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Creative is combining Google joy with its established expertise in audio technology, with three new Android gadgets in time for Christmas.
The veteran MP3 player maker has 7-inch and 10-inch ZiiO Android tablets ready for December, along with a smaller Android 3.2-inch device called the ZEN Touch 2.
From a pure spec perspective, the gear looks inferior to what’s already out there, with resistive touchscreen technology rather than the far superior capacitive, and running Android 2.1 rather than 2.2 Froyo. But they all have an accelerometer, with the tablets carrying a front-facing VGA camera and a 2-megapixel camera on the ZEN Touch 2.
Rather than meekly join the Android masses, Creative is pimping these gadgets’ high-quality music output and the ability to stream it wirelessly to your Bluetooth compatible speakers and headphones. All three also have preloaded apps that let you fiddle around with the sound and give easy access to wireless connectivity settings.
If you’re content with playing around with resistive touchscreens, the three devices can browse the Internet over Wi-Fi. The ZiiO tablets let you pump HD movies to a TV over an HDMI cable too. You should also be able to download apps from the company’s own Zii Store, but it doesn’t seem the Android Market is available yet. But the emphasis is on the music — Creative also has the WP-300 Wireless Headphones available for £90, which you can pair up with the tablets for some musical goodness without cables.
The Creative gear will be available in retailers and its online shop from December. The 7-inch 8GB and 16GB ZiiO tablets are available at £200 and £220 respectively, while the 10-inch tablets are £250 and £270. The ZEN Touch 2 8GB and 16GB devices are £150 and £160 without GPS, with an 8GB version carrying GPS costing £160.
