Coby 7065 Bites the Dust

Last March, I had jumped onto the tablet bandwagon and had purchased a Coby 7065 tablet.  I did not spend much on the purchase thinking that I would not use the tablet much, and it was more of an experiment with LinuxAndroid.

It turned out that I used the tablet more than I would have predicted.  It became my "Living room PC," and became my second screen of choice in front of the TV.  It was also most useful as an eBook reader for both textbooks, and leisure reason, including the Kindle app.

Last week, the WiFi in the tablet completely died.  This despite a new router that everything else is hooking up fine to.  I had discovered a few weeks after I bought the Coby that the company had gone out of business, so any warranty is null and void anyway.  These tablets are pretty much dependent on the internet to do anything, and with the tablet not able to connect, it becomes a doorstop, and there is no ethernet to plug it in like on most computers.

Sometimes cheap can be expensive, and this is an example of this.  RIP Coby 7065.

-Jonas

Windows 8 Developer Preview

There have some miscellaneous glimpses at the next version of Windows, so far dubbed Windows 8.  It is currently in Developer Preview, and can be downloaded, although this is not for the faint as it will not be stable at this point.

There are several new features to it, but overall it looks to me like it was designed from the groundup for tablet computing.  It nicely integrates into the cloud as well.They have also relegated a more traditional style of the Windows Desktop to just another app.

I have to wonder if there will be much point to upgrading a Win 7 desktop to 8, as most of this depends on a touchscreen interface.  There is also no official release date so no rush either.

Keynote at This Is My Next
Download here

ViewPad For Peorder On Amazon

Well, it looks like 7" is the new 10" as I am expecting to see more 7" tablet devices in the coming months.  I have to say that it makes sense to me as when I used a 10" iPad, the thing always felt too close in size to a small notebook, yet without as much functionality.  I think the 7" size should be a better niche for the tablet space, with an extended battery life as well.

At any rate, the ViewPad is up for preorder at Amazon.  With the recent demand for the HP webOS device at $99, the preorder price of $199 should attract some consumer interest, even at the higher price point.  The OS is Android 2.3, better known as "Gingerbread."  Even at this price point, the specs are decent, including 4 GB of RAM, and a microSD expansion slot.

Tom's Guide

Amazon

HP TouchPad

The HP TouchPad seems to have gained a second life over the weekend. While it was significantly dismissed and neglected at the $399 price point, it is simply amazing how it has flown off of shelves at the fire sale price of $99.

Did I rush out to buy one? Well, I was of the opinion that it was not all that great, and I simply did not want one at any price. Sure if you make something cheap enough, you can definitely overlook some shortcomings. I am not sure what that price would be for me, but at a C-note, it clearly was not there. Let us not forget that there will be no support, and no new apps or updates and this deal definitely starts to sour in my mind.

I have to admit that it is intriguing how the TouchPad is getting more attention after they canceled it. Maybe the lesson here is that they should have priced it better to begin with.