Otaku Gadgets

Okay, so that word play was probably uncalled for but sometimes I just can’t help it. If you are regular reader on this site, you will surely know about Viliv. For the rest of you, Viliv is this Korean company that often turns up on our radar for being present at various trade shows and tech events with their touch devices. They have a nice line up of touchscreen devices that includes both tablets and convertible tablet notebooks that have a full keyboard to work with.

So far, Viliv’s models haven’t really been available in areas like the US or the UK. Interested customers have had to order them online if they wanted to. But the problem has always been the fact that it wasn’t possible to get a bit of hands on time before buying. Without that, it is a very jittery experience to just go on line and place an order.

Well, that is about to change because Viliv has finally managed to make a deal with an US local store chain — Best Buy. Well known for their helpful Geek Squad and other in-store features, Best Buy is one of the most famous tech retailers in the US. And as of March 22nd, they are going to carry 5 Viliv products. The notifications are visible on the site itself. Go check out the models right here.

Somehow the model names are not displayed on the listings on that page but that will change hopefully. There are a few tablet PC’s to choose from and some of them have Windows XP Home Edition as the OS. Other than that, they are all based on Intel’s Atom Z520 processor, as is evident from the specs displayed on the listings.

The prices might feel a bit steep, especially now that you can get an iPad for $499 but they do run full OS’ — something that a lot of you have been asking for. Whether the experience of running full OS’ on 4.2inch screens running on 1GB RAM and Atom Z520 is worth it all, is another question altogether.

[read]