Velocity Micro’s Android tablet called Cruz is now available for pre-order from Borders.com and CruzReader.com at a bargain price of $299.99.

The CruzReader.com order page is currently citing a late September release date, while Borders.com is expected to ship October 15th, so you may have to wait for a number of weeks before you can get your hands on one yourself.

After seeing the specs and the price, we think this tablet could very well be a genuine competitor in the market.

Specs

What exactly are you getting for your $300? The Cruz sports:

  • Full color TFT display
  • 7” diagonal 16:9 800x480 screen
  • Capacitive touch screen
  • a rumored 800MHz CPU
  • 802.11n wifi
  • 512MB RAM
  • 4GB internal storage
  • 8GB bundled SD card
  • Android 2.1
  • Supports ePub, PDF, TXT, PDB, HTML reader files
  • MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV audio support
  • MPEG-4, H.264, H.263, MOV, AVI video support
  • JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP image support
  • Built in speakers
  • Mic and headphone jacks
  • Mini USB
  • User replaceable Li-Ion battery - up to 10+ hours of life, 24+ standby
  • Built-in Dictionary, Notepad, Calendar, Alarm Clock, Contacts, Games, and other useful apps
  • Access to over 2 Million ebooks via included Borders E-book library portal application (Kobo)
  • Access to the Cruz Market

The battery in the Cruz is reportedly good for 10 hours of usage, which is great for anyone hoping to use a tablet on the go.

Market

Unfortunately, potential buyers might be faced with a rather substantial drawback to this otherwise promising Android tablet. As Velocity Micro isn’t a member of the Open Handset Alliance, there’s a rather high chance that the device won’t ship with Google’s stock Android applications. This includes the Android Market, so there may be a limited number of apps available for the Cruz. The specs page mentions a Cruz App Market but we so far have no information on what exactly this Market will be offering.

Photos

We'll keep you posted on any details, should they surface before the device is released in September/October.

Source: Liliputing, CruzReader.com