Yes, the news reports on eBook readers and tablets hitting the market seem never-ending don’t they? Just in case you are indecisively pondering what device to get instead of an iPad, here are two more options – the Cruz Reader and Cruz Tablet.
With prices starting at $199.99, Velocity Micro is calling them the world’s first family of affordable touch screen color eReaders and tablets.
The Cruz Reader features a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 800 x 600 and a 4:3 ratio, Android 2.0 mobile operating system, 802.11 b/g WiFi, the ability to playback 720p HD video, an accelerometer, a USB port, microSD slot and an included 4GB SD card to fill said slot. Velocity also says the Cruz Reader will get 10 hours of use in addition to 36 hours of standby all powered by a replaceable battery.
The Cruz Tablet, which also features a 7-inch touch screen, comes with 4 GB of internal storage, an 8GB bundled SD card and it’s pre-loaded with  Android 2.1 OS.
Velocity has also teamed up with Borders to give access to over 2 million eBooks on both devices. Both devices are also on pre-sale at Borders.
According to the pre-sale website information, the Cruz Reader, which costs $199.99, will ship in early September, while the Cruz Tablets will ship in the later part of next month with a $299.99 price tag.
Cruz Reader from Velocity Micro:
The Cruz Reader, at just under one pound and 0.6†thick, sports the following features:
• Full color TFT display
• 7†diagonal 800×600 screen
• Android 2.0
• 256MB RAM, 256MB internal storage
• Supports ePub, PDF, TXT, PDB, HTML reader files
• MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV audio support
• MPEG-4, H.264
• JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP image support
• 802.11 b/g wifi
• Li-Ion battery – up to 10+ hours of life, 24+ standby
• 4GB Bundled SD card
The Cruz Tablet’s slightly different design and specs include:
• Full color TFT display
• 7†diagonal 16:9 800×480 screen
• Capacitive touch screen – ultra responsive!
• Android 2.1
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB internal storage
• 8GB bundled SD card• Supports ePub, PDF, TXT, PDB, HTML reader files
• MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV audio support
• MPEG-4, H.264, H.263, MOV, AVI video support
• JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP image support
• 802.11n wifi
• Built in speakers
• Mic and headphone jacks
• Mini USB
• Li-Ion battery – up to 10+ hours of life, 24+ standby
With so many Android tablets and eReaders hitting the market, it’s going to be interesting to know which device will be the best Apple iPad competitor. For the price tag, I think this might be a fair candidate for a death match against Apple’s iPad. I would have loved to see some camera capabilities on one of the devices, specifically the tablet.
Pre-sale is going on now! Get your orders in while supplies last. Â Click HERE to pre-order directly from Velocity Micro or Click HERE to order from Borders.
Source: Velocity Micro
