2010 Android Tablet Market - Year in Review

[rokky]

[Repsonding to bilgediver] Surprising you would want the Cruz Reader considered since it should be in the same category you described for the Nook as a "half tablet" - it is meant to be primarily an ebook reader (for Borders books vs Nook for B&N), and takes modifications comparable to the Nook's to achieve that [added: achieving half tablet status, not ebook reader since it comes that way].

You are probably right, though, that the Cruz Tablet should be included due to its "mainstream" sales at Borders and Best Buy, but most reviews I have seen consider it a pathetic attempt

Actually, I would consider any tablet which has substantial sales (over 10,000?) that turns out to be a "half (Android) tablet" by whatever means, be it manufacturer, distributor, or buyer. Then all 3 of the above would be worthy of consideration.

Odd that I cannot edit my post above ... too early in the morning?

 

[Bilgediver]

Actually when I was playing with my gilrfriend's Cruz Tablet it seemed to function more like a tablet than a straight-up Reader (unlike the Nook). I wouldn't even call it a mod, but you could easily side-load plenty of apps. I side-loaded Skyfire browser and it played youtube videos just fine. I agree its a pathetic attempt at making a full-blown tablet, but Velocity didn't make it for that reason, they made it as an ereader running stock Android (unlike the Nook which has great hardware, but its OS out of the box is just a plain Ereader running a heavily modified version of Android).

 

[rokky]

Actually when I was playing with my gilrfriend's Cruz Tablet it seemed to function more like a tablet than a straight-up Reader (unlike the Nook). I wouldn't even call it a mod, but you could easily side-load plenty of apps. I side-loaded Skyfire browser and it played youtube videos just fine. I agree its a pathetic attempt at making a full-blown tablet, but Velocity didn't make it for that reason, they made it as an ereader running stock Android (unlike the Nook which has great hardware, but its OS out of the box is just a plain Ereader running a heavily modified version of Android).

Were you actually working with the Tablet or the Reader? They are 2 distinctly different devices. The Tablet is 800x480/16:9 resolution/ratio, and the Reader is 800x600/4:3.

I will grant that the Reader is more tablet-like in function/appearance than the Nook (and the related Pandigital Novel, "PDN", which has the same hardware as the Reader - the PDN interface is much more reader-oriented, and for B&N as with the Nook) - but the Reader is still more geared to being a reader than the Tablet.

Actually, since the Reader has Android 2.1 (vs the Tablet's 2.0), it has been more hackable than the Tablet in many ways, as with the PDN. Check the Pandigital slatedroid.com forum, which includes a major VM Cruz Reader sub-forum to share the commanalities with the PDN for hacking.

Anyway, they all should be part of this review, and now that I mentioned it, the PDN, too - it was my first major intro to Android in tablet form (and hacking it) last year after messing with some phones I did not like. I suspect the PDN had more hacker owners than the VM Cruz Reader did (still might ).

Nook hacking into tablet mode is VERY popular relative to other Android tablets after all.

 

[Bilgediver]

I'm quite aware of the difference. I specifically recommended my gf get the tablet instead of the reader (she was dead set on getting one at borders, so its the best I could do).

I said Tablet, not the Reader. The tablet has a capacitive screen, even though its not sensitive at all, its still better than the readers screen.

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