New Chumby One Arrives, Gets Unboxed
We don’t often cover much non-mobile tech, but I had to make an exception for the new Chumby One. Besides, the device now has a rechargable battery option, so theoretically, you could take it on the run — for an hour. 
The Chumby folks asked if I’d like to take a loaner unit for a spin, so I said sure. I was surprised to see the device show up this morning though — the new Chumby One doesn’t actually ship for another two weeks or so. You can pre-order one now at the new lower price of $99.
Like the original Chumby, the new device runs widgets, widgets and more widgets. These range from Twitter and Facebook to CBS Sports, Late Night with David Letterman and more. Using built in Wi-Fi, Chumby One is constantly connected to the web, where it can pull down info to its 3.5″ color touchscreen. There’s a built-in speaker, USB port, headphone jack and power port, plus a control knob and snooze-like control button on the top.
Right now my desktop is cluttered with bits of the Internet, which is why I wanted to see the Chumby One. I’m curious how much data and entertainment I can offload from my main workspace onto a widget-based device like the Chumby. I’ll use the li’l fella for a days and then report back on my findings. For now, here’s a quick look at the Chumby One that arrived today followed by a full list of the specs.
- 3.5″ LCD color touchscreen
- Uses rechargeable lithium-ion battery (not included); about one hour on a full charge
- 4″ wide x 4″ tall x 3.5″ deep
- 1 USB 2.0 high-speed port
- 454 MHz ARM processor
- 64 MB DDR SDRAM
- 2 GB internal microSD card
- 2W mono speaker
- Stereo headphone output
- Volume knob
- FM radio tuner
- Accelerometer (motion sensor)
- ABS plastic housing
- AC adapter included
- Wi-fi connectivity (802.11 b/g)
- USB ethernet compatible
- Dimmable backlight
- One-click control panel access
- Access to free chumby content
- Over-the-air software updates
What’s with all of the little dots on the screen, does it look like that in real life? or is it just your camera doing that? They dont look like pixels.
The screen is actually pretty clear. Did you click on the images to see the full size?
Yeah, I see what he’s talking about when it’s full-size. It’s just feedback from the camera, or whatever you want to call it.
Regardless, this does sound kinda interesting and I have no idea why. But I’m intrigued and looking forward to your review.
I ordered two of these last night for Christmas gifts for my college-aged sisters. They go to different schools and after reading that you can send “gifts” back and forth between chumbys (chumbies?) I decided to bite. $99 each isn’t a bad price at all. In fact I might get one for myself once I find out how these work. Having my favorite internet radio streams and Pandora right next to my bed sounds awesome.
Why does Chumby One make me think it would be Obama’s Chumby?
After reading that, I have a Chumby
Nice idea. The Samsung Q1 form factor would be perfect for this, would love this on a 7″ screen with Q1 sound system.