chumby8 Up For Pre-Order Ahead Of April 5 Release

chumby has announced preorders for its latest desktop widget display, the chumby8, which as the name suggests is fronted by an 8-inch touchscreen display. The 800 x 600 panel can show various internet-connected widgets from chumby's 1,500-strong catalog, including streaming media, photos, RSS, weather and content subscriptions.

Inside there's an 800MHz Marvell ARMADA 166 processor, 128MB of RAM and WiFi b/g. There are stereo speakers, a microphone input and headphone socket, along with a backup battery and interchangeable fascias.

There's also two USB and various memory card slots, for hooking up external peripherals and directly loading content from digital cameras, and we're guessing the whole thing will be just as hack-friendly – and chumby encouraging of hacks -as previous models. The chumby8 is currently up for pre-order, priced at $199.95. It will begin shipping from April 5. For more details, check out our hands-on from CES 2011.

Press Release:

Introducing the chumby8: the World's First Stand-Alone App Player Just Got Bigger and Better

Next gen chumby arrives April 5 for $199, pre-orders begin today

SAN DIEGO, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — chumby industries today announced the release of the chumby8, the much-anticipated next generation chumby device. Officially launching on April 5, the chumby8 is priced at $199 and available today for pre-orders at chumby.com/store. With a sleek new design, an 8-inch LCD touchscreen, enhanced features, and over 1,500 free apps, the chumby8 delivers a personalized stream of your favorite apps in addition to serving as a digital photo frame and music player.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110323/LA70095)

"The chumby8 truly marks an evolution of the chumby device and software platform, creating a more personalized and user-friendly Internet streaming device that will complete any connected home or office," said Derrick Oien, CEO of chumby industries. "We've taken the time over the past year to listen to chumby fans and owners and incorporate their feedback into the new chumby8 and created a great multi-purpose connected device capable of tailoring to all."

New features of the chumby8 include:

New, modern industrial design available in black and red. Customized skins available from Skinit

8-inch 800×600 touchscreen LCD

Two USB ports, CF and SD slots make it possible to upload pictures, music and other personal media of your choosing turning your chumby8 into a personalized digital photo frame and music player

New web browser support, allows you to access links within apps

Revamped UI and streamlined navigation allows you to manage apps and channels directly from the device. The chumby8 comes preloaded with ready-to-play themed channels showcasing the best chumby apps in entertainment, news, humor, games, kids, sports and more

Updates to share features make it easier to send photos, videos and apps to friends and family

Robust Internet radio offers over 10,000 internet radio and podcast stations, including Napster, Pandora, SHOUTcast, iheartradio, Mediafly, New York Times and CBS, with more to come

Full alarm system allows you to wake up to your favorite music stations and apps

Task scheduler allows you to perform a routine task on your device like entering night mode at a certain time or playing music.

Flash Lite 4 update to support AS3 coming soon

The chumby8 has access to over 1,500 free applications— ranging from music and social networking sites, news and entertainment gossip, to video clips and sports scores. Content is available from well-known media sites including: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MTV Networks, Groupon, People.com and many others. Users can monitor their social networks, view and share their photos from sites like Flickr and Photobucket, watch sports clips, play games, or choose from a multitude of clock applications to display on the touchscreen device.

About chumby industries

chumby industries, based in San Diego, California, is a software company that works with consumer electronics OEMs to bring a rich and personalized Internet experience to a multitude of connected products, ranging from devices as simple as clock radios to high-definition televisions. The open chumby platform enables developers to easily create Flash content for chumby-powered devices resulting in a constantly growing catalog of more than 1,500 applications. For more information visit chumby.com or follow us on twitter @chumby.