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If you thought the Kindle Fire hit the sweet spot for tablet pricing at $200 then you should see what MIPS is offering for $100. The Novo 7 is a 7-inch Android tablet boasting first on the planet to offer Ice Cream Sandwich. The tablet offers a power efficient 1GHz Ingenic Xburst processor capable of 1080p HD video output and supports OpenGL ES2.0. The Novo 7 comes with the usual set of dual-cameras, 2MP rear/VGA front facing, SD card slot and HDMI out. The device is currently being made available in China and online at Ainovo.com with plans to eventually come stateside in the near future.
What do you guys think? The prospect of a 7-inch Ice Cream Sandwich tablet for $100 definitely is enticing but given the generic processor, undisclosed screen resolution, I’m more than a little wary at least until I see some performance tests in a video. Full press release can be found below. Any of our readers thinking about picking one up?
UPDATE: After the putting the Novo 7 in my cart, I noticed it was $60 alone to ship from China. Suddenly, $160 for this device doesn’t sound like much of a value.
MIPS Technologies and Ingenic Semiconductor Announce Availability of World’s First Android™ ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ Tablet1GHz, Low-Power Tablet Sets New Market Standard at Sub-$100 Price PointSUNNYVALE, Calif. – December 5, 2011 – MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS), a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications, and Ingenic Semiconductor, a leading China-based CPU provider for mobile multimedia applications, today announced worldwide availability of the world’s first tablet based on Android TM 4.0, known as ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’, that is retailing for less than $100 (U.S). The tablet is powered by Ingenic’s JZ4770 mobile applications processor, which leverages a MIPS-BasedTM XBurstTM CPU running at 1GHz.
According to Andy Rubin, senior vice president of mobile at Google, “I’m thrilled to see the entrance of MIPS-Based Android 4.0 tablets into the market. Low cost, high performance tablets are a big win for mobile consumers and a strong illustration of how Android’s openness drives innovation and competition for the benefit of consumers around the world.”
The new Android 4.0 tablet is available in China and online through Ainol Electronics Co., Ltd. It will be available in the United States and other geographies within the next several months under brands from companies including Leader International Inc. and OMG Electronics Ltd.
The new tablet is available with a 7″ capacitive multi-touch screen. 8″ and 9″ form factors will be available soon. All versions include support for WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, USB 2.0, HDMI 1.3 and microSD, as well as 3D graphics with the Vivante GC860 GPU, 1080p video decoding and dual front/rear cameras. The XBurst processor’s power-efficient architecture provides extended battery life-the 7″ tablet draws less than 400mA during active web browsing.
“We are pleased to join with MIPS to announce these breakthrough high-performance, low-power, low-cost Android 4.0 tablets. Combining the elegance of the MIPS architecture and Ingenic’s innovation in processor design, we are bringing a new level of processor technology to mobile devices. As we continue to collaborate with MIPS to broaden the mobile ecosystem around the legendary MIPS architecture, we anticipate even broader proliferation of our devices worldwide. We believe the mobile world will be more versatile and colorful with another processor joining in,” said Qiang Liu, chairman and CEO, Ingenic Semiconductor.
“The openness of Android is enabling a new level of connectedness and interaction between devices and between people across the globe. We are excited to be a part of the Android ecosystem delivering on that vision. We applaud Ingenic’s accomplishment in developing this new high-performance, feature-rich Android 4.0 tablet, and offering it at a price point that makes it widely accessible. We look forward to teaming with Ingenic as it continues to develop MIPS-Based mobile innovations,” said Sandeep Vij, president and CEO, MIPS Technologies.
Ingenic JZ4770 SoC
The Ingenic JZ4770 SoC inside of the new tablet is one of the first MIPS-Based systems-on-chips (SoCs) targeted for mobile devices that delivers 1GHz+ frequency, increasingly a requirement for tablets and other devices that incorporate rich multimedia and high-performance applications/functionality. The JZ4770 SoC is powered by a MIPS32 compatible XBurst CPU designed by Ingenic. The XBurst CPU core adopts an innovative ultra-low-power pipelining architecture which consumes less than 90mW in 1GHz (with L1 cache), and the entire SOC consumes ~250mW with the CPU and video engine operating under full load. In addition to the XBurst CPU, the JZ4770 SoC integrates an optimized 1080p video processing engine, OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics processing unit from Vivante Corp. and numerous on-chip analog and application blocks such as audio codecs and GPS.
Pricing and Availability
Ingenic’s JZ4770 SoC for Android 4.0 tablets is available now. The new Android 4.0 tablet is available in China and online through Ainol Electronics Co., Ltd. at www.ainovo.com. The 7″ tablet retails for less than $100 (U.S.) non-subsidized. The tablet will be available in other geographies within the next several months. For more information, visit http://en.ingenic.cn/.
About Ingenic
Ingenic Semiconductor was founded in Beijing in 2005 to develop innovative processor technology. Based on the MIPS architecture, Ingenic designs its own CPU core called XBurst. The XBurst CPU adopts an innovative micro-architecture which consumes very little power under high performance. Powered by the XBurst CPU, the company’s JZ47xx series application processors are widely deployed in embedded devices and consumer electronic products including PMPs, educational electronic devices, eBooks, biometrics and more, with more than 30 million units shipped to-date. For more information, visit http://www.ingenic.cn/.
About MIPS Technologies, Inc.
MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS) is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications. The MIPS architecture powers some of the world’s most popular products, including broadband devices from Linksys, DTVs and digital consumer devices from Sony, DVD recordable devices from Pioneer, digital set-top boxes from Motorola, network routers from Cisco, 32-bit microcontrollers from Microchip Technology and laser printers from Hewlett-Packard. Founded in 1998, MIPS Technologies is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices worldwide. For more information, contact (408) 530-5000 or visit www.mips.com.
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not i…
I am sure there is a catch somewhere…
Well, there is that $60 worth of shipping
I would love to get one of these if it is decent for the price. I’ll be waiting for the reviews to come out on this little nugget before I buy.
I will get two for the kids. At this price, its great for kids to play with. They could care less about specs. Hopefully this gets released soon.
enjoy apps like Kindle app and Angry Birds…..bytch r u fuqqin serious, ur shytty 1 Ghz 2 inch tablet is a failure…wtf is the world coming to??? n how bout that low budget ICS promotion for a POS tablet that failed on the touchscreen when he tried to browse the market…EPIC FAIL! LMMFAO
there is no way shipping should be $60. its gotta weigh what like 2 lbs if that. i order stuff from ebay for about 5 bucks that comes from over there they do free shipping. its really a $150 tablet(for US anyways) with $10 shipping. and i just got an iconia a100 for 189. way better specs
That just made me want the Prime that much more.
NERP
I wouldn’t take it seriously, except for one thing: The company apparently is using their OWN processor. No idea how good it is, but that itself shows that there’s some commitment to the product beyond just shoving another android tablet out the door with whatever 2 year old processor you could snag a deal on.
I was thinking one thing, resistive touch screen, gross. But then I heard him say capacitive, hmm. I’ll certainly be keeping my eye on this one.
Yeah still waiting on my PRIME!
This thing is going to be a hacker dream. Just like how the pandigital novel did. Difference being this has got some extras and ICS. In two months time, this is going to be a very very cheap tablet at $60. Take that One Laptop Per Child. This is one up on ya. Think I might pick this up when it goes on sell at Big Lots. lol.
maybe its good for kids
last part of the video was so cheesy
If that comes to the states I’ll definitely buy one for my daughter. I wish it were here for Christmas.
Too bad any native code will fail to run
what do you mean native code?
Java code that runs in the JVM should be fine (most Android apps). Some apps use code that is native to the ARM CPU architecture, so it will not run on a MIPS CPU. They do this for speed. Native code is faster for some things, and this really hasn’t been much of an issue until now.
I will give you that. Oh lookie this,
http://www.mips.com/arm-to-mips/
Mips release a guide to convert arm to mips.
My GS2 Is Better Than This…
i’m questioning if this really has google licensed apps included, or if people are gonna have to manually install it unlicensed. The site says CTS certified, but that doesn’t mean that they have the google apps licensed and installed. they just suggest those google apps CAN be run.
u can get it cheaper from various seller in aliexpress. i have another version of it . the novo advance 7.0 running a special cortex 8 ( they call it A10) ( its running 2.3.4) . Its fast and power consumption is low, the only drawback is the screen quality.
sounds too good to be true, but they are videos on youtube about the novo7 advaced and others
Android in car! I know its no prime but it will do for navigation, spotify, etc
WHAT IS WITH THE HOLE IN THE SCREEN! Check out the video, and at about 1:01-1:05, you can see a hole in the mid-far-right of the screen.
Seriously, I bet it’s just whatever program they used to generate transparencies in the making of the video that made the hole, but it made me laugh!
Can’t believe they actually sold out lol
Well based with its specs, it doesn’t match the faster Asus Transformer Prime, however, this tablets are cheaper and let’s you enjoy ICS without hurting your wallet.
Ainol Novo 7 with MIPS processor have problems with a lot of applications.
Ainol 7 Advanced have a Cortex processor and have more compatiblity. At this time have Android 2.3, but next week will have ICS.
You can buy Ainol 7 Advanced in china, prices between 115$ – 140$ + shipping
But don´t buy Ainol Novo 7 (JZ4770 Xburst), only buy Ainol 7 Advanced (Allwinner A10 1GHz CPU)