Remember the JooJoo? It started out its life as the CrunchPad by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch and via all sorts of legal hullabaloo, it ended up being sold only under the Fusion Garage banner when the Linux-based tablet launched in 2009. It didn’t do so well, but Fusion Garage is back with a couple of other offerings.

What you see here are the Grid10 tablet and the Grid4 smartphone. While they may appear to be just your run of of the mill Android devices, they’re not. Instead, Fusion Garage has taken the Android kernel and built around it to create a custom operating system called GridOS. As if we didn’t already have enough platforms already, right? Maybe they should have just done the skin thing like HTC, Samsung, and Motorola.

In any case, the Grid10 tablet features a 10.1-inch multi-touch display (1366×768) and is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor at 1.2GHz. That gets backed with 16GB storage, 512MB memory, microSD slot, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 1.3MP front camera, HDMI out, GPS, accelerometer, and 5800mAh battery, as well as optional HSDPA. The GridOS itself is gesture and wheel based: tapping on the screen brings up a wheel of options. Apps come by way of the Grid Shop, but apparently it supports Android Market apps too. Pricing starts at $499 for the WiFi-only model and an extra $100 gets you 3G. Shipping starts September 15.

The Grid4 smartphone is similar, only smaller and with a different processor. Behind the 4-inch screen is a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 and 512MB of RAM. Rounding out the specs are the 5MP camera and VGA front camera. The app support and GridOS are the same. Expect it to ship in Q4 for $399.

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JooJoo Android-based Tablet Computer

It started out as the CrunchPad and it held all sorts of promises. Then, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington and Fusion Garage had a falling out and the story shifted toward that drama rather than the device itself. Well, we’re shifting back to the device again, because the JooJoo tablet is now available in Canada and Europe.

Well, sort of. Fusion Garage is prepared to take orders from addresses in Europe and Canada, but they’re not making an explicit mention as to a ship date. Even so, some people are saying that it’ll ship in 24 to 48 hours. That’s not bad at all.

For Canadians, the JooJoo tablet is being priced at $499 (Canadian) and that includes free shipping. The European price, based on today’s exchange rates, is a hair lower at 359 Euro ($473), though they’re on the hook for 13 Euro ($17) in shipping costs.

In addition to more international availability for the iPad competitor, Fusion Garage says that it will be pushing out a “robust software update” for the JooJoo that addresses some of the issues that current owners are experiencing.  This update will give users the ability to play full screen HD videos.  Fusion Garage is banking on sales from people who are looking for an “iPad alternative” as they bravely state they are by no means an iPad killer.

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New User Interface home page for JooJoo smartbook tablet

Setting aside all of those troubles that Fusion Garage had with Michael Arrington and his team, the new JooJoo tablet (the smartbook formerly known as CrunchPad) didn’t have the most attractive of operating systems in its initial showing.  But now a new user interface is born making the whole package a lot prettier with only just a few weeks left before the companies ship date of March 25.

As you may recall, the old user interface consisted of a near monochrome-like design with icons on a simple grid, still hot when next to the Kindle, but a Commodore 64 when next to the iPad. With the new JooJoo tablet interface looking more akin to a Windows 7 device, the company expects to sell more units before their actual ship-date by giving it a bit more style appeal. With the newly enhanced home screen you get what appears to be a scrolling icon list of applications, a simple yet easy way to navigate on a smartbook, assuming you are left handed.

Beyond the aesthetics, the Fusion Garage team also worked to expand local video playback, update navigation gestures, and iron out multitouch kinks. They’ve also added a moveable one-hand virtual keyboard. And yes, it has support for Adobe’s Flash.

Original Monochrome-esque Interface of JooJoo smartbook tablet

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Despite some of the shortcomings that it may have, the Apple iPad could prove to be a real game-changer for the industry. However, it won’t be the only one populating this newfound niche and it’s not the only one to be priced at under $500. Do you remember the JooJoo Tablet? Well, it’s hit the production line.

It started out its life as the CrunchPad, as heralded by TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington. He had a falling out with his partners (the legalities of the matter are still up in the air), so it re-emerged as the JooJoo Tablet by Fusion Garage. Whatever you want to call it, the JooJoo has some legs up on the Apple alternative.

Possibly in an effort to conserve battery life, the Apple iPad does not support Flash. The JooJoo Tablet does. Other notable features on this tablet are its 12.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, integrated ambient light sensor, and USB connectivity.

Check out the video below for a closer look at the Fusion Garage JooJoo Tablet. Pricing, much like that of the iPad, starts at $499.  They are taking pre-orders now.

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I like the CrunchPad name, but I guess Fusion Garage wanted to minimize its former relationship with TechCrunch and Michael Arrington. As such, we are now looking at the Friday release of the, get this, Fusion Garage JooJoo. Yes, JooJoo is a fantastic name for a serious tablet. </sarcasm>

You can see the CrunchPad JooJoo being held here by who I think is Chandra Rathakrishnan. It gets a 12.1-inch capacitive touchscreen and a web-centric operating system. It weighs in at 1.1kg, but Chandra isn’t quick to reveal any of the remaining specs or features.

Even though the JooJoo will go on sale this Friday, the tablet will not start shipping to customers for another eight to ten weeks. You’ll also have to open your wallet a little wider, since the $100 $200 $300 price tag has been nixed in favor of a $499 asking price.

Source: Slashgear

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Michael Arrington published an official post earlier today saying that the nearly 1.5 year project has hit the deadpool. There were rumors of its demise earlier this month, but the assumption at the time was that it was because of increased costs.

Instead, the “entire project self destructed over nothing more than greed, jealousy, and miscommunication.” Arrington and his team were notified that they were no longer involved with the project. That’s right. They were being kicked out of the project that they started in the first place.

Fusion Garage, the company that they commissioned to build the CrunchPad, said that it was going to move forward and sell the device directly and without the involvement of Arrington’s people.
You know how Foxconn builds the iPhone? This would be like if Foxconn decided to ditch Apple at the last minute, saying that they’d prefer to sell the iPhone under their banner instead with no further involvement from Apple.

Arrington says that his team and Fusion Garage “jointly own the CrunchPad product intellectual property,” but his team has sole ownership of the CrunchPad trademark. He says, “It’s legally impossible for them to simply build and sell the device without our agreement.”

And so the saga continues?

Source: TechCrunch

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Dead might not be the right word. Instead, there are reports coming out of California that the CrunchPad project is being delayed indefinitely due to increasing expenses. Arrington said very early on that he wanted to make this product as inexpensive as possible.

Arrington’s CrunchPad project sounded a lot like the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project in that it was meant to be cheap. Back in July 2008, Michael Arrington pointed toward a $200 target. More recently, Arrington said that it would probably be closer to $300.

Now the latest reports say that the costs are going to push the final retail price of the CrunchPad into the $600 or $700 range, no longer making it a feasible commercial venture. After all, there are plenty of rumors swirling about an Apple Tablet that is less than $1,000.

So, no more CrunchPad? Until Arrington and his team are able to cut costs significantly, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Source: BusinessInsider

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