We reported earlier in April that Velocity was working on 2 Android Tablet PC’s and it looks like they finally received a launch date, as well as details on a 3rd tablet they are releasing.
In August and September 2010 Velocity Micro, whom is best known for custom computers and laptops is getting into the increasingly competitive tablet PC sector.
The exact names of the products have been released as well, they are the Cruz Reader, Cruz Tablet, and Cruz StoryPad.
The Cruz Reader and Cruz Tablet will each have a 800×600 7-inch TFT color display. Both models are packed with WI-FI and battery life is around 6 hours of constant use.
The main different between the Reader and Tablet is the amount of RAM and storage bundled in each unit. The Reader has 256 MB of ram, while the Cruz Tablet has 512 MB. Also, internal storage on the Cruz Reader is a paltry 256 MB while the Tablet has 4 Gigs! Of course, you can also upgrade your memory with an SD Card.
Both models have stereo speakers and the ability to play both Audio and Video. You can listen to audio in MP3 and Wav formats, so you can listen to music or Audio E-Books. As far as E-Reader formats go, you can read books in ePub, PDF, TXT and HTML.
The Operating system of choice on all of their devices is Google Android, and although the exact version has not been released, we can see the Android version of 1.6, because Velocity has not hyped the fact their Tablets are not multi-touch. There will also be a custom “Cruz Market” available for applications for your device. All of the models will come with an intergrated web browser, email application, e-reader application and more.
Details are murky in terms of the Story Pad, but we know the specs are comparative to the Cruz Reader, the Story Pad is different because the model is aimed at kids.
The Cruz EReader will retail for $199.99 while the Cruz Tablet will set you back around $299.99.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.