Just found this cool tablet...

[pawnslinger]

Here's the link for what looks to be a really cool Android 2.1 tablet due to be released in July 2010.

Cruz Reader and Cruz Tablet from Velocity Micro

They list the price as $199 for the version with a resistive screen, and $299 for the one with a capacitive screen. There is a sample video of the model with the resistive screen. I think I will go for the capacitive screen.

But, as far as I can tell, no Android Marketplace! They are planning their own "Open Content Portal"... ala Archos. This seems like a really nice machine, and the lack of the Android Marketplace is the only fly I can see. I think it is a big mistake to omit the Android Marketplace.

 

[DarcyAllen]

But, as far as I can tell, no Android Marketplace! They are planning their own "Open Content Portal"... ala Archos. This seems like a really nice machine, and the lack of the Android Marketplace is the only fly I can see. I think it is a big mistake to omit the Android Marketplace.

There are at least 8 other marketplaces you can get to with the built-in web browser on the device. Each app is a single binary file ending with .apk and you just need to copy it onto the device. You can use ftp, scp, bluetooth, attach it to an email, USB mounted drive copy, wget, or click a file download link. After it's on your sdcard, use Astro file manager, AndroZip or any other file tool, click it, and choose to Install it.
Of course, under Settings...Applications, you must be able to check Unknown Sources [x] to on, and if they somehow locked that out then they should be shot and pissed on.

 

[joshua.lyon]

But, as far as I can tell, no Android Marketplace! They are planning their own "Open Content Portal"... ala Archos. This seems like a really nice machine, and the lack of the Android Marketplace is the only fly I can see. I think it is a big mistake to omit the Android Marketplace.

There are at least 8 other marketplaces you can get to with the built-in web browser on the device. Each app is a single binary file ending with .apk and you just need to copy it onto the device. You can use ftp, scp, bluetooth, attach it to an email, USB mounted drive copy, wget, or click a file download link. After it's on your sdcard, use Astro file manager, AndroZip or any other file tool, click it, and choose to Install it.
Of course, under Settings...Applications, you must be able to check Unknown Sources [x] to on, and if they somehow locked that out then they should be shot and pissed on.

The hard part isn't installing the apps... it's finding them. From my experience, there weren't a whole lot of trustworthy sources to find good apps from. One of my tablets doesn't have the Android Marketplace and it is a pain to find the apps that I am looking for and keep them updated.