Liliputing and many other blogs have spread the news about a certain Spark 7 inch 800x480 tablet running Mer Linux with KDE Plasma Active UI:
Mer Linux is an open source continuation of deceased, or stillborn MeeGo and Tizen, looking very much on early stages of development: no graphic acceleration, UI elements are desktoppy at best, etc. Why webOS Linux wasn't chosen as a base for development is a mystery. However, the project is said as progressing with breathtaking speed, and pre-orders for May release of the Spark tablets are taken. There's even talk about availability of open sourced graphics driver for Mali 400MP GPU that tablet uses. Sure, it's a demo, and more like a proof of a concept that chip designers' drivers can be reverse-engineered. And I'd rather see PowerVR SGX drivers open-sourced, dissected and improved upon, but it's just me.
It's all sweet except for choice of platform for such an exciting development: prototype is called Zenithink C71:
- Model: C71
- Product dimensions: (mm) 197/121/14
- CPU: ARM CORTEX A9 (must be Amlogic AML8726-M we've met here in Ainol Novo 8 Advanced last year)
- OS: Android 2.3
- FSB: 1 GHz
- Memory: DDR 512MB
- Nand flash: 4GB
- Extended: TF card; U disc
- LCD display: 7” TFT display, five-point Capacitive, 800*480
- Internet: support WIFI, 3G (by USB dongle, I suppose)
- USB 3G module
- Built-in camera (front camera of 1.3 Mpix)
- I/O ports : DC in, Earphone, one USB 2.0 Host port, one USB 2.0 OTG port
- HDMI output
- Built in stereo speakers 1 Watt * 2
- Built in mono recorder
- LED indicators: Power; charging
- Key-press:
- Power on /off 1 key
- Volume 2 key
- ESC 1 key
- Max battery time: Wi-Fi on: 4 hours
- Battery: Polymer lithium ion, 3000mAH
- Power adapter: 220V Input 5V DC Output ,3A
- Office: File reading programs, Word viewer, Excel Viewer, PowerPoint Viewer, PDF Viewer, Image Viewer
- Editing programs: Microsoft WordPad, Microsoft Spread Excel
- Messengers: MSN
- Internet Explorer
- Audio: MP3 playing, WAV playing, WMA playing, AAC,AAC+ playing, WAV,WMA recording
- Video: 1080P MP4 playing
- 1080P AVI (XVID, H.263, DIVX)
- 1080P MKV playing
- 1080P 3GP playing
- 1080P RMVB,RM playing
- Image: JPEG image, GIF image
- Languages: Support multi language
It might be a good toy for a developer for the price ($89...$99 in China, $129...$139 in US), but it's nothing short of a disappointment for an end user. In the same class of cheapo tablets, Ainol Novo 8 Advanced sports much better screen and fares much better in the usability department, see this my blog of 2011 for dozen posts on that.
Don't get me wrong: I'm all for putting Linux on every tablet that someone can think of. Even on "World's First ICS Tablet" -- WFT, for short. WFT is powered by the chip implemented by MIPS technology, and the challenge is even bigger, so WFT?
Oh, and a pre-order price of $265 for this rebranded Zenithink C71 feels a tidbit overboard. Spark tablets must be autographed by creators of X.org, Qt, KDE and reverse-engineers of Mali for that. Ordinary developers will certainly pick up Zenithink C71 or Ainol Novo 8 Advanced instead.
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