CherryPal has introduced a new Android based tablet called CherryPad America. Its is a 7 inch tablet using the Android 2.1 OS, with an 800MHz ARM11 processor and many other features. CherryPal’s CherryPad is now iPad killer and is aimed at the lower income market and for bulk orders in educational institutions.
“The CherryPad is neither an iPad killer nor an iPad clone, it’s a completely different product designed for a different market,” said Cherrypal CTO Max Seybold, in a statement. “Early user tests confirmed the CherryPad user experience has been extremely positive. Users appreciate full access to the Android Market, its powerful processor, battery run time, and high quality.”
iPad killer or no iPad killer it is a device with quite a few similarities to the iPad with respect to physical features with a white border. The screen is a capacitive 1024×600 multi touch display compared to the resistive touch 800×480 that was shown at the prototype launch. It comes with two cameras one on the front one on the back, one a VGA and the other a 3 Megapixel camera with LED flash. It comes with a 1Ghz Cortex A8 cpu, with a 512MB DDR and 8GB to 16GB of onboard flash expandable to 32GB via the MicroSD slot. There’s GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI, and an GSM antenna to extend Wifi range. Also has an accelerometer, a light sensor, and a 4200mAh, 3.7V battery.
The 7 inch TouchScreen display is slightly sluggish and works well when a stylus is used, the LCD is covered with a plastic sheet giving it a slight shoddy look. It has an Aluminium back which is a copy from the iPad and an identical charging port to the iPad again. Though the Aluminium back and the plastic layer on the screen imparts durability to the device. Sound gets fuzzy at high volume and also the speakers don’t pack a powerful punch. It is currently based on Android 2.1 but CherryPal has promised that an Android 2.2 Froyo update is coming up plus also support for android market and hence greater availability of Apps its main USP is coming soon.
Again CherryPal has no hopes of beating the iPad something its CTO Max Seybold has himself reiterated. It is an android based tablet with high processing power designed for the lower income groups, educational institutions etc. CherryPal also primarily does bulk orders from offices and institutions.
The Palo Alto based company is positioning its product to sell its product at a price of 188$. Which is cheap compared to the price of iPad or Samsung Tab. Over the last year CherryPal has faced a lot of problems with late delivery and problems with non connectability with the App Market but it has undergone a lot of software upgrade and rework so as to make it a worthwhile experience for its end users.
