Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought this because I'd done a bunch of research on tablets and saw a lot of hype and anticipation over the release of the Cruz Tablet. Then I saw Best Buy drop it's price by $50 -- OMG. So I jumped at it.
There are a couple of positives about it:
1) It looks nice. I doesn't look cheap or cheesy like some of the other tablets. The lines are clean and the controls are where you'd expect them.
2) Battery life is awesome. I pretty much played with mine for 3 days, almost non-stop. I only had to charge it twice.
Other than that, I can't think of much that was good enough to comment on.
Now for the negatives:
1) CRUZ Market. It's a joke. The apps are provided by a freeware site, not affiliated with CRUZ in any way. About 75% of the "apps" are web based apps -- not standalone. The one app that is available from CRUZ (YouTube) is only available if you go to their support web site and download it onto a desktop computer first. I attempted to D/L it from within the CRUZ tablet -- it failed.
2) MIPS CPU. Most other Androids use an ARM CPU. The MIPS CPU in this means several things: a) Hacking it is nearly impossible (You can _never_ get Android Market because it depends on shared libraries that are for an ARM only) b) You will _never_ see an upgrade to Android 2.1, 2.2, or 3.0. c) that also means you'll never have Flash. d) can you say "slow?"
3) Memory size. The documentation is misleading (to me anyway). I thought there was an internal 4GB SD card and an external 8GB SD card. There is only one SD slot and both cards are external. If you need to swap the cards, you have to quit all the applications that depend on any data on the current card, or you risk corrupting your card. Not all the applications have a "quit" option, so you need to get a 3rd party app the will kill other apps.
4) The screen. There are several things I don't like about the screen. It's not responsive. For a capacitive screen, it sure acts like it's resistive. Even if you're careful and use just your pinky nail, you can frequently select the wrong thing. It's said to be glass... but I'm guessing it has a polycarbonate laminate so it scratches just like all the others. And fingerprints... don't even get me started.
5) Weight. I'm sure the battery capacity is because it's packed with batteries. Compared with other tablets with similar battery life, this thing is a load. It's thick too. These two make it uncomfortable to hold for any length of time.
6) No extras, No accessories. It has no camera, no GPS. There's a microphone so you can leave yourself voice messages, but skype doesn't work... so the microphone is pretty worthless. The speakers are horrible. Either they're not loud enough to hear, or they're over-driven (distortion). There is a dock port... but no dock.
7) USB. They say the storage is expandable via USB. The USB here is one way. This is a rather lame complaint as there aren't many devices that have dual purpose USB ports. But I read into this that I could connect my external 2TB USB drive. You can't.
8) File formats/File browser. There are very few file formats that it understands. MPEG isn't one of them. If you have anything in MPG or MPG2 format, you'll need to transcode it first into something it recognizes. The file browser isn't any help when trying to load files it doesn't understand.
9) SMB/CIFS -- Nope... doesn't have it. It has NFS, but there isn't any way to configure NFS mount points. And really... who set's up an NFS share on their desktop or laptop? It would be nice to be able to remotely share the documents on your desktop/laptop without having to load them on an SD card, or D/L them using a USB cable.
10) Video is horrible. Even though you can get YouTube from the CRUZ support web site, it's not worth having. Playback in the YouTube app is choppy at best. Most of the time, I'd see a blank screen and hear the audio. The app isn't fully functional because you're missing google provider services and extensions. Playback of local videos are choppy, studderish, sometimes out of audio/video sync.
11) Photos. If you wanted to use this as a very expensive E-Photo-Frame... I'd reconsider. The CPU power necessary to convert a 10MP picture to fit on the screen is more than this CPU has. Hence, transitions are even worse than it's video playback.
All-in-all, I was disappointed. There are a bunch more things I could have ranted about. In then end, I regretted spending the $250 this cost. I was thankful that BestBuy was willing to take it back without charging me a restocking fee... although I was willing to part with the 10% - 15% fee I was expecting to pay.
UPDATE (12/20/2010):
At the time of writing the above review, when I attempted to access the "CRUZ Market" (or freewarelovers.com) from the Cruz Tablet, I found the number of apps to be disturbingly few. Today, when I access freewarelovers.com from my PC, I see there are many of the apps I was interested in getting. And... it appears the apps can be D/Led to the PC and side loaded using a USB cable or SD card. As I no longer have, the Cruz Tablet, I can't verify that these apps will actually load or run. I also can't determine if these apps are "browsable" from the Cruz Tablet. But... I can see there are about 1500 android apps on freewarelovers.com including kindle, skype, and various other tools I spent my 3 days searching for.
UPDATE (3/31/2011):
To those who feel the need to post insulting comments based on the information in the above review:
The facts presented in the above review were true to the best of my knowledge as of the date the review was written. Many things have changed in the "World of Android" since that time. While I have kept informed about the "World of Android" in general, I have not followed the progress of the CRUZ tablet that I reviewed. If you have information about changes that might help a prospective customer make a knowledgeable decision about buying a CRUZ tablet, I would invite you to post that information in a reply here, or in your own review.
If on the other hand, you feel the need to post insulting comments.... BITE ME!
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Velocity Micro T103 Cruz 7-Inch Android 2.0 Tablet (Black) A remarkably affordable, remarkably feature rich tablet. Packed inside the Cruz Tablet's smart, refined design are specs and features enough to go head to head with any other tablet PC on the market. Backed by Velocity Micro's expert US-based support.If you're looking for a tablet PC that's packed with features but easy on the wallet, then look no further. This is the ultra thin and portable tablet you've always dreamt of. Turns heads at home and on the go with the Cruz Tablet.
Cruz Through Your Media
Full-Color Touchscreen DisplayThe Cruz Tablet features a seven-inch (diagonal) ultra-responsive capacitive touchscreen with 800 x 480 pixel resolution, ideal for viewing eBooks and eMagazines, Web pages, and movies. The built-in, tilt-activated accelerometer will flip the page display from portrait to landscape and back when you turn the device.
Android-Based OSThe Cruz Tablet and Cruz Reader are built using the Android OS, an easy-to-use, powerful, and reliable operating system from the team at Google. Designed for touchscreen devices like the Cruz, Android helps you easily manage your programs with a vastly intuitive interface.
All-in-one Media Hub Bring your favorite movies on a plane without the hassle of a portable DVD player or laptop, with support for MPEG-4 and H.264 video formats. Listen to your favorite tunes in MP3, WMA, AAC, or WAV formats. Or share pictures from your last vacation with JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP support.
eBook Reader Pack dozens of books for a weeklong getaway without weighing down your suitcase. The Cruz Reader offers access to over 2 million eBooks via the included Borders eBook library portal application. Velocity's own Cruz Market also provides eBook content, and is a one-stop shop for downloading apps and videos from a broad array of content and providers, all in one market. Support is provided for ePub, PDF, TXT, PDB, and HTML reader files.
802.11n Wifi and full browser support Put the power of the Internet right in your hands. Stay connected with email and social networks even while on the road. Download remarkable content, astonishing applications, and amazing games.
Slim and Stylish Velocity Micro has designed and refined the Cruz Tablet to be as stylish as it is functional. Get ready to attract attention with the sleek, slim, and stylish Cruz Tablet.Turns heads at home and on the go!
Add Storage Capacity Each Cruz Tablet includes both a 4GB and 8GB SD card.Storage is expandable via both USB and SD card slots.
User-Replaceable Battery An extended life, user-replaceable lithium-ion battery is included, offering up to 10+ hours of life on a single charge (24+ hours on standby).
Product Support Each Cruz is backed by Velocity Micro's expert US-based support, for extra peace of mind.
What's in the Box Cruz Tablet, AC adapter, carrying pouch, user's guide, 4 GB SD card, 8 GB SD card
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Click here for more information about Velocity Micro T103 Cruz 7-Inch Android 2.0 Tablet (Black)
