Skip to footer

Wikipad gaming tablet: Still alive, and coming in spring

The Wikipad, an Android tablet with a console-style gaming dock, was supposed to launch late last year. The company discovered some problems, but now the Wikipad is back with a 7-inch screen and a $249 price tag.

|
wikipad.com
The Wikipad, a 7-inch Android gaming tablet, looked like it might never make it to market -- but the company says it's coming this spring. The Wikipad sports a Tegra 3 processor, 16GB of built-in storage, and a front-facing camera.

The Wikipad: it’s the Android gaming tablet that was, then wasn’t, and now is again (probably). Last October, Wikipad Inc. was all set to sell the 10-inch tablet in stores when it discovered a flaw in the first batch of products. As the months went by, observers started to worry -- but this Thursday the company announced that the tablet is still alive and will be available this spring.

The tablet's makers took advantage of the hiatus to scale it down to 7 inches and drop the price from $499 to $249, while keeping the specs the same. The Wikipad looks like a garden-variety Android tablet, but drops into a special dock that has console-style controls on the edges. It’s designed to be a serious gaming device, but one that’s also useful for browsing the web, playing videos, and connecting with friends.

The redesigned, 7-inch Wikipad runs Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” and keeps all the specs of its 10-inch predecessor: a high-resolution (1280 x 800) display, 16GB of storage and a slot for up to 32GB more, a Tegra 3 processor, and a front-facing camera for video chatting. The gaming controls on the dock look like what you’d expect to see on a console -- one analog stick on either side, a directional pad on the left, and four buttons on the right.

By the way, if you were hoping to buy the 10-inch version of the Wikipad, take heart. The company says that model is still in the pipeline. Though the original display for that model was apparently discontinued, the company is rumored to have new production parts lined up and a plan to release a 10-inch Wikipad later this year.

Will the Wikipad make a splash? We can only speculate, but it certainly bridges the gap between portable gaming -- inexpensive, relatively simple apps like Angry Birds running on phones and tablets -- and full-fledged console gaming, with blockbuster titles and dedicated hardware. As Matt Burns over at TechCrunch points out, “Android gaming could be the next big thing. With dedicated gaming devices like the ... Wikipad, there will suddenly, almost overnight, be a whole batch of devices craving new games.”

It’s tempting to draw comparisons between the Wikipad and the OUYA, an Android-based gaming console that’s also getting lots of attention. But they fulfill slightly different functions. The Wikipad is meant to be a more versatile, flexible product that can transform between a multipurpose tablet and a capable gaming device thanks to its dock.

Does the Wikipad interest you, or are your gaming needs already satisfied by the devices you have? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Wikipad gaming tablet: Still alive, and coming in spring
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Horizons/2013/0208/Wikipad-gaming-tablet-Still-alive-and-coming-in-spring
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe