If JinXing Digital's (JXD) new tablet looks familiar, it's probably because the company is known for "borrowing" design ideas from popular gaming devices. In this instance, the $140 JXD S7100 looks similar to the upcoming Wii U's own tablet-like controller while sporting the directional pad and Triangle/Circle/Cross/Square button layout yanked straight from a PlayStation device. It even comes packed with a built-in emulator so that gamers can play ROMs including Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Metal Slug and more.
On the hardware front, the tablet has a 7-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen that supports up to five inputs, 512 MB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, 1080p HDMI output, a front-facing 0.3MP camera and a rear-facing 2MP camera. There's also a USB 2.0 port, 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, and Android 2.2 "Froyo" backed by a dual-core ARM Coretex-A9 CPU paired with a Mali 400 graphics core. Users are promised up to 4 hours of internet surfing and up to 10 hours of music playback, and multi-language menu support means it's not locked to one specific territory. An installed map service indicates that the device also sports a GPS.
According to a promotional video, the tablet is capable of playing games developed for Apple's iOS and Android as well as ROMs developed by Nintendo, Sony, Sega and other developers. The Android-based apps will presumably be provided by JXD's own app store, and are broken up into Apps Center and Game Center categories (48 icons each) when installed locally on the device to keep the home screen clutter down to a minimal. There's no indication that the built-in ROM emulators were developed in-house, or simply pre-installed apps yanked from the Android Market.
The actual tablet interface sports a Gingerbread-like status bar and iOS-like app icons. A navigation bar hides on the left side of the screen while the typical Android 4-button navigation tab protrudes from the right edge -- if you look closely, the browser icon "borrows" the Internet Explorer logo. Moving from screen to screen looks incredibly smooth, and games like Tomb Raider for the PSOne and Super Mario 64 seem to preform just as admirably.
It will be interesting to see how long it will take for Apple, Sony, Nintendo and other game-related companies to crack down on JXD and its new tablet. Still, for $140, the gaming tablet seems almost too good to be true. Interested customers can purchase a black or white version of the device at isharegifts.com and China Grabber.
