Kogan launches Android tablet, Ubuntu netbook

Renai LeMay
Friday, 15 April 2011 07:12

Your IT - Mobility

Kogan's tablet demonstrations in March last year generated a bit of buzz at the time, coming as they did some months before the launch of Apple's flagship iPad tablet in Australia in mid-2010 - and almost a year before Samsung would be the first major vendor to launch a high-powered Android tablet locally, with its 7' Samsung Galaxy Tab.

However, it has taken more than a year for the project to reach fruition - during which time Apple has taken almost complete control of the tablet market in Australia, with Samsung and other manufacturers only now gradually starting to play catch-up.

Kogan's device is based on Samsung's Cortex A8 processor, running at 1GHz. It comes with 512MB of memory, as well as 4GB of storage space, and a microSD card expansion slot which allows additional storage of up to 32GB. It runs version 2.2 (Froyo) of Android, with a screen resolution of 1024×600 and a 7' capacitive touchscreen.

The so-called 'Agora' device has no 3G support, but does support 802.11b and g Wi-Fi. It weighs 390g. Kogan's site currently lists the tablet as costing $151, but the price is continually changing.
'With the Kogan 7' Android Tablet, we have created a device with all the features our customers need, at an unheard-of price. You no longer have to feel guilty about spending big bucks on a tablet entertainment device,' said Ruslan Kogan in a statement.

The company has also launched several other devices in the Agora range. Despite the sliding popularity of Linux in the netbook space - and of netbooks in general, due to the growing popularity of tablets - Kogan has launched a 12' netbook for a price starting at $299, running Ubuntu Linux.

The device comes with a Celeron M processor running at 1.2Ghz, with 1GB of memory and a 250GB SATA hard disk drive. The screen runs at a resolution of 1366 by 768 and Kogan lists the battery as lasting about 3.5 hours. A slightly more powerful model has more memory and hard disk space for a slightly higher cost.

Kogan has also launched a television set-top box running Android that is designed to both play multimedia content as well as provide access to the internet. It comes with a Samsung Cortex A8 CPU at 1GHz, 512MB of memory and 2GB of storage space - although customers can add extra storage on via USB hard disk or SD card. The box starts at $149.

'Everyone can now watch what they want, when they want,' said Ruslan Kogan in the company's statement. 'They can stream movies from content providers across the globe including YouTube, Ustream, and any website with video. They can browse the web, chat to their friends on social media, share and view photos, movies and music, and even play games like Angry Birds on their TV!'

Image credit: Kogan