Let give JooJoo second chance

Apr 8, 2010 Posted by brindils on Apr 8, 2010 in Technology and Internet | 0 comments

Let give JooJoo second chance

Last week, the folks at Fusion Storage sent me a JooJoo. The unit, formerly known in tech circles as the Crunchpad, is really a touch-screen tablet with an HD-capable, 12.1-inch display along with a home-brewed Web browser compatible with Adobe Flash. An ambitious product from a start-up organization, the JooJoo may be the David to Apple’s iPad Goliath.

Unfortunately, after only a few days out from the box, my JooJoo died. A trouble-shooting call with Fusion Storage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan Wednesday confirmed that my JooJoo was beyond a phone-assisted repair along with a replacement would be shipped out. Given an option among an immediate replacement or a two-week wait for a unit running updated software, I opted for the latter.

Selfishly, being a reviewer, I take no pleasure in reviewing products twice. If a device isn’t ready for prime time, I’m not going to revise my entire review each time a firmware update comes out.

For that JooJoo’s sake, let’s hope the upcoming software program update is really substantial. In the 24 hours I had using the JooJoo before it went belly-up, the experience left plenty to be desired. Let’s just say, that had me nodding sympathetically. Managing and closing Internet pages is really a glitch encounter, the unique two-finger scrolling frequently had me selecting page links accidentally, and also the product’s flagship feature–Flash support–offered spotty performance.

Fortunately, it seems reasonable to anticipate that these problems can be ironed out with a software program update. Some of my other criticisms from the JooJoo, however, are tied to the hardware. Foremost among them may be the truth that the unit is just plain heavy at 2.4 pounds, in comparison using the 1.5 pounds from the Apple iPad. Even whilst sitting down it is exhausting to hold for an extended period of time.

Placing the JooJoo on a table or flat on your lap illuminates another hardware criticism: bad viewing angles. Compared with the IPS screen technology utilized on the iPad, the JooJoo’s display is only practical to view straight-on. It is a shame–especially with its movie-friendly wide-screen aspect ratio–that the JooJoo is too heavy to prop up for a feature-length film and also the viewing angles are as well bad for two individuals to enjoy simultaneously without having to sit in each others’ laps (not that we frown on that sort of thing).

Hardware complaints aside, optimist I’m still hopeful that Fusion Garage can steer the JooJoo out of the ditch. That said, to really compete against the similarly priced iPad, Fusion Garage is likely to need to do more than fix a couple of bugs. For any potential JooJoo buyers available, I’d suggest checking back in a couple of weeks prior to producing an investment.