ICE Smart 5 Android Device Gives iPods A Run For Their Money

Android tablets maybe dime-a-dozen – but they’re always in the seven- to ten-inch range. This is because these sizes are usually the best range to read books or watch movies. The only five-inch tablet on the market is the Dell Streak – which is a bit of an anomaly. Well, here’s another one.

Latte Communications has just announced that they’re releasing the ICE Smart, a 5-inch Android device that’s technically a tablet – but blurs the lines between a smartphones and tablets. No making calls on it, but with its small form factor and cheap price, it’s closer to Apple’s iPod products more than anything else.

iPods are the current portable device of choice – well, if you’re not going for an iPhone or an iPad at least. No calls from it but it does have the capacity to run videos and MP3s along with apps for that are usually for the iPhone. Think of the ICE Smart as something similar – having all the tablet functionality in a small package plus several features like 1080p HD video playback, a mini HDMI port for video output, and a microSD card slot for expansion. It’s also got USB ports so you can hook USB devices to it.

Plus the device’s specs are pretty good. Not iPad-killer levels but good enough to spend money on. First is a 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel resistive touchscreen display that can handle two-finger input. It runs on Gingerbread and has 8GB of storage, and has an 800 MHz ARM 11 CPU under the hood. It even has WiFi that iPods don’t have.

And all of it costs $190! That’s pretty cheap for an Android device and is pretty decent for an iPod substitute. So, if you’re an Android loyalist and are looking for an iPod substitute, better check the ICE Smart out.