JooJoo Tablet Ships This Month, Complete with Flash and App Store
Feb 5, 2010 JooJoo
The iPad media storm is over, so it’s time to give the JooJoo tablet some quality time, since the device formerly known as the CrunchPad is about to get launched this month. Its maker, Fusion Garage announced that the product will start shipping in weeks with full production on its way.
Fusion Garage teamed up with Malaysian OEM CSL Group, to cover the costs of the tablet manufacturing process. CSL will get a part of the revenue associated with the product, as a follow-up of this cooperation. It has also been confirmed that the tablet comes with full Flash support and even HD Flash content, thanks to the Flash 10.1 technology.
There’s a web app store coming, as well, apparently one that’s bigger than Apple’s according to Fusion Garage CEO Chandra. JooJoo will retail for $499 and it’ll pack a 12 inch display, larger than the 9.7 one of the iPad, but who knows if Apple won’t come up with a larger version of its tablet?
[via slashgear]
Tags: 12 inch tablet, Crunchpad, Flash 10.1 on tablet, JooJoo launch date, JooJoo tablet price
JooJoo Gets Official Site, Complete With Images from the Movie “Avatar”, Pre-Order Option
Dec 17, 2009 JooJoo
Since the movie “Avatar” is on everyone’s lips these days, JooJoo’s official site (tablet formerly known as Crunchpad) features a bunch of images of the device showing shots from the motion picture. Also, you can see, you can also find accessories on the site, like a dock, find out the tablet’s specs, contact the makers of the product or pre-order it.
We remind you that JooJoo is a 12.1 inch widescreen display tablet, with multitouch support, a fingerprint resistant coating, support for Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi, a built-in rechargeable Li-Polymer battery, a 4GB SSD, a video conferencing camera and an accelerometer.
The device’s specs list also includes an ambient light sensor, a charger port, a single USB port, speakers, a microphone, a 3.5mm audio jack, Flash 10.1, Java, 1080p support and a browser-based OS. For now, the site only accepts pre-order in the US, with the product being shipped in 8 to 10 weeks. JooJoo goes for $499, while its stand costs $29.99.
Tags: Avatar movie, Crunchpad, official site, pre order, price, specs
JooJoo Tablet Tested by Gizmodo (Video)
Dec 14, 2009 JooJoo
As we’ve found out previously, the Crunchpad tablet is now known as JooJoo and after seeing it in the loving hands of the CNET folks, it’s time for it to be messed with by the Gizmodo guys. This device uses a 1.6 GHz Atom processor, 1GB RAM, but the rest of its specs are kept a secret by the folks of Fusion Garage, for now.
Gizmodo supposes that there’s an Nvidia Ion chipset under the hood, ready to handle 1080p YouTube video on the 12 inch display of the tablet, supporting a 1366 x 768 pixels resolution. JooJoo also packs a headphone jack, a microphone jack, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, a charging port and a USB port.
The reviewers tested this gadget’s web browsing experience, discovering an accelerometer that detects between vertical and horizontal orientations and finding the browsing to be pretty neat. JooJoo’s body is solid, the screen is bright and the back of the device is curved and plasticky in a good way.
Hands on action is available below:
JooJoo Hands On Demo from Gizmodo on Vimeo.
[via Gizmodo]
Tags: Crunchpad, Gizmodo hands on, JooJoo, review, specs
Michael Arrington Convinced that CrunchPad Legal Action Will Follow
Dec 8, 2009 Tablet related
While Fusion Garage unveiled an exquisite tablet called JooJoo, the rebranded and modified CrunchPad, Michael Arrington recently announced that “CrunchPad Litigation is Imminent”. This was mentioned while Fusion Garage’s officials announced that TechCrunch didn’t contribute to the value of the product.
The war goes on, with Arrington claiming intellectual property over the device and Chandra Rathakrishnan (Fusion Garage CEO) saying that he can continue the project without TechCrunch. It’s important to mention that Michael Arrington doesn’t have a contract giving him copyright to CrunchPad’s code, so he and his lawyers claim that TechCrunch and Fusion Garage jointly own equal rights to the product.
In case you didn’t know, the CrunchPad trademark was applied for on November 17, the same day Arrington mentions as the moment when Fusion Garage let him know of the split. Strange? We thought so…
We’re not saying that TechCrunch’s guru is not right or anything, but he’s just lacking the legal papers to prove it and till then Fusion Garage is the winner. In case the papers exist, we’re waiting for Arrington (who’s an attorney by the way) to pull them out and use them…
[via engadget]
Tags: Crunchpad, Fusion Garage, Michael Arrington, TechCrunch, trademark
CrunchPad is Dead, Long Live JooJoo
Dec 8, 2009 Tablet related
Fusion Garage will not quit the CrunchPad initiative, even after Michael Arrington’s involvement in the project was cancelled. Turns out that the tablet now goes by the name of JooJoo and it will cost $500, plus it will have the advantage of booting up in only 9 seconds.
The device is Internet-based and it features a 12.1 inch touchscreen display, able to show rich Internet content and stream HD video. Also, JooJoo packs no physical buttons, except the single on/off switch and it relies on a revolutionary UI and preload apps. Slide gestures, scrolling, e-books and digital newspapers are also supported, according to Chandra Rathakrishnan, Fusion Garage CEO.
Believe it or not, Chandra says that no suit or legal case have been filed and Fusion Garage will defend its rights for the device. JooJoo will go on sale online starting December 11, 2009 and here’s a quick round up of the specs: 12.1 inch capacitive touchscreen, 4GB SSD storage, WiFi, 5 hours of battery life and a HTML5 compatible web browser.
[via mobilitysite and tgdaily]
Tags: Crunchpad, Fusion Garage, JooJoo, Michael Arrington, specs
JooJoo, Formerly CrunchPad Gets Handled by CNET
Dec 8, 2009 Tablet related
In an interesting twist of events, we’ve found out that the Crunchpad is very much alive and it’ll now be known as JooJoo. The device was showcased to the journalists of CNET, who played with it during Fusion Garage’s CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan’s San Francisco media tour. The conclusion of the reviewers was that this is a very cool tablet, but the $499 price tag might be too much for it.
JooJoo is a web slate with a 12.1 inch touchscreen display (capacitive), supporting a 1366×768 pixel resolution and also packing a camera, a mic, speakers, a single USB port and a card slot. 4GB of cache memory are also on board, while the processor is still a mystery that will probably be revealed in a couple of days or so
The device is very slim, even thinner than the MacBook Air and has a nice feel to it, while the plastic back is gently curved. JooJoo runs a Linux-based OS, uses a Webkit-based browser with support for Flash, but without non-Web apps (no Skype). Booting the JooJoo only takes 9 seconds and it seems that the tablet is centred around its browser and web features.
WiFi loads the pages reasonably and scrolling through them is done by dragging the finger on the screen. Also, a pinch/zoom gesture will lead you back to the home screen. Expect the device to be fully reviewed this month and shipped in 8 to 10 weeks. The question is: will you spend $500 for it?
[via CNET]
Tags: Crunchpad, hands on, JooJoo, launch date, price, webkit browser
CrunchPad Goes “Bye Bye”
Dec 1, 2009 Tablet related
TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington reveals the story behind CrunchPad and the reason why it all ended, after a long struggle. A 1.5 year effort went down the drain, just as two weeks ago we found out that the CrunchPad was ready for official take off. The device was quite stable actually, it didn’t crash and it was even ready for Chrome OS and Windows 7 action. However, things went bad…
The plan was to launch the CrunchPad on stage on November 20 and put 1,000 devices for pre-sale immediately, with orders available right away and mass production scheduled for 2010. Michael Arrington blames the failure of the project on “greed, jealousy and miscommunication”.
In simple words, the CEO of the partner of this project, Chandra Rathakrishnan let Arrington know in an email that updated hardware was on the way, a timing issue had surfaced and the folks of TechCrunch were no longer involved in the initiative. This is quite bizarre, considering that it was TechCrunch’s idea behind it, but Chandra mentioned pressure from shareholders and the intention to move the device through Fusion Garage.
After a series of talks, it was decided that the launch can’t move on, since Arrington and co own the intellectual property for the device together with Fusion Garage, so the latter can’t launch the tablet without the approval of the people who spawned the original idea.
Michael Arrington ends his sad post on the matter claiming that partnerships with Intel and a bunch of Chinese companies and investors almost managed to make them launch a $300ish device, but he regrets that it all ended so sadly.
[via techcrunch]
Tags: Chandra Rathakrishnan, Crunchpad, Michael Arrington, project end, TechCrunch
Crunchpad is Alive and Kicking, Based on Sponsorship
Nov 16, 2009 Tablet related
We’ve got fresh info about the long awaited Crunchpad, thanks to the Gilmor Gang videocast, that you can watch after the break. The speakers are Mike Arrington, P. Rangaswami, Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks and Saul Hansell, focusing on the iPhone and Droid War, but also about the Crunchpad tablet.
Thanks to this discussion we learn that the device will be retailing for “something between $300 and $400″, web-only and it’ll rely on soft revenue and sponsorships. This could mean that the tablet will be ad-supported, but without damaging the user experience. Mike Arrington probably expects the Crunchpad to sell quite well, but considering the price of an Archos Android tablet and that of the iPod Touch, it’ll be hard to compete on the market of “couch web surfers”.
Nokia is also playing this game right now, via its new devices running Maemo, but we digress. The Crunchpad will be sporting an Atom CPU and it’ll have a seemingly decent price tag, unless the Apple Tablet comes along and makes a better offer. Here’s the video of the Gilmor Gang:
[via umpcportal]
Tags: Crunchpad, Gimor Gang, Mike Arrington, price, Techcrunch tablet
CrunchPad Axed Because of High Costs?
Nov 7, 2009 Tablet related
CrunchPad was supposed to be Michael Arrington’s (TechCrunch founder) entry into the gadget market, but the product is yet to become real. Some blame the delay on the higher than anticipated costs required to mass produce the device, while others say the project is already dead.
Arrington’s main desire was to make a portable device that costs as little as possible, but considering the current economic climate, this may prove to be impossible. The suppliers involved in this initiative have increased the prices of the components, so the resulting netbook/tablet could prove to be a tad more expensive than estimated.
Last we heard, Arrington was aiming for a July or August announcement of the device, but it’s November now and there’s no trace of the CrunchPad anywhere. Keep in mind that this product is aimed at nerds and it only supports web surfing, so what’s the point in spending around $600 on such a device, when you’ll probably get the Apple Tablet for a bit more and with extra features?
[via businessinsider]
Tags: costs, Crunchpad, delay, Michael Arrington, TechCrunch
