SmartDevices SmartQ V5 and V7 getting Android 2.1 update
There's some good news for owners of the SmartQ V5 and V7 MIDs from SmartDevices, with a report from midbbs.cn indicating that the tablet MIDs will be receiving an upgrade to Android 2.1. The upgrade brings dynamic wallpaper, 3D acceleration, an updated user interface, and improvements to Bluetooth transmission among other things. Unfortunately, since both the V5 and V7 use resistive touch screens, Android 2.1 won't implement multi-touch functionality. Early testing of the current preview build by midbbs shows there are still some bugs to work out, but the word is that the final official release will be soon.
I've always thought that the SmartQ V5 and V7 are good media-centric MIDs similar to the Archos 5 Android. Featuring 4.3- and 7-inch WVGA resistive touch screens, respectively, 600MHz ARM11 processors, hardware acceleration for 3D graphics and video, 256MB RAM, 2GB local storage, support for SD cards, WiFi, Bluetooth, support for the major audio and video codecs, 1080p HD video playback, HDMI/AV outputs, and USB 2.0 OTG, the tablets are packed with features. Their ability to run Android, Ubuntu, and Windows CE, not to mention the inclusion of all three operating systems pre-installed from the factory, gives a lot of choice and flexibility for users.
Any SmartQ fans out there looking forward to the update? Check out the rest of the images of the V5 running Android 2.1 and the video at the bottom.
