One of the more confusing aspects about buying an off-brand Android device is trying to figure out whether or not it has full access to Google-sanctioned software—a built-in Gmail app, the Android Market, the YouTube player, etc.
The 7-inch CherryPad America (what a strong, patriotic name!) promises full Android Market access and shows the Gmail and YouTube apps right in the product shot, though the YouTube app is mysteriously called “Gallery.”
I seem to recall another inexpensive Android tablet that made whimsical promises in regards to full Android Market access. The 7-inch Gentouch tablet popped up in Kmart’s Sunday ad priced at $150 and everyone went nuts trying to get their hands on one. Turns out—whoops—the company didn’t have permission to put the Android Market on the tablet and it was summarily blocked by Google.
If we give Cherrypal, the company behind the CherryPad America, the benefit of the doubt and assume that it’s somehow managed to convince Google to let it install the Android Market on a device that’s not a cell phone or the Samsung Galaxy Tab—a true first—then the specs look decent for $188: 800MHz Samsung CPU with OpenGL 2.0 graphics, Android 2.1 with upgrade to 2.2 by the end of the year, 7-inch 800×480 display, 256MB of RAM, 2GB of onboard storage with microSD expansion, and built-in Wi-Fi.
The touchscreen is resistive, which means it’ll take more deliberate finger pressing than the capacitive displays we’re used to on current-generation smartphones. It also doesn’t do multitouch, either. The company’s press release insists, “The CherryPad is neither an iPad killer nor an iPad clone,” and points out that the price “is also less than half of the iPad.”
Full press release after the jump.