Mobile Devices

February 08, 2013

7-Inch Wikipad Announced For Spring Release

A hybrid of a tablet and a game controller, the 7 inch Wikipad will be available for purchase in the spring, Digital Trends reports. With dual joysticks, a directional pad, buttons and a touch screen, the device was built for gamers in mind.

Originally the line was to start with a 10 inch tablet, but due to delays, the 7 inch model will be the first to reach the market. At $250, the Wikipad will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The controller can be removed so that it can operate as a standard tablet that can handle a heavy workload due to its powerful insides.

The Wikipad comes with a powerful NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 16 GB of internal storage and the possibility for consumer expansion of up to 32 GB via a microSD slot. A gyroscope, compass and accelerometer adds motion sensing to play. It comes pre-loaded with MadFinger’s Dead Trigger, Distinctive Games Hockey Nations Tournament and MadFingers ShadowGun: Dead Zone

Games from PlayStation Mobile, Big Fish Games, NVIDIA’s Tegra Zone, the Google Play store and OnLive will give plenty of reasons to continue using the Wikipad. The inclusion of physical buttons and sticks gives an extra dimension of control and comfort to mobile gaming. Multiple peripherals already exist to add game controller functionality to stand-alone tablets, while NVIDIA’s yet-unreleased project SHIELD offers a more powerful processor and integration with PCs.

The biggest challenge to Wikipad’s success is the lack of mobile games that come with controller or gamepad support. Most games are built with only touch in mind; gaming peripherals are currently a very small market.

The 10 inch Wikipad was scheduled to be released in October 2012; manufacturing issues have caused the noticeable delay.

Wikipad has no connections to Wikipedia or Mediawiki.




Edited by Ashley Caputo


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