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(15 votes, average: 4.07 out of 5)
Loading ...The Pitch: Featuring a vivid 7-inch color touch screen and access to over 1,000 free Internet apps, including news, calendars, weather, sports, social networking and more, dash utilizes an existing home wireless connection to continuously deliver Internet content to its viewers. By bundling favorite pieces of the Internet together, dash provides always fresh, personalized content at a glance. Along with the apps, the dash offers access to audio and video content, including YouTube, Pandora Internet radio, Epicurious, Crackle, Livestrong, Blip.tv and much more. Other content includes an app for traffic updates on a customized route, and one for managing and synching family calendars.
Pro: When it comes down to it, the dash’s biggest plus may be its price. It’ll be available in April for $199 – not bad for taking connectivity off the PC and smartphone and putting it in a kitchen or a bedroom. Not bad either when you think of all the devices the dash could presumably supplant – a radio, a digital picture frame, and, even to some extent a PC. Sony says it spent at lot of time doing market research for the dash, and it seems to have paid off. The dash offers a simple-to-use touchscreen interface and, with all those apps, a great deal of utility.
Con: The concept isn’t exactly new. A gadget called the chumby debuted at last year’s CES. In fact, Sony is relying on chumby’s library of apps for the dash. Chumby and dash together signal the start of a new device category, and it’s legitimacy has yet to be proven. Other attempts to move the Internet to other places besides the desk or the phone have fallen flat.
Recommendation: The price, all those apps, the easy-to-use touchscreen interface together make the dash a gadget – in a category – worth watching. It belongs in our list of finalists.
