Qooq Tablet

Whenever I want to cook a recipe I find online, I take my iPad into the kitchen, prop it up precariously against my Jonathan Adler flour and sugar jars, and get down to business. Then, without fail, right at the moment when my hands are covered with eggs and flour and I need to know what to do next, the screen turns off.?And cookbooks aren't much better. I can't count the number of times I've used one of those same jars to keep a book propped open to the right page, only to accidentally close it as I'm trying to nudge the page down with the back of my wrist. So while a dedicated tablet for the kitchen might sound superfluous, it also makes sense.

At a glance, the Linux-based Qooq tablet ($399 direct) looks like it should fill the bill perfectly. It's a splash-proof tablet with a built-in kickstand to prop it up to the perfect viewing angle. It also gives you access to thousands of recipes from more than 100 European chefs. But the best part is the well-made instructional videos, which can help even the most novice home cook get some pretty impressive culinary creations onto the dinner table. Unfortunately, the tablet is way too expensive, and you have to pay to access recipes on top of that. The build quality is nothing to write home about, and aside from the recipes, you get very little additional functionality. The Qooq is an interesting tablet, but you're getting Big Mac-quality for a prime rib price.

Design and Features
The Qooq measures 10.63 by 6.3 by 0.98 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.89 pounds. That's a little heavier than the 4th generation Apple iPad, but the Qooq is mostly meant to be used while propped up by its kickstand, so the weight isn't a big issue. The majority of the tablet is made of shiny red plastic, and there's a curved metal foot with a rubber stopper on each corner of the device. The back features a built-in metal kickstand that tucks in neatly when not in use.

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The Qooq is splash-proof, but the overall design feels rather cheap; there's a seam that runs down the middle of each side of the tablet, and it tends to gives way if you grasp the sides tightly. Additionally, a detachable rubber port cover on the left side of the tablet is difficult to keep closed. It protects your 3.5mm headphone jack, Ethernet, SD card, and USB ports, so it's disconcerting that it never quite stays shut. The right side of the tablet features a rubber Power button and volume controls. Overall, the design reminds me more of a ruggedized children's tablet like the Fuhu Nabi 2, rather than the luxury kitchen assistant it aspires to be.

The Qooq features a 10.1-inch capacitive TFT LCD with 1,024-by-600-pixel resolution, which is definitely on the low side of average for this size tablet. Text and images look grainy, and you need to keep the brightness dialed all the way up to see everything properly. Colors are dull, and the screen is rather reflective, though it does offer decent viewing angles. It's responsive to the touch, though scrolling through menus is often slow and choppy.

There are no cameras here like you'll find on most other tablets. There aren't any downloadable apps, either, like there are on Android and iOS tablets. What you see is pretty much what you get, and aside from recipes, what you get are clock, notepad, radio, timer, and weather apps, a Web browser, email support, and music and video players. The Qooq was able to play back all of our video test files at resolutions up to 1080p, but it only plays back MP3 files for music. The tablet's front-facing speakers are unimpressive in sound quality, and volume is fine, though it can get lost behind running water or a searing pork chop.

The Qooq is a Wi-Fi-only tablet that connects to 802.11b/g/n networks on the 2.4GHz band. Interestingly, you can also get the tablet online via Ethernet cable. You only get 1.5GB of available built-in storage, but there isn't much content for you to store, and you can keep music and movies on an SD card. The battery should last for four to five hours, but only half that if you're watching video.

The dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor is a bit behind the times, and animations and scrolling often feel slow. You feel this mostly while using the Web browser; recipes are reasonably responsive.

Recipes and Pricing
All those features aside, you're probably interested in the Qooq for the recipes, and it that regard, it mostly delivers. The Qooq gives you access to 3,681 recipes from more than 100 chefs (at testing time). More recipes are added regularly, especially as new chefs are added. Different recipes are highlighted on the Cooq's home screen, and you can search for recipes in a number of different ways.

If you know exactly what you want to make, you can just type it into the search bar. The Qooq allows you to search by recipe name, ingredient, technique, or chef. But it's also fun to just browse through the tablet and see what's there. Recipes are broken down into several different categories, from seasonal dishes, to new recipes, to dish type (like appetizer or entr?e), and even theme. Themes include recipes for various holidays, recipes geared towards health, and recipes that are quick and easy, among others.

(Next page: Conclusions)

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