Velocity Micro Cruz Reader price and reviews

Its A Great Reader With Alot Of Extras Which Is Always A Plus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like the Cruz, I think it'll be very handy once I get it tweaked the way I want. I started by replacing both the internal memory with an 8 gig chip, and the external slot got a 16 gig chip. Plenty of storage now, but still the 256M onboard ram limitation. That's a tough limitation, especially since it's not very intuitive moving things around the memory cards, and you can't uninstall the preinstalled apps. I'm not going to give up though, there's just nothing else that touches it for price/value in an e-reader. I got mine on sale at Best Buy for $99, and used a $30 gift card to knock it down under $70 bucks. Take that Kindle/Kobo/Nook!!!

Look... for $199 USD it's almost disposable! If you buy it, sure, something better will come out in a few months, but I think this is a great tablet for the price (that's marketed as an ereader)

this is a techie machine. I had 2 chinese specials before this, with no support or directions.This is by far the best.
Download the manual and print it
do the software up dates first
then find aslideme market, alkido books and act1 videoplayer
videos play fine in setup in ipad format. I use magic dvd ripper set to ipad or you can buy them in that format.
You can buy a case-keyboard combo on ebay.. see android tablet case keyboard

making things work correctly is half of the fun..

only $120 new on sale, rooting is simple, even overclocking is a breeze, and very beneficial. This is not an ipad, but a solid smaller pad to play with and experiment with. There is a lot of help for this unit available online.

I'll caveat this review by saying I've only had it for two days. However, in that two days I've come to realize that if people would realize it was designed to be a reader first, Android tablet second, it might sit better with some folks. With that, I'll begin...

First off, Velocity Micro makes no bones about the fact that this is an Android 2.0 machine and will never be moreso. Know that going in. Second, this is a resistive touch screen so you actually have to press the screen to get it to do something. Third, get over the fact that there's no direct access to the Android Marketplace. That's a bit overhyped to begin with. If you know wher to look, you can find just about anything you need. I've already updated the system with a different launcher (Launcher Pro), put a RAM booster on it, and it runs remakably smoothly.

Should you purchase this system, do yourself a favor and go directly to the VM web site, update the firmware, and run the calibration. The steps are very straight forward and I had done so within 10 minutes of pulling the Cruz out of the box. The firmware update will SIGNIFICANTLY improve the touch screen responsiveness.

The reader comes witih the Borders reader installed and you can download the Kindle reader from the Cruz store. I've downloaded sample books from both via Wi-Fi and it's has worked flawlessly (two separate locations mind you, work and home). The one thing I found is that when the device wakes up from sleep, it takes a few seconds before the Wi-Fi reconnects. Probably a symptom of Android 2.0, but I've not had any issues with Wi-Fi not working as it should.

Battery life is pretty crummy for now. I'm trying to run a few tests to see what's causing so much drain when the device appears to be off, but I think the best thing I've seen is the advice that says turn it off when you're done reading it. It is a reader after all, not a phone, so leaving it on all the time is a bit of a waste.

Since Best Buy is giving me 30 days to wring this thing out before I have to return it, I plan on doing so and will update my review accordingly. However, so far my experience has been pleasant with the device and I look forward to finding out other surprises as I use it.

Updated on Jan 28, 2011

I highly recommend you charge this everyday. I put mine on the charger every night and it works all day just fine. I also recommend you buy some Nintendo DS stylis's to use with it - they work really well and I have not had any problems with the screen since I got them. I also recommend you buy an external SD card for it. I think this product is best for people who take the time to learn tricks on how to use things and can figure things out on their own. I also think people need to be reasonable about the product they are getting for the price they pay for it. There is no such thing as a free lunch, if you want an Ipad then buy one. If you want a fun little ereader and more, check this out.

Don't waste your money on this product - we bought two for Christmas this year - two days of working on them we still can't get them working properly. If customer service would answer the phone we could see if the product even works. Two thumbs way down.

for sale price $149.99 I bit; since borders being shifty-price came down 5 days after purchase and did not offer crdit; had to return refund reorder online; saving about $45 to boot; that's tank of gas