If you are looking to nab a budget tablet or color ereader this holiday season on the cheap, Walmart has the Cruz Tablet T301 online for $99.98, and it comes with an AC adapter, sleeve, stand, and 4GB SD card.

I reviewed the Cruz Tablet T301 last January; it was running Android 2.0 back then. It’s not a great tablet by any stretch but it’s hard to argue with $99 for a color ereader/tablet hybrid with a capacitive touchscreen and Android 2.2.

Filed under: Sales and Discounts, Tablets | Tags: cruz tablet | 2 Comments »

Now isn’t this interesting. When I reviewed the Cruz Tablet T301 back in January, the Cruz Reader website specifically stated that it would not be updated to newer versions of Android, but lo and behold, there’s a firmware update for the Cruz T301 that takes it from Android 2.0 to a much more favorable Android 2.2.

Upon reading the release notes, however, it’s not as good as it sounds. It says that Adobe Flash will not be supported by this update, which is one the main advantages of Android 2.2. The only other release note it mentions is a change to the device’s storage capacity by partitioning the internal memory, 2GB for apps and 2GB for ROM.

Filed under: Android, News | Tags: cruz tablet, firmware update | 1 Comment »

Velocity Micro just announced 3 new Android tablets with 7″, 8″, and 10″ screens. They are expected to be released in late Q1, so probably around April – June if history is any indication.

All have fairly impressive specs and come pre-installed with the Kindle Android app like the new Cruz Reader T301 that showed up on Amazon about a month ago.

Filed under: New eBook Readers, News, Tablets | Tags: color, cruz tablet, velocity micro | 2 Comments »

Thanks to a tip at MR, it looks like the Velocity Micro Cruz Reader and Cruz Tablet are now available for pre-order with an expected ship date of September 8th for the Reader and September 27th for the Tablet.

The Cruz Reader is another multimedia device like the Pandigital Novel that can display movies, pictures, browse the web, and play music, but is being marketed as an ereader. It ties in with the new Borders’ ebook store and runs Android 2.0, although apps seem to be limited to the Cruz Market and not the Android Market.

For a complete rundown of specs for the Cruz Reader and Tablet, and also the Cruz StoryPad for kids, check out our dedicated Velocity Micro page.

The Reader is currently selling for $199 and the Tablet for $299 from the Cruz Reader website, which says that it will also sell from a number of major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Target, etc. But none of those places have the devices listed at the time of this writing.

Update: Borders now has the Cruz Reader and Cruz Tablet up for pre-order. The Cruz Tablet is listed for an October 15th release (on the product details page it says the 30th, so who knows) and the Reader shows a release date of September 30th.

I’ll be getting a Cruz Reader and maybe a Cruz Tablet to review, so check back in September for more details.

Cruz Reader Video Demonstration

Filed under: News, Sales and Discounts | Tags: cruz reader, cruz tablet, velocity micro | 13 Comments »

So the big news this week is that Velocity Micro, a US-based computer and electronics company, has officially announced the upcoming release of three new Android-powered multimedia/ebook reading devices, the Cruz Reader, Cruz StoryPad, and Cruz Tablet.

Each device is aimed at different markets. The StoryPad is designed for children, the Cruz Reader for reading ebooks from Borders, browsing the web and playing videos, and the Cruz Tablet is similar to the Cruz Reader but with upgrades in memory, performance, and it supports Flash.

For more information and a couple of video demos, check our new Velocity Micro Cruz page.

One bit of concern, I can’t help but notice how basic the ebook reader app appears in the videos. No mention of any kind of features aside from a night reading mode and adjustable font sizes.

Neither video nor anywhere on the Cruz Reader website does it mention anything about being able to change font type, page background color, adjust margins, or anything at all about ebook reading in general—despite the name of the device, “Cruz Reader”, e-reading doesn’t appear to be much of a priority.

Hopefully the device will be able to use other Android ebook reading apps like Aldiko and Kindle—no word about that yet.

Click here for more about the Velocity Micro Cruz devices »

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch and Engadget

Filed under: New eBook Readers | Tags: cruz reader, cruz storypad, cruz tablet, velocity micro | 2 Comments »