole screen swinging even from the easiest clicks. In this embodiment, in my opinion, the device is still quite raw.
Benefits
* Large screen size
* SD card slot
* 2 USB ports
* Replaceable battery
disadvantages
* No 3G
* Small memory
Wepad
One of the most anticipated and, in my opinion, the most serious competitors of the iPad. Developed in the German neofonie, this is one of the most anticipated devices, including on Habré (judging by the comments). A full review, along with a comparison table WePad vs. iPad can be found here . Briefly about the main point: 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Pineview-M processor, 11.6-inch screen (1,366 x 768), 16 GB NAND Flash memory (maximum: 32 GB internal + 32 GB SDcard), camera, 2 USB ports, Bluetooth, WiFi and 6 hours of battery life with a total weight of 800 - 850 grams.
Advantages compared to the iPad
* Camera
* 2 USB ports
* WePad App Store + Android Marketplace
* Multitasking
* Works with all ebook formats.
* Larger screen than iPad
* Flash support
disadvantages
* We do not know about these (well, you can at least mention the 4 hours difference in the stated battery life)
Lenovo Skylight Smartbook
Presented by Lenovo at CES 2010, the Lenovo Skylight Smartbook did not immediately impress me. I don’t see much difference with a netbook, regardless of 2 pounds of weight (about 900 grams), a 10-inch screen, a Quallcom Snapdragon processor and a 3G modem. Taking into account the fact that the OS has some special character there, and the promised price is again somewhere around $ 500 - I simply see no reason to buy this joy.
Benefits
* Full keyboard
* USB ports
* SD card slot
disadvantages
* Incomprehensible OS
* Lack of touchscreen
Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid
This Lenovo development is much more interesting and even echoes the iPad dock (with a full-sized keyboard) and enTourage eDGe, and Microsoft Courier. With the last two, of course, to a lesser extent. In the netbook version, this is the Intel Core2Duo U4100, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD and Windows 7. In the tablet version, this is 1GHz Snapdragon, 512MB DDR1 SDRAM, 16GB SSD and a specially crafted tablet version of Linux. I cannot say if I like this approach one hundred percent (especially if I have a lot of documents open and need to unhook a pill or, on the contrary, insert it back into the dock), but with a price tag of about $ 1,000 I’m not even interested. Exit promise in the summer, perhaps by that time something will change. However, considering the current problems of Lenovo with models already on sale - I would not expect this device before the end of autumn.
Virtues
* Windows 7 or Linux
* Two-in-one design
* USB port
* SD card slot
* Larger screen
disadvantages
* No access to the App Store
* Apparently - higher cost
* I would add more weight and less battery life
ExoPC
Dream haters firm Apple. This device looks like an iPad, costs as much as an iPad, its technical data are close to an iPad - and it is NOT Apple's release. In short: Intel atom N270 1.6GHz, 2GB PC5400 DDR2 667Mhz, 8.9 inches (1024 x 600) LED backlite resistive multi-touch screen, 32 GB SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth, RJ-45 (where have you seen this?) camera, as many as three USB ports, Windows 7 with a shell developed by ExoPC. The promised work time is 4 hours from the battery and 72 hours in stand-by mode with a total weight of 820 grams. In my opinion - a great alternative. If you throw out the LAN port and one of the USB ports (leave two), and use their place to plug in a more capacious battery having provided at least 6 hours of work, then you can already talk about serious competition. And if you persuade exoPC instead of Windows 7 to use Android, Google Chrome OS or another version of Linux specially tailored for this device, the battery life can be stretched up to 8 hours.
Virtues
* SD card slot
* Replaceable battery
* Flash and Silverlight support
* WiFi + ability to plug in regular CAT5
* Windows 7 + ExoPC UI
* 3 USB ports
disadvantages
* No access to the App Store
* Battery life only 4 hours
Joojoo ( CrunchPad )
Joojoo, which was originally called CrunchPad, developed by Fusion Garage. In the English-language Wikipedia, you can read a brief story about how Michael Arrington fell out with Fusion Garage, which made CrunchPad and how it all ended. It was logical to assume that Joojoo will not be included in the review on TechCrunch, so the last point of the original review - “your own smartphone” - I decided to replace with Joojoo. Technical side (from the official site): 12.1 inch screen (1366 × 768), capacitive multitouch, 4GB SSD, Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g), Bluetooth, Flash support, up to 5 hours of battery life with a total weight of 1.1 kg . It runs on a stripped-down Linux, officially announced as a browser based operating system (i.e., a browser-based operating system, much like Google Chrome OS). Price - 499 dollars.
It was precisely in connection with the whole story, suing and other things, that the number of pre-orders for Joojoo was much less than a hundred. I saw different numbers in different news, Wikipedia says - 50 orders, so be it - less than a hundred. Thanks to the mass hysteria about the iPad on blogs, I don’t expect that Joojoo will come to news in the near future, however, on April 1 (aha, that very day) the blog Engadget published a video from Joojoo . To be honest, I'm not impressed.
UPDATE: The video is not fake, moreover, last night Engadget published a series of pictures where you can look at the insides of Joojoo. All curious are welcome to browse here .
These are the advantages and disadvantages:
Virtues
* Linux
* USB port
* SD card slot
* Larger screen
* Flash support
disadvantages
* No access to the App Store
* A strong lag between the movement of a finger and the reaction of the OS (rate the video)
* Insufficient disk capacity
* More weight and less battery life
* No 3G modem
* Great distrust of the manufacturing company in connection with the scandal
Original review by CrunchGear
The first seven - the first part of the review + interesting comment
This article is in my personal blog.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/89888/
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