Notebookcheck Logo

Velocity Micro launches the new Cruz T301 tablet

Teaser
The Cruz T301 is similar to the T103 except for the 4:3 aspect ratios and half the memory

Velocity Micro’s Cruz range of tablets and e-readers has quite hit it with the masses and has hence attained a lot of popularity. After the Velocity Micro Cruz T103 Android tablet started shipping last month, the makers have quietly come up with yet another version of the tablet, unannounced.

The new tablet-the Cruz T301, is just about the same as the Cruz T103. It has a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display and runs Google Android 2.0 OS. While the Cruz T103 has an aspect ratio of 16:9, this new model has a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is quite evident from the more squarish look of the device. Also, the Cruz T301 has an 800 x 600 pixel display compared to the 800 x 480 pixel resolution of the T103, which is also due to the increased width.

That apart, the Cruz T301 has only 256MB of memory and 4GB of storage; add to that a 4GB SD card for expansion. The tablet also has 802.11n WiFi and a user replaceable Li-Ion battery with a company claimed runtime of more than 10 hours or more than 24 hours of standby. The Velocity Cruz newbie gets the Amazon Kindle e-book reader app, while the T103 has the Borders e-book app. For those disappointed with the absence of the Android Market in the tablet, we hope the pre-installed Cruz apps market makes it up for you. The T301 supports MPEG-4 and H.264 video codecs.

The Velocity Micro Cruz T103 Android tablet is now shipping from Amazon for $250. While the tablet has got almost all the things right, we really find the outdated version of the Android OS a letdown. Not only that, the ridiculously low memory can be a big worry in playing anything remotely multi-heavy. We like the capacitive screen and the squarish real estate for a change. But one would seriously hope Velocity Micro fixes this major drawback in their product, atleast the memory if not anything else.

Source(s)

Please share our article, every link counts!
Pallab Jyotee Hazarika, 2010-12-17 (Update: 2012-05-26)