grid 4
Latest
Fusion Garage sinks into liquidation, owes creditors some $40 million
Fusion Garage website goes dark The Engadget Interview: Fusion Garage's Chandra Rathakrishnan... post-fallout Court rules Fusion Garage and TechCrunch were business partners, tosses most everything else If ever there was a time to exit the technology universe while everyone else is paying attention to... well, everything else, it's now. Chandresekar Rathakrishnan has seemingly signed off on liquidation paperwork this week, effectively putting an end to Fusion Garage as we know it. It's hardly a shock to anyone paying attention; the JooJoo was a letdown, the Grid10 was even more so, and the Grid4 never even had a chance to breath. We spent plenty of time talking to its founder over the years, but the execution and timing was never good enough to gain significant traction in the market. We'd bother asking you to pour one out, but we're guessing the majority of you have done so already.
Fusion Garage's Grid 4 smartphone sails through the FCC, Grid OS details flow from user manual
Go on, Fusion Garage -- get down with your bad self. While we'd previously heard that the outfit's $399 Grid 4 smartphone wouldn't hit shelves until "closer to Q4," a surprise stop by the FCC this morning makes us cautiously optimistic that it'll happen -- at least in the US -- sooner rather than later. For those who've forgotten, this guy's packing a 4-inch 800 x 480 LCD, dual-core Qualcomm CPU, 16GB of storage and dual cameras to boot. Moreover, the included user manual sheds a ton of light on how Grid OS will act, and it's the first real in-depth look at how it'll differ from what's already out there. We're told that there's a built-in web browser, Grid Launcher, support for Yahoo / Google data importing, a contacts app that'll suck names in from just about anywhere, full integration with email / Facebook / Twitter and a "GridDesktop" application that's used to load media from your PC or Mac onto the device. The guide also talks up the status bar, which is located at the top of the Grid 4 screen in order to show "indicators and widget controls for wireless networks, notifications, music playback and volume control." The oddly-named TaoBar is described as a "unique feature that shows details on your current notifications, events and ongoing sensor information, while also offering suggestions that might be of interest." Examples? Things like similar artists whilst listening to music, or pinging you with lunch recommendations when noon rolls around. Eager to see what else the feds put your future unlocked phone through? Give that source link a poke. Update: We've added a gallery of the FCC's teardown images below. %Gallery-134870%
The Engadget Interview: Fusion Garage's Chandra Rathakrishnan
The most telling moment of our conversation with Chandra Rathakrishnan came at the end, just before the recording device shut off. The interview wrapped, and we politely thanked the Fusion Garage CEO for taking the time to speak with us. "Thank you for taking the time," he echoed, adding, "And for giving us another chance." Rathakrishnan never goes so far as to use the word "failure" to describe the company's poorly received JooJoo tablet -- at least not during the course of our interview -- but it seems clear that he harbors few illusions with regards to what the device truly was: a misfire. A grandiose experiment that was rushed out the door far too fast, with far too few resources. The device's origins weren't all that pretty, either. The company teamed up with TechCrunch to offer up a $200 internet tablet dubbed the CrunchPad -- a plan that soon soured, with the two parting ways on a less-than-positive note. Fusion Garage rebranded the CrunchPad the JooJoo, and began a long journey of delays and price hikes. Despite its best efforts, it missed the boat, failing to release the device ahead of Apple's industry shaping iPad. When the 4GB tablet finally hit the market, it carried a $499 price tag -- more than double its initial utopian target. Read on for the full interview.
TabCo reveals itself as Fusion Garage, unveils Grid 10 tablet and Grid 4 smartphone (update)
After months of teasing, TabCo finally revealed itself to the world -- as suspected, the brand is, in fact a reboot of Fusion Garage, the company that gave the world the much maligned JooJoo tablet. Company head Chandra Rathakrishnan took to the stage to unveil the new product, explaining that the teaser campaign had been put in place to give its new Grid 10 tablet a fair shake. The tablet runs the new Grid operating system, itself based on the Android kernel. According to Rathakrishnan, the 10-inch tablet has the highest resolution of any on the market, at 1366 x 768. Also on-board is a 1.3 megapixel front-facing webcam, 16GB of storage, Bluetooth 2.1, and a microSD slot. The Grid 10 packs an Nvidia Tegra 2 chip and utilizes the newly announced Grid Shop, a Fusion Garage-specific app store, for which the company will be accepting applications in the near future -- though the operating system will support Android apps, as well. Among the departures from Google's operating system is the company's decision to support Bing -- the better of the two search engines, according to Rathakrishnan. The tablet will run $499 for the WiFi-only version and $599 for a WiFi / 3G model. It's up for pre-order now via Amazon and will begin shipping on September 15th. Fusion Garage also took the wraps off of the Grid 4, a handset that also runs the Grid OS. The four-inch phone has a Qualcomm dual-core processor, 16GB of memory, an 800 x 480 resolution, and a front facing 0.3 megapixel camera and a rear facing five megapixel camera with autofocus. The phone will run $399 unlocked. It will begin shipping in Q4, with carriers announced closer to that date. Update: We should also mention Fusion Garage stated that anyone who bought a JooJoo will receive a Grid 10 free of charge, with details forthcoming through email. %Gallery-130635% %Gallery-130636%
