When you initial saw a Sony Dash during CES, you suspicion Sony was creation the play into a inscription game — the promo video showed people regulating a angular device all over a house, with nary the power cord in steer. And hey, it was called a Dash — the word which usually implies movement of a little kind. So obviously we were the small put off when you found out a Dash was particularly the still knowledge — an amped-up warning clock using the Sony-tweaked version of a Chumby widget OS that lets you look during photos from Facebook, crop headlines on Engadget, as well as check Twitter from the Dash’s seven-inch capacitive touchscreen. But reason up: a Dash additionally adds in Sony’s Bravia Internet Video height to await streaming media services similar to Netflix, Pandora, as well as Slacker. That’s not bad for $200, at least upon paper, though does the Dash merit to be a many costly alarm time you’ve ever purchased? And does it unequivocally deserve Justin Bieber’s courtesy? Read upon to find out.
Sony Dash unboxing and hands-on

Hardware

Hardware-wise, a Dash is flattering straightforward: there’s the seven-inch capacitive touchscreen as well as stereo speakers on a front, the fall asleep club / menu button as well as volume buttons upon the tip, a USB pier as well as headphone jack underneath the corpulent strap upon a left, as well as a energy tie tucked into the recess upon a bottom. Most of a wedge-shaped case is lonesome with the you-tell-us-if-it’s-attractive grippy rubber element, which equates to you don’t be concerned about dropping it when you collect it up.

Of march, given the Dash doesn’t have a battery as well as needs to stay plugged in, you’re not unequivocally ostensible to pick it up the lot — you regularly felt arrange of shaken when you scooped it up to play with it. It looks similar to Justin Bieber agrees with us — isn’t this all infrequent poise just how you all want to look when we’re you do some light media expenditure? Sony tells us it’s starting to put the battery into a subsequent chronicle of a Dash, that is good — we consider it’s the must-have feature further.

Internally, we’re told a Dash has the 500MHz processor as well as 256MB of IMPEL, compared to a 454MHz chip as well as 64MB of IMPEL in a Chumby One as well as 350MHz chip in a Chumby. We’re guessing the extra horsepower goes towards supporting video playback and a incomparable 800 x 480 arrangement, though a Dash isn’t the rocket by any equates to — the capacitive touchscreen seems manageable sufficient, but a OS was laggy sufficient to expostulate us bonkers.

The arrangement itself is good as well as splendid with good plane observation angles and average straight angles — 3 or so people can easily share a device at once. You can additionally flip a Dash over upon its behind to rivet the built-in accelerometer as well as stagger a arrangement 180 degrees, that is accessible if you’re regulating it upon the counter. Unfortunately, it’s most harder to praise the stereo speakers mounted next a shade — they’re pretty tinny, as well as they crush at louder volumes if you play any bass-heavy music.

That’s unequivocally it, hardware-wise — as with all large touchscreen devices, it’s the software that creates or breaks a knowledge with the Dash.

Software

The Dash runs Linux, as well as many of a widgets run inside the Chumby OS layer, that also currently ships upon a $119 Chumby One as well as $149 Chumby Classic. Sony’s finished a little extensive tweaking to a complement, mostly to take value of the incomparable arrangement with some-more info-rich homescreens as well as the streaming media player, but apart from which, this is a same Chumby Engine you know as well as… substantially don’t know, actually. Let’s start over: a Dash runs Chumby OS upon tip of a custom Linux setup. Chumby OS is fundamentally the Flash runtime, and Chumby widgets — Sony calls them Dash Apps — are small Flash modules which lift interpretation from a cloud cover. These have been a same widgets that owners of the aged plush Chumby as well as the Chumby One are already well-acquainted with — they’re optimized for “glanceable” report. In further to the Chumby things, Sony’s combined the strong (and disdainful Bravia Internet Video streaming media covering, which enables apps from Netflix, Pandora, Slacker, Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube and a horde of alternative providers. Yep, it’s the large Flash-based warning time that can run widgets in the credentials — gamble you never saw which coming.

Upon initial booting a Dash, you’re stirred to join your WiFi network as well as download any software updates if needed. From afterwards on, all a action takes place upon the homescreen. Sony actually ships dual dissimilar Dash homescreens: there’s the “Dashboard” thesis which lists your widgets in semi-flickable plane lists, and the some-more widget-focused “App View” which enlarges a Chumby box as well as usually displays the time, continue, as well as an app difficulty selector — drumming a difficulty similar to “Music” brings up the popover list of apps similar to Slacker and Pandora. We went behind and onward in between a themes — switching isn’t tough though takes prolonged enough to prevent you from you do it mostly. We eventually staid upon a App View but we found reasons to similar to a Dashboard as good — unfortunately, you kept incidentally rising apps when you meant to flick-scroll them in Dashboard view, as well as that was enough to have us switch for great.

As with any alternative Chumby, you set up an online account that allows you to emanate and conduct “channels” of widgets — essentially groups of widgets which play similar to a slip uncover — as well as select in between them regulating either your desktop browser or a Dash itself (if you’ve already got an comment, you can just connect it to your Dash). Unlike normal Chumbys, yet, a Dash additionally lets you set up as well as revise channels right from a device, that is flattering nice — no more trips to a PC when you wish to supplement another headlines widget into a mix. The options have been flattering vast, but here’s a discerning relapse of a little of a normal Chumby widgets as well as exclusive Dash apps we found ourselves using:

Netflix: Well, it’s Netflix, upon a seven-inch shade. All of the Sony-provided media apps use the identical grid-based interface, which isn’t a speediest to refurbish when scrolling, but we’ll take what you can get. There’s no queue government here, so you’ll have to supplement flicks on your computer, though one you start personification the film things look excellent sufficient — HD streaming is upheld, though the shade is small enough so which we didn’t really notice the disproportion in between SD and HD — you competence have assured ourselves that The Big Lebowski looked improved in HD than Bedtime Stories in SD, though you don’t lie to ourselves similar to which anymore.Amazon: Just as upon a TiVo or Roku Video Player, a Amazon and Netflix interfaces upon a Dash are intensely identical. Pricing is a common Amazon pricing: HD rentals have been $4.99 for 48 hours, whilst SD rentals are $3.99. We’d obviously save the extra sire, given the quality disproportion is so slight upon this arrangement, though we’re additionally arrange of wondering why you’d compensate to rent a film on a Dash during all — have been you starting to watch it fibbing bed staring during the nightstand? The Amazon app additionally seemed the little cart — it forsaken us to the categorical page several times when you attempted to select things. It’s good which it’s there, but we’ll hang with renting cinema upon the genuine TVs.YouTube: The Dash’s YouTube playback is excellent — it’s essentially utterly well-suited to a screen distance. But similar to most non-computer and non-smartphone YouTube practice, it’s hampered by a terrible poke interface, with the delayed touchscreen set of keys as well as freezing scrolling by lists. By a time you get to what you longed for, you could have watched it twice upon the laptop or the phone. That’s only arrange of a concept YouTube law, so don’t take it as a hit upon the Dash too privately, although a improved keyboard as well as a little faster crack scrolling would have unequivocally helped out here.Blue Octy Radio: We essentially love this a single — it’s by distant a simplest app upon the Dash, as well as it requires a least volume of communication with a delayed touchscreen. Open it up, pick the hire — similar to, contend, the own Trent Wolbe’s WFMU — as well as strike play. It’s roughly similar to… the airwave! Imagine that.Slacker: Slacker as well as Pandora have the ton of clarity upon a Dash, as well as while a Slacker files-and-folders interface isn’t a most pleasing thing we’ve ever seen, it functions, as well as once you’re in a player shade it’s the same interface as all the alternative media apps.Pandora: Setting up Pandora upon a Dash is the bit of a suffering. You can’t only log into a use on the device — you have to activate it by a Sony My Dash website. Once it functions, it’s Pandora.Facebook: Facebook is essentially supported by dual batch Chumby widgets, a single for standing updates and a single for photos. They do what they say upon a tin, nonetheless they require you to set them up online, that is the suffering. Of march, given a annoyingly delayed hold set of keys, which competence be the good thing, though we’d have preferred the centralized experience.Twitter: It’s Twitter. Not a fastest Twitter app we’ve ever seen, as well as typing out this tweet took 10 mins because we misspelled the word as well as a lack of a cursor meant you had to undo half of it as well as begin over upon a sore set of keys, but it’ll certainly do in the splash. You know, if you’re ever in bed or in your kitchen, subsequent to a plug opening, but your phone or laptop. We’ve all been there, right?
Sony calls a Dash a “personal internet spectator,” as well as cloud-based calm is the clear priority: there’s no sustenance for streaming your own media from the computer or server. That’s a bit of a bummer, generally given the USB pier isn’t upheld for internal playback of song or photos nonetheless. There are the integrate Chumby widgets which seem to hoop LAN streaming, however — you didn’t try them, but during least they’re there. Same goes for photos: it’s easier to look at Facebook photos than it is to view images from your PERSONAL COMPUTER, as well as whilst there are Chumby widgets which bridge a gap, you wish Sony had included a little built-in functionality for which.

In context
There have been tons of other Chumby widgets — over 1,000, we’re told — so a Dash can be lengthened in any series of ways beyond a apps we’ve listed. But those have been the core apps, as well as whilst they’re flattering great, we roughly regularly found ourselves wondering because we’d be you do some of this things on a Dash instead of a phone or a laptop. It’s the question which invites immediate comparison to two very dissimilar inclination — the HP DreamScreen and a iPad.

We’ll be straightforward: a Dash blows a DreamScreen out of a h2o. The DreamScreen is essentially a same judgment with a bigger arrangement: the lightweight continuous print frame with the handful of widgets that pull down glanceable data. Interacting with the DreamScreen is painfully delayed as well as annoying, however — it’s most appropriate when you set it up and leave it alone to display a continue or photos or whatever. In which context, the Dash has richer apps and widgets, it’s most some-more pleasing to make use of, as well as hey — it’s $50 cheaper. If you’re looking for the smart print frame or a unequivocally kickass alarm time, the Dash is the no-brainer.

Comparing the Dash to a iPad is the small some-more dangerous, given they’re not a same kind of product during all, and it doesn’t seem like the Dash is even perplexing to compete with a iPad. But whenever we found ourselves doing some-more than just glancing at a Dash for discerning bites of info, we were reminded which a iPad is essentially most better at a little of these tasks. Sending Facebook and Twitter standing updates upon a iPad is most simpler, given there’s the workable set of keys. Watching video upon a iPad creates some-more sense because you can collect it up and pierce it around but the connective tissue removing in the approach. The OS doesn’t lag at the back of hold inputs. We know it’s the uncanny comparison, but we couldn’t stop meditative about it, until you realized something:

Every time we left a Dash sitting around, you desired it and suspicion of it as being better than a DreamScreen, but every time you picked it up and used it more greatly, we wished we’d reached for a phone, laptop, or the iPad instead.

We substantially could have saved everybody the lot of time by only putting that up top, right?

Wrap-up
So, should you buy a world’s many difficult warning time? It all depends on what you wish to do with a Dash. If you’re looking for something that can sit by your bed, play a little Internet airwave during you, and ambiently display a little Engadget headlines as well as photos from Facebook, a Dash is undiluted. If you’re seeking for something to unequivocally pick up as well as use to browse by photos, or collect songs, or even watch cinema, we’d go a dissimilar approach. Despite its name, a Dash is too still and as well slow to be profitable in those situations.

All that said, the outcome might shift dramatically if a Dash 2 has the faster processor, that betrothed battery, as well as a slick-looking charging dock, generally if a cost stays during $199. We’d adore to adore this thing, Sony — let’s have it occur.