Tag Archives: GamingTablet

Wikipad’s 7-inch gaming tablet coming to the UK on September 27th for £250

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Back when it announced the launch date for the US, Wikipad also said its 7-inch slate would become available in more markets soon thereafter. Fast forward to now and the company's announcing that its perplexed tablet is set to reach the United Kingdom on September 27th for £249.99 (roughly $390). Wikipad says the 7-inch, gaming-focused tablet will be found at a number of "well-known retailers" from day one, so UKers interested in snagging one of these should have no problem doing so.

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Lemons to lemonade: how manufacturing and mechanical setbacks shrank the Wikipad

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Lemons to lemonade how manufacturing and mechanical setbacks shrunk the Wikipad

A smaller, cheaper gaming tablet? Wikipad President of sales Fraser Townley says it was always in the cards -- but it was supposed to be the company's second tablet, not its first. Business, of course, doesn't always go according to plan. Just before the Wikipad's planned October launch, the company stayed production to refine the product's gamepad element, Townley told us, addressing a technical hiccup that could have troubled customers. Not too long after that, the company's screen supplier told them the part they had hoped to use for the Wikipad's 10.1-inch display was being discontinued. Salt? Meet wound.

Wikipad set out to make the best of a bad situation: it skipped a step. "The 7-inch was always in our roadmap and on our plan," Townley told us, "we just accelerated it." That decision was partly made to please the community, which was a little concerned about price. At $249, the new Wikipad is certainly easier on the pocket book, but the redesign delayed the product just long enough to leave it teetering on the edge of a new generation -- the next Tegra chip is right around the corner. Fortunately, so is another Wikipad -- Townley told us the tablet's original 10.1-inch form would be out by the end of the year. He couldn't say if the delayed slate would be using NVIDIA's latest, but he left the possibility wide open. "There would be no point in launching a Tegra 3 tablet just months before the launch of Tegra 4, would there?" he joked. "We'll keep up with the market." An admirable goal, to say the least.

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Wikipad in miniature: 7-inch gaming tablet to debut in spring for $249, 10.1-inch sees further delay

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Wikipad in miniature 7inch gaming tablet to debut in spring for $249, 101inch sees further delay

When a company delays a product for "minor refinement," we typically expect to see small changes that contribute to a stronger overall product. That wasn't Wikipad's approach -- when it took its namesake gaming tablet into the lab for "minor" tweaks, it took a few inches off its screen size. The Wikipad is now a 7-inch tablet, slated to launch in spring for $249. It's smaller, the company says, but no less powerful -- it's keeping the Tegra 3 GPU the original build promised, not to mention 1GB of DDR3 RAM, 16GB of Flash memory, a 2-megapixel front facing camera and a 1,280 x 800 resolution display.

Wikipad's President of sales, Fraser Townley, told us the gamepad design hasn't changed much either. "We took the pinball wizard approach," he said. "We made everybody in the room shut their eyes, and try the controllers. It's not about the look, it's about the feel. Once we got the feel right, then we could worry about the look. That's how the ten inch was born, and that's how the seven inch stayed the same." The attachment boasts new buttons (now labeled a, b, x and y) with a chrome finish, but seems otherwise unchanged. Wikipad is mum on specific availability, but we're told we can expect to hear more after Chinese New Year. As the 10.1-inch original design? It's still coming, but Townley couldn't it narrow it down further than "before Christmas." Read on for Wikipad's official press announcement, or click here to find out how the tablet was cut down to size.

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Wikipad CEO James Bower defends his gaming tablet’s $500 pricing, why one device beats two

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Why does the Wikipad cost $500 dollars CEO James Bower explains

No matter which way you cut it, the Android-based Wikipad gaming tablet -- dubbed as much despite not having any connection to Wikipedia -- is unusually expensive. As a 10.1-inch Android tablet, it's comparably priced with the leaders of the market (of the Apple and Samsung variety). The obvious problem comparatively with the big dogs: visibility. What is Wikipad, anyway? And who made it?

"This is our first product into the market," consummate salesman and Wikipad CEO James Bower told us in an interview earlier this week -- yes, the company's name is shared with its first product. "We've self-funded the whole concept to this point with a couple of us founders. No VC money or anything," he said (the company did, however, just close its first round of venture capital funding for marketing costs, post-development). Bower's company took the idea of an Android-based gaming tablet with a proprietary, physical (and removable) gamepad from concept to reality in the last year, first revealing the tablet at CES 2012. "We've been able to accomplish a lot very efficiently and very effectively to this point," Bower said, in reference to the approximately 80 people who created the device.

That said, despite our positive hands-on time with the Wikipad (even in its prototype state), $500 is a heck of a lot of money to plunk down on an unproven device from an unproven company. The argument gets harder when you remember Sony's PlayStation Vita -- an arguably much nicer device with a far larger library of gaming content that costs half the Wikipad's price at $249.99. Bower doesn't see the logic in this argument. "It's double the price, but it's also double the size," he pointed out. "If you buy a tablet that's seven inches, you can get a $199 tablet -- it's called a Google Nexus or a Kindle Fire. If you're gonna get a full 10-inch tablet, a tablet to this quality, you're gonna spend $499 to $749 ... if we were talking about a 7-inch device or a 5-inch device, and we were at this price point, then it'd be a different story." Admittedly, the tablet -- as a standalone device -- isn't too shabby. But will it woo consumers away from the likes of Apple and Samsung? Bower hopes as much, but we're not so sure.

Gallery: Wikipad hands-on

Continue reading Wikipad CEO James Bower defends his gaming tablet's $500 pricing, why one device beats two

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Wikipad CEO James Bower defends his gaming tablet's $500 pricing, why one device beats two originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wikipad costs $499 at GameStop starting October 31, gives Android a gaming costume

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Wikipad costs $499, arrives at GameStop on Halloween

When we first caught wind of the Wikipad at CES, we picked up the distinct scent of vaporware. In the months since, we've seen the ten-inch tablet with detachable controls get games via Gaikai and from PlayStation Mobile, plus an impressive list of specs. And now we know it'll cost $500 and will officially be available on October 31st exclusively at GameStop. Of course, you don't have to wait until then to call dibs on your Halloween treat, as those willing to plunk down five bills early can reserve one via pre-order starting tomorrow. That's quite a chunk of change, especially considering the cost of other gamified Android tablets, but it does have an impressive set of internals, and it's tough to put a price on having Jelly Bean out of the box, right?

Continue reading Wikipad costs $499 at GameStop starting October 31, gives Android a gaming costume

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Wikipad costs $499 at GameStop starting October 31, gives Android a gaming costume originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos unveils 7-inch GamePad with physical controls, Ice Cream Sandwich for ‘less than €150’

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DNP EMBARGO Archos unveils ICSrunning GamePad with physical controls

Archos already has its hands in the kiddie-tablet market, with its 7-inch Arnova Child Pad, and it's taking on the productivity-minded crowd with its keyboard-toting 101 XS. Now the company is going after another niche segment with the just-announced GamePad. The 7-inch slate runs Android 4.0 with a dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz and a quad-core Mali 400 MP GPU, and it sports physical gaming controls in addition to the standard touchscreen. Archos includes its own "game recognition and mapping tools," which ensure that the physical buttons are compatible with Android games that use virtual controls (some 1,000 titles are apparently compatible with the GamePad at this point). Of course, this is an internet-enabled device as well, and it will include full access to the Play market and WiFi connectivity when it goes on sale at the end of October. Other specs include 8GB of internal storage, plus a microSD card slot that adds up to 64GB. There's also a mini-HDMI connection for outputting content to your TV. For now, Archos is only announcing pricing as "less than €150", and the device will drop in the US and Europe at the same time. For now, the below-the-break press release will have to satisfy your curiosity.

Continue reading Archos unveils 7-inch GamePad with physical controls, Ice Cream Sandwich for 'less than €150'

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Archos unveils 7-inch GamePad with physical controls, Ice Cream Sandwich for 'less than €150' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wikipad specs get real: 10.1-inch 1,280 x 800 display, 1.4 GHz Tegra 3, Jelly Bean

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Wikipad-specs-get-real

The Wikipad gaming tablet has been ticking off boxes on its way to becoming a real product, and after bedding down with Gaikai game streaming and settling in to a 10.1-inch form factor, the rest of the hardware is now set. The chunky handheld will brandish an IPS display with 1,280 x 800 resolution, NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30 quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, at least 16GB storage and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Other notable items include 8-megapixel rear / 2-megapixel front cameras, six hours continuous gaming battery life and a 2D-only screen instead of the 3D originally touted -- at least, for the first model. The controller remains the same with a pair of triggers, bumpers, joysticks and start/select buttons, and will cover the slate's speakers and route sound out the front. The rest of the story is yet to come, namely exactly what that price will be and when you'll actually be able to pew-pew with it, but the company has promised to 'fess up soon. Meanwhile, though airy for a tablet at 560 grams (1.2 pounds), it's not exactly PS Vita or Nintendo 3DS XL territory -- but then a heavyweight contender could be exactly what handheld gaming needs.

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Wikipad specs get real: 10.1-inch 1,280 x 800 display, 1.4 GHz Tegra 3, Jelly Bean originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GameStop gives in to its sweet tooth, stocks Android tablets at over 1,600 stores

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GameStop selling Android tablets in-store isn't anything new, but we've been curious to see how well the initiative would take off following a soft launch at 200 locations last November. Things seem to be going swimmingly, as the company now has "more than 1,600 locations" stocking the slates. If you'll recall, the devices all come with pre-installed titles of the retailer's choosing, with models from the likes of Samsung, Acer, ASUS and Toshiba. There's still yet to be any word about whether you'll eventually be able to trade-in your own, but it would seem like a logical next step -- aside from becoming an AT&T virtual carrier. Hit up the source link below to see if a store in your area is part of the lineup.

Continue reading GameStop gives in to its sweet tooth, stocks Android tablets at over 1,600 stores

GameStop gives in to its sweet tooth, stocks Android tablets at over 1,600 stores originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 May 2012 06:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wikipad’s Android tablet amps up with Gaikai game streaming, quad-core, 10-inch screen

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Wikipad's Android 4.0 gaming tablet still hasn't received a definitive release date despite having just half a season left to meet its launch target, but that hasn't stopped its creator from boosting the feature set. When the tablet does arrive, it will now bake in Gaikai's game streaming service for you to start playing games as soon as the shrink wrap's off the box. In return for the long wait since CES, Wikipad is also giving its slate a heavy makeover: the 8.1-inch screen is ballooning to 10.1 inches, while a lighter body will carry an unnamed quad-core processor and an option for 3G. Otherwise, you're looking at much of the same formula that first emerged in January, which includes traditional gamepad-like controls on either side as well as front and back cameras, 1080p video support and 8GB of space to store your games when you don't want to bring a microSD card. We're looking forward to getting our paws on those dual analog sticks soon, but for now you can check the news release after the break.

Continue reading Wikipad's Android tablet amps up with Gaikai game streaming, quad-core, 10-inch screen

Wikipad's Android tablet amps up with Gaikai game streaming, quad-core, 10-inch screen originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 May 2012 05:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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