Fusion Garage Promises 3G JooJoo by July
On this, the day of the iPad 3G, Fusion Garage is promising us a JooJoo 3G before the summer is out.
Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan has said the 3G version of the company's JooJoo tablet will hit the market at some stage over the next three months. Not only that but with the arrival of 3G connectivity to the device, Fusion Garage will be handing over the responsibility of selling the device to the wireless carriers it partners with. The Inquirer spoke to Rathakrishnan who said customers would have to purchase the 3G tablet directly from their carrier. Chandra went on to say that this means mobile phone companies could subsidize the device, making it cheaper than the WiFi-only model.
However, perhaps most interesting is the revelation that in the next 30 days JooJoo operating system will recognize USB memory drives through its interface. When asked by the INQ if it could be used to load other operating systems on the tablet, Rathakrishanan replied that there was nothing stopping users from doing so. Despite saying it would void the warranty, the CEO said his firm would neither support nor prohibit such activity.
Indeed it would seem as though Fusion Garage is in no hurry to limit users' options when it comes to the JooJoo. When asked if the device's Linux-based OS and USB port would mean support for any of the USB dongles currently on the market, Chandra said Fusion Garage "wasn't there to cannibalize consumers" and that it won't stop such modifications or issue 'cease and desist' orders to those who offer modifications. However, again, this kind of activity would void the one-year warranty on the device.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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werxen I got a great company idea: we will wait for Apple to make something then we will hope to steal their thunder with a product that has the exact same look but has 1000000000000x less of a brand name! YAY!Reply -
I'm confused... without specialty apps... having a browser as the main part it is not really competing with anyone it is simply a superportable browser...? am I missing something? this product is the biggest mystery to me.Reply
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henrystrawn Bad JooJoo. Just a thought, if you move more data transmission to a phone, which is firmly under FCC control, rather than ISPs, it seems to me to be less "Net Neutral".Reply -
tpi2007 I applaud the decision to let users install whatever they wish, but I have a simple question: why on earth does installing a different OS void the warranty ?Reply
Is a badly written piece of software responsible for blowing up a screen for example ? As far as I know, the BIOS and other proprietary firmware is always responsible for controlling the basic operating parameters ofa device that simply do not allow software to do pysical damage, unless you actually change these firmwares.
Because if it's not the case with this device, a badly written piece of software other than an OS could well be able to do that also. So I really don't get this. They allow, but seem to try to stop people from doing it by imposing totally unjustified penalities, in this case losing the warranty.Are they trying to hide something ? Like the fact the device is half baked and major basic parameters are controlled by the OS itself instead of the BIOS/other firmware ? -
Morgan3rd tpi2007I applaud the decision to let users install whatever they wish, but I have a simple question: why on earth does installing a different OS void the warranty ?Reply
I'm unsure but maybe a poorly written bios could cause overheating or something like that.