JooJoo tablet available later this month, hopefully

Amidst the controversy surrounding this tablet, it looks like the manufacturer Fusion Garage is still pushing through with releasing it later this month. The JooJoo, previously known as the CrunchPad, is going to be shipping in the next few weeks and the company was previously taking pre-orders for $499 last December. It certainly has the same price range as the iPad, let’s see if the specs match up.

JooJoo

• 12.1″ 1368 x 768 capacitive touchscreen
• 4GB HDD
• Linux OS
• USB-compatible
• 5-hour battery life
• Webkit browser
• 802.11b/g

That doesn’t look like much and it seems this highly-anticipated device might just come crashing under the weight of the iPad. The JooJoo will be working with an OEM manufacturer to keep costs low; they say that their partner is a major player in Southeast Asia. Samsung maybe or even LG or HTC? The bigger screen might save it but they should have added more storage if it’s to compete with other slate tablets being released.

This tablet has gone through a lot of problems this past year including delays in prototyping, software crashes and the latest is the lawsuit between the idea originator Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame and Fusion Garage, the designer and manufacturer.

Just a quick comment on that, I think Arrington lost focus in getting involved in making hardware. He and his team excels in media content, especially those related to tech and startups, but dabbling in design and manufacturing probably wasn’t for him and he even decided to go all out and start big with a tablet PC. The point seems irrelevant now since the main goal of the CrunchPad was to create a content device that would be cheap, lightweight and easy to use – something the iPad already promises to deliver in a couple of months.

source Venturebeat