Linux
Choice is GOOD.
With all the fuss over the Google-Motorola Mobility acquisition, TabCo could not have picked a worse day to out the Grid 10 - but here it is. Built from the ashes of the ill-fated JooJoo, the Grid 10 emerges in the midst of a increasingly cut-throat tablet market. And its approach is unique, to say the least. Let’s take a look at what the Grid 10 brings to the table.
Specifications
At .37 inches, the Grid 10 is a hair thicker than the iPad, which measures at .34 inches. But the Grid 10’s 10.1-inch screen’s resolution is a iPad-busting 1366 x 768, higher than that of any tablet available currently. Also present is a MicroSD slot, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and 3.5mm stereo jack. The device will come in both Wi-Fi and 3G varieties, which will sell for $499 and $599, respectively. Both versions offer 16GB of hard drive space.
The Interface
The Grid 10’s titular interface is a radical departure from the efforts of other tablets. Instead of re-skinning Android, Fusion Garage took the Android kernel and built something entirely from it. (Fusion Garage compares it to what Apple did with OS X and UNIX BSD.) The result is a gesture-focused, grid-based UI that feels both familiar and new.
The Grid 4 smartphone
The Grid 10 is built to integrate with Fusion Garage’s upcoming Grid 4 smartphone. Similar to what HP implemented with the TouchPad and its WebOS phones, integration between the Grid 10 and Grid 4 allows users to seamlessly pause and transfer content from the larger device to the smaller one.
And the Apps?
Fusion Garage’s app store, dubbed The Gridshop, won’t be available until this fall, a delay that Fusion Garage attributes to its furtive marketing efforts. Fortunately, Fusion Garage managed to furnish the Grid 10 with a variety of bult-in apps, including contacts, photos, maps, calendar, and message center. Fusion Garage also says that the Grid 10 will be compatible with Android apps, which is good news.
