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peter

Um, seriously?

Where to begin? $499? Shipping in 8-10 weeks? Not sure who else watched the webcast, but the device experience looked really laggy and bad. Maybe Arrington shouldn't be so unhappy about how things worked out.

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57 replies
Alexw

They say the green is a "trick of the camera".. but I can't exactly remember the last time I saw a screen look like that on film. Especially when he held it up to be straight on.

Hopefully (for their sake) this is just a prototype still.

As for the claim to handle HD video. That Intel chipset every ones rocking in their netbooks doesn't come close to HD.. but it can at least scroll a web page without that horrible lag.
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ChrisB

I'm starting to think the whole falling out was BS. Arrington wanted to create hype and get people talking about it. Its $200 too expensive too.
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BeTaRe

While I was originally sure it was publicity, it seems now that Arrington was just out to hurt the project. Chances are there would be a lawsuit filing by now (since they've known about it since the 17th of November) if TechCrunch had any legal claim to the tablet. And after Arrington's hatchet job on it (and the inherent problems with the product itself) this thing won't see any sort of mass market adoption.
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jkibuule

Can you file a lawsuit against a product that hasn't had any pre-orders or sales yet? Without an actual intent to distribute, it's still a vaporware product.
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jstanley

Agreed, wholeheartedly. If it's as laggy as the video suggests, there's nothing Arrington should be worried about. Let's see how long until it gets on someone's want list!
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deinfinityx

Yeah and the name is freaking horrible. I think they wanted more money, but sadly the Archos 9, or even A5S looks better then this right now, captive or not, this just does not look good.
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benlowe

I agree. I would expect a device with this price point and specs to deliver a superb browsing experience. It currently resembles an over-sized (and slightly underpowered) iPhone browser.
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albooher

$499 is exactly $200 above where I could have been convinced to even consider this thing. Plus, dealing with Fusion Garage at this point, with all the controversy, just doesn't seem like the most prudent place to keep $499 for the next "8-10 weeks". All-in-all, I don't see this thing going well for Fusion Garage or anyone who does actually end up wasting their money on the JooJoo.
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dave

Agreed. I think the $300 price point was pretty critical for them to hit, especially with an apparently underpowered device.

And now there's the whole fact of even thinking about trusting Fusion Garage with your money. Yeah, right.
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jstanley

I wonder, though, if this is now Apple's ballgame, making an oversized iPod Touch at this price range?
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bwassink

At least with that you get apps that can control some of the core functions of the device. Also you can watch offline movies and listen to offline music. You may be able to do that on this tablet but if so I haven't seen them acknowledge it.
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bwassink

This looks horrible, also at $500 it completely prices it self out of the market they were shooting for. I can't see this selling well, considering the form factor and the size. I liked this idea when I first heard about it but looking at it now I can't honestly think of anytime I'd want to use this. If it were going to be a "couch computer" its priced too high, if it is trying to be a travel companion its too big and is only a browser. There is a lot going on here that just won't work for most people I think.
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jupigare

You're right: It doesn't suit couch computing (a much cheaper netbook would be more useful) or travel (due to reliance on WiFi and the cloud). I honestly cannot think of a market for what is essentially a $500 MID.
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jeepers

I'm interested to see if they include some "surprises" when it ships. Because it if is really just a slow web browser I'm not sure who thought that it was a good idea. We will see. I wouldn't mind having one if it was given to me for free. xD
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jonursenbach

I call BS on the green tint being a "trick of the camera". Never seen anything like that before. Given that we now have to deal with Fusion Garage and not "a blog" I honestly hope it crashes and burns. The gadget community needs another good vaporware story to recall for years on end.

I mean seriously, Techcrunch hasn't been *just* a blog for two years now. You'd be insane to think that.
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zuhaib

Yeah if your device is going to cost $500, be out in a few weeks you should get the camera issue solved before your first press conference after getting slammed by a guy in the tech community, be it he is an ass or not, who has some clout.

Either its not ready, or someone thought it would be a good idea to hide the final OS video. I see some pics of it on Cnet sans the green issue and they have a pic of them making a movie of it, but again i see no clips.
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jkibuule

It wasn't a camera issue. For some silly reason, you can change the color of the background within settings. It's one of those ideas that if you mentioned it to Steve Jobs, you'd be instantly fired.
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jtio

JooJoo = Bad Luck according to the Urban dictionary. I will agree today.
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bryansays

I wonder how much research went into that name :)
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jonursenbach

I wonder if the warranty on this device is going to originally be a verbal contract, then when your device breaks they claim that you were sold the device as-is.
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jstanley

I was planning on paying with a verbal "IOU," I'm not sure if they'll take those.
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ChrisB

Was this thing always going to be "the JooJoo"? The website was registered November 10th:
who.godaddy.com­/WhoIs.aspx­?domain­=thejoojoo.com­&am...
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dave

Hah, that's pretty crazy!
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WeaponII

Maybe not this one, but perhaps they were to release a sister version of the "CrunchPad".

If it was, then Arrington's pretty sly.
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BeTaRe

Arrington was sent the breakup letter on November 17th. Fusion Garage obviously had already made the conscious decision to proceed without TechCrunch's involvement weeks before that. That actually lends more credence to Chandra's claim that Arrington failed on their verbal partnership agreement to market and find investors by February of this year. That left plenty of time for Fusion Garage to set up their own deal, decide on a (horrid) name and proceed with marketing it themselves.
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kyle6477

At the same time it's still pretty ridiculous that they went ahead without telling Arrington anything. If you're going to shoot Arrington and co. in the foot, don't wait till a couple of days before you're supposed to launch the device. That alone makes me doubt the credence of what they are claiming. And if they think that they had rights to the crunchpad name, they would use that, regardless of what Arrington would threaten legally.

I smell BS.
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BeTaRe

I don't think the rights to the CrunchPad trademark are in dispute. Clearly that's solely owned by TechCrunch. I'm also not in favor of how the news was broken -- regardless of who's side you believe. Both camps are coming away from this one with bright, big shiners.

My leaning towards believing Fusion Garage's version of events also comes from the fact that we've never heard one true word about the CrunchPad from Arrington. Everything that was said about it during the one and a half years they've been talking it up has turned out false (from release dates to price to whether or not it's even ready for consumers). It's worse than vaporware, it's hot-airware.
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coyotej

I agree with this assessment, BeTaRe. Arrington has shown himself to be non-credible and sensationalistic.
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estoughton

Likely not. After all, it was supposed to be the CrunchPad.
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dmorales

A lot can change in eight to ten weeks after they take people's money for pre-orders. Let's call this what it is, borderline-vaporware.
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albooher

One of the biggest problems I see with the JooJoo (once you actually get the unit into your possession) is not even the 5 hr battery life, it's that without Wi-Fi and no option to pop in your SIM, this thing will be utterly useless. If it had 32GB or 64GB SSD and a way to EASILY transfer ripped movies or digitally purchased content onto it then it would be ideal for plane, train or car trips. I see Wi-Fi-only as just one of the reasons to not trust Fusion Garage with your money.
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blimey3k

With that price, it is like the old PepperPad. Great idea, but too expensive to be worth it. Also for couch use, they need an easy recharging station and make that part of the advertising and promotion.
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estoughton

Good idea I guess. And maybe down the line could be a good product. But, yea, like others are saying, paying $500 for this when you could get a decent netbook for cheaper just doesn't make a lot of sense.
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htcfanboy

Umm, am I *supposed* to want it? Especially at a an extremely cruel $500? If it ran a real OS *cough*Apple tablet*couch*, had a good virtual keyboard, had an ecosystem, played videos/music...maybe. Chrome OS, anyone? That would be interesting.
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estoughton

btw. I love how the photo is the photo with TechCrunch on the screen. Pretty funny after the 'feud'
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ArmpitOfDeath

I'll wait for the next version, the Moo Moo.
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deinfinityx

Best one i have heard so far, maybe it will actually have a white screen.
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mohanpram

$500 is too much for a devices that has just a web browser on it. I bought a 15.6 notebook for $329 at Best Buy that will run circles around this thing. And the name...man is that a bad one, this falls into the category of Wii and iPod. Sorry Fusion Garage, JooJoo is a no no for me.
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itchyeyes

Where do you even start with this thing?

The price is outrageous. Obviously, with a 12" capacitive touch screen it was never going to make their target of $200, but shouldn't someone have bothered to think about that before they put years of development into it. Aside from the touchscreen, there's absolutely nothing about this device that would make it more attractive than a netbook at that price point.

And web only? Really? People are skeptical that Google can even pull that off, and that's their bread and butter. Would it have been so hard to stick a lightweight Linux distro on this thing?

The only way I can see this ending well is if a larger manufacturer decides that they like Fusion Garage's tech, buys the company, and then puts it in the incubator for another couple of years, because this is nowhere near ready for market.
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controljunkies

Maybe the green screen is for the limited edition St. Patricks Day version! $499, pass.
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beingboston

I'd rather take the $500 and buy a Foleo. Wait... Palm did release that right?
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fuzzbinn

Makes a guy wonder - someone, somewhere, looked at the name Joojoo, and went - "Wow. That's a GREAT idea." .... Kinda scary. And $500? Not happening.
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kylehase

It's nice hardware though. Wonder if ChromeOS could be installed and how much it would cost sans OS.
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sarchi

spose the screen takes the crunch-pricing and kills you

you could always go down with prank packs and be a legend
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jonv

Engadget have a hands on: www.engadget.com­/2009­/12­/08­/joojoo­-tablet­-hands­-on... (although it looks more like a controlled demo)

How long before people get review units to play with?
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BeTaRe

The JooJoo is supposed to start shipping in 8-10 weeks. They should send units out to blogs for review around the first part of February (if they can fix those touch and software issues on time).
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userd40ad11b74f

This thing looks a lot better in the Engadget video, but it is a non-starter at $500. The screen looks pretty good in the YouTube demo.
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nicksilvestri

When I saw the video I thought it was a prototype; it was so laggy!
Definitely not worth $500 for JUST browsing.

We'll see when it comes out I guess!
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bobsil1

What's with all the haterade? We haven't heard FG's full story yet. Arrington is a blogger not a hardware guy. iPhone 3GS runs $600-700 unlocked. If these guys can iron out the lags, this would be a great personal Hulu screen for last shot before bedtime.
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