Creative turns to tablets for big-screen PMPs
Resistive touchscreens, WTF?
Creative is to bring a pair of Android tablets to market next month.
One is a seven-incher, the other a 10in machine with 480 x 800 and 600 x 1024 resolutions, respectively. Both are called the ZiiO and - fail? - both use clunky resistive touchscreen tech. They come bundled with a stylus.
The two run Android 2.1, linked to Creative's own ZiiStore app feed rather than the Android Market. They use Creative's own ZiiLabs ZMS-08 processor, and incorporate both Bluetooth 2.1 and 802.11b.g Wi-Fi.
In addition to Bluetooth A2DP, they do Apt-X audio streaming - another Creative-developed technology. Expect HDMI TV-out too and front-facing 0.3Mp webcams.
The tablets are being pitched as "entertainment devices" - big-screen PMPs, basically - and Creative said they were good for five hours' video viewing. The ZiiOs support a broad array of video and audio formats, including AVI, MKV, Flac and Ogg.
Both have Micro SD card slots, but come with a choice of 8GB or 16GB of on-board Flash. Creative is pricing the ZiiO 7 at £200 and £220, respectively, and the 10in tablet at £250 and £270. ®
COMMENTS
Oh dear
Creative have never been a good brand at the best of times. Their sound cards were always hyped with their 24-bit output but they had 16-bit internal processing which made the 24-bit DAC pretty pointless.
So what's with the resistive screens? Sure, when multitouch first appeared you could get away with a resistive screen. But there's few people who haven't had a play on a capacitive screen now.
The only reason to stick with resistive is if you're releasing a tablet for drawing on.
