Hands-on with the smaller, less expensive 7-inch Wikipad

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" itemprop="text" style="text-align: left;"><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Handson with the smaller, less expensive 7inch Wikipad" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/wikipad7inchhedimg.jpg" /></div>When the Wikipad went from 10.1-inches to just 7-inches earlier this year, subsequently cutting its price in half alongside the size reduction, the gaming-centric Android tablet went from riskily priced potential failure to affordable item of interest in one swift move. $500 for a 10.1-inch tablet with a proprietary gaming controller peripheral? With a Tegra 3, no less? That already sounds outdated, and at $500, it sounds outright <i>crazy</i>. Though Wikipad promises a 10.-1-inch version is still in the works, the 7-incher is headed for retail in the coming weeks, with the aforementioned Tegra 3 quad-core SoC, a 1,280 x 800 IPS screen, Jellybean 4.1, and that enormous detachable game controller (<i>12</i> buttons in all!). At last week's Game Developers Conference, we had a chance to check out the latest version of the Wikipad just ahead of its retail launch -- for more on that meeting, join us beyond the break.<br /><div class="post-gallery" style="text-align: left;"><h3 class="title"><b>Wikipad hands-on (7-inch, GDC 2013)</b></h3><br /><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/dsc06434_95x95.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/dsc06398_95x95.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/dsc06401_95x95.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/dsc06403_95x95.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/dsc06404_95x95.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/dsc06406_95x95.jpg" /> </div>There is no way to not feel awkward holding the Wikipad when its paired to its controller. With the 7-inches of screen real estate, the Wikipad controller has your hands stretched apart by 8-inches or more -- a real issue if you plan on holding the set for longer than a few minutes. Resultantly, juggling between the controller's many buttons has us worried we'd end up accidentally dropping the handheld.<br />The bulky controller attachment pairs up the 7-inch tablet easily via micro USB plug, and the mapping worked fine on the few games we played. While the buttons aren't what we'd call high-quality, they're workable enough to <i>far surpass</i> the virtual button offerings otherwise employed in many mobile games. That is admittedly a low bar to surpass. The change from black to chrome buttons isn't an aesthetic choice we embrace, but it doesn't heavily affect the already cheap look of the controller.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div>Wikipad's central thrust -- the 7-inch tablet -- is ... fine? It's a fairly standard 7-inch tablet, from specs to build quality. There's an expandable memory slot for SD cards (up to 64GB, we're told), a single front-facing camera, and the aforementioned 1,280 x 800 IPS screen in the middle (all of which runs Jelly Bean 4.1) -- nothing thrilling, but all the boxes are ticked. The most thrilling aspect of the tablet is its rubberized back with a grippy ridge, meant to both be grabbed and to amplify the device's speakers. We're just glad it won't go sliding off our laps.<br />Based on our brief time with it, the Wikipad is hard to recommend. Both the $250 price and the not-so-exciting set of features are working against it, but we'll give it a full review in the weeks to come.<br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="349" id="viddler-5dc0592f" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="//www.viddler.com/embed/5dc0592f/?f=1&offset=0&autoplay=0&secret=14217561&disablebranding=0&view_secret=14217561" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="545"></iframe> </div></div>

Hands-on with the smaller, less expensive 7-inch Wikipad

When the Wikipad went from 10.1-inches to just 7-inches earlier this year, subsequently cutting its price in half alongside the size reduct...

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Lemons to lemonade: how manufacturing and mechanical setbacks shrank the Wikipad

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Lemons to lemonade how manufacturing and mechanical setbacks shrunk the Wikipad" data-src-height="340" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/wiki620-agai.jpg" /></div>A smaller, cheaper gaming tablet? Wikipad President of sales Fraser Townley says it was always in the cards -- but it was supposed to be the company's <em>second</em> tablet, not its first. Business, of course, doesn't always go according to plan. Just before the Wikipad's planned October launch, the company stayed production to refine the product's gamepad element, Townley told us, addressing a technical hiccup that could have troubled customers. Not too long after that, the company's screen supplier told them the part they had hoped to use for the Wikipad's 10.1-inch display was being discontinued. Salt? Meet wound.<br /> <span>Wikipad set out to make the best of a bad situation: it skipped a step. "The 7-inch was always in our roadmap and on our plan," Townley told us, "we just accelerated it." That decision was partly made to please the community, which was a little</span><span> </span>concerned about price<span>. At $249, the new Wikipad is certainly easier on the pocket book, but the redesign delayed the product <em>just</em> long enough to leave it teetering on the edge of a new generation -- the next </span>Tegra chip<span> is right around the corner. Fortunately, so is <em>another</em> Wikipad -- Townley told us the tablet's original 10.1-inch form would be out by the end of the year. He couldn't say if the delayed slate would be using NVIDIA's latest, but he left the possibility wide open. </span><span>"</span><span>There would be no point in launching a Tegra 3 tablet just months before the launch of Tegra 4, would there?" he joked. "We'll keep up with the market." An admirable goal, to say the least. </span><br /> </div></div>

Lemons to lemonade: how manufacturing and mechanical setbacks shrank the Wikipad

A smaller, cheaper gaming tablet? Wikipad President of sales Fraser Townley says it was always in t...

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Wikipad in miniature: 7-inch gaming tablet to debut in spring for $249, 10.1-inch sees further delay

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <br /> <img alt="Wikipad in miniature 7inch gaming tablet to debut in spring for $249, 101inch sees further delay " data-src-height="340" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/miniwikipad620.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> When a company delays a product for "minor refinement," we typically expect to see small changes that contribute to a stronger overall product. That wasn't Wikipad's approach -- when it took its namesake gaming tablet into the lab for "minor" tweaks, it took a few inches off its screen size. The Wikipad is now a 7-inch tablet, slated to launch in spring for $249. It's smaller, the company says, but no less powerful -- it's keeping the Tegra 3 GPU the original build promised, not to mention 1GB of DDR3 RAM, 16GB of Flash memory, a 2-megapixel front facing camera and a 1,280 x 800 resolution display.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Wikipad's President of sales, Fraser Townley, told us the gamepad design hasn't changed much either. "We took the pinball wizard approach," he said. "We made everybody in the room shut their eyes, and try the controllers. It's not about the look, it's about the feel. Once we got the feel right, <em>then</em> we could worry about the look. That's how the ten inch was born, and that's how the seven inch stayed the same." The attachment boasts new buttons (now labeled a, b, x and y) with a chrome finish, but seems otherwise unchanged. Wikipad is mum on specific availability, but we're told we can expect to hear more after Chinese New Year. As the 10.1-inch original design? It's still coming, but Townley couldn't it narrow it down further than "before Christmas." Read on for Wikipad's official press announcement, or click here to find out how the tablet was cut down to size.</div></div>

Wikipad in miniature: 7-inch gaming tablet to debut in spring for $249, 10.1-inch sees further delay

When a company delays a product for "minor refinement," we typically expect to see small changes that contribute to a stronge...

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