So far, the anticipated wave of Android tablets competing against the Apple iPad has been little more than a trickle. The unfortunately named Dell Streak--though promising--has yet to show its face in the U.S., and the dated Android 1.5 OS on the Archos 5 and Archos 7 Home Tablet leaves plenty to be desired.
The recently announced Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet renews our hope for an agile, inexpensive Android alternative to Apple's runaway hit. Due out in September with a 7-inch capacitive touch screen and an affordable price of $299, the Cruz Tablet delivers a (mostly) complete Android OS 2.1 experience, including compatibility with Flash 10.1.
You also get 802.11n Wi-Fi, an SDHC memory card slot with an included 8GB card, 4GB of integrated memory, 800x480 native resolution, multitouch, accelerometer control, a front-facing camera, speaker, microphone, headphone jack, and plenty of media playback support (music, video, and e-books).
Unfortunately, the caveat with the Cruz Tablet is the same for all current Archos Android tablets, which is the inability to use Google's Android Marketplace app to browse, purchase, and download any of the thousands of apps made for Android. Like Archos, Velocity Micro offers their own integrated storefront for apps they've handpicked for the Cruz, but the pickings are presumably slim and the idea of limited access sorta goes against the whole ethos of Android.
Regardless, it's good to see another horse in the race, and Velocity Micro isn't stopping with just one tablet.… Read more
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