Michael Knutson
01-10-2011, 02:30 AM
<p><em>"E FUN, a consumer electronics designer and marketer of fun, easy-to-use lifestyle products, has integrated its patented APEN Digital pen with the new Nextbook Next5 Android tablet for a truly versatile communications duo!" </em></p><p><em>"E FUN, a consumer electronics designer and marketer of fun, easy-to-use lifestyle products, is pleased to announce the addition of two capacitive touch-screen models to its Nextbook Android tablets--the Next4 - 10.1" and Next6 - 7."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/lpt/auto/1294621069.usr17748.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>The NEXT5 tablet sports a 7-inch (non-capacitive?) screen, Wi-fi, Android 2.1, 2GB of memory, SD/SDHC card slot, an MP3 player, built-in speakers, photo viewer, and 25 pre-loaded e-books, as well a Borders' store app on-board. Availability is listed as April, 2011, with an MSRP of $279.99.</p><p>Also announced in a separate press release, two new capacitive screen models, the NEXT4 with a 10.1-inch screen and Android 2.2, and the NEXT6 with a 7-inch screen and Android 2.1. Specs mentioned for these two are similar to the NEXT5, with the intriguing addition of G-Sensor technology. Availability for both is listed simply as Q2 2011, and prices (MSRP) are $349.99 for the 10-inch NEXT4, and $269.99 for the NEXT6.</p><p>Interesting that the NEXT5 and the NEXT6 appear similar in configuration, with the NEXT5 offering the APEN digital pen for $10 more, but the NEXT6 offers G-Sensor technology. Also, the NEXT5 makes no mention of screen type, but the NEXT4 and NEXT6 press release explicitly mentions capacitive screens. It's a bit disappointing to read that Android 2.1 and 2.2 are the OSes of choice for these upcoming models.</p>