Get rid of individuals home cooking. What you truly want is really a kitchen gadget which has a large number of recipes, searchable having a couple of quick taps, with video demonstrations for that tricky bits and additional features like auto-produced shopping lists and the opportunity to play music, right?
In the event that sounds best to you, you need to check out the QOOQ. a 10” tablet created for your kitchen. It's splash-proof and wipe-clean, with legs that sensibly lift it obvious from the surface in situation any pools of liquid should appear (not too they'd).
A week ago I visited Unowhy, the organization behind QOOQ, in their Paris mind office. Plus i got to test the QOOQ for a few days. It's a great little device, but there are several caveats, and note that you'll require an on-going subscription for full usage. Continue reading to find out if QOOQ is perfect for you.
The unit
A QOOQ is really a capacitive-touch tablet operated by a ARM Cortex A9 dual core chipset and running Linux. No, it's not Android it reports itself like a QOOQ-specific Linux build, and also the software programs are designed in native code while using QT framework. It's also locked lower so you cannot obtain access to the operating-system with no service password that isn't provided. Which means you cannot install applications apart from a couple of provided utilities. It is really an appliance, not really a general-purpose tablet, although it comes with a internet browser, an e-mail client, a photograph viewer and an mp3 player therefore it covers the fundamentals.
The unit feels sturdy and well-crafted, though observe that the protruding legs allow it to be an uncomfortable factor for many purposes apart from located on a kitchen surface. There's usb port spot as well as an Sdcard slot, so that you can add music files or photos. An apparent secondary purpose would be to then add family photos and also have them display like a slideshow.
Around the right-hands side from the unit are controls for on-off and volume.
Around the left, the ports and headphone socket, behind a rubber cover which has a frustrating inclination in the future loose. You receive card slot, USB 2. port, wired ethernet and audio. Nice to determine the wired ethernet socket however i doubt this will get much use the number of households have wired ethernet in the kitchen area?
I didn't test battery existence at length however it labored acceptable for a couple of hrs this really is trivial since it may be mains-powered during normal use.
Music sounds very good even with the built-in loudspeakers. Obviously you can improve seem utilizing an exterior powered speaker.
Wi-Fi support covers B G and N standards and labored well for me personally.
Overall the hardware is great, smartly designed because of its purpose. The primary problem, besides the loose cover pointed out above, is when you use the screen while cooking you will probably wish to touch the screen sometimes with hands covered in food. QOOQ may be easily easily wiped clean, however a couple of dabs of flour or butter on screen also it will get difficult to read. A little hardware rocker for scrolling and clicking is needed, so you could feel, as this the screen itself.
The program
Within the primary, getting together with QOOQ seems like managing a single application, although the internet browser runs full screen and goes from it to some degree. The browser appears to become according to WebKit (like Apple Safari, Android and Google Chrome) and includes Flash player 10.1 though this really is disabled automatically the machine warns that it could exhaust memory if Flash is enabled. Consider the browser as something fundamental for periodic use, although it does come up for that QOOQ help system such because it is (more about that later). You might lookup recipes on the web outdoors the QOOQ system (perish the idea) and make use of the device this way.
I possibly could not learn how to get screengrabs, so needed to get by using the old point-the-camera-at-the-screen routine. This is actually the webpage.
You can observe the concept. The primary menu is around the left hands side, giving use of recipes, index of chefs, cooking guide, meal planner, grocery list, and also the all-important search.
The house page features a spotlight recipe, online magazine, as well as on the best hands side, a customisable column of extra apps, including internet browser, internet radio, weather application, video player, and use of local storage, though this last is restricted to photos and music files.
Once right into a recipe, QOOQ includes a commendably obvious layout. You receive tabs for ingredients, utensils, and so the heart from it, preparation with step-by-step instructions. Within the best situation, there's a relevant video available, that the steps are hot-linked to ensure that tapping one step shows how to get it done within the video. Brilliant. If there's no video, then you receive a colour picture from the finished dish at the very least. There's also info on preparation some time and cooking.
The not-so-good. QOOQ is created in France and lately adapted for that British market. The greatest marketplace is the united states, so that all the weights and measures have been in US-style cups, tablespoons, and imperial pounds and ounces. There wasn't any method to change this within the review unit though Unowhy pointed out that metric measurements are in route so there's hope.
There's also an issue with the videos. The majority of the videos were recorded in French with chefs explaining their actions. To be able to adapt them for British, Unowhy has overdubbed all of them an extremely wooden voice-over translation. You may still hear in france they original faintly without anyone's knowledge. Bad.
Selecting Assistance is unrewarding for British users. You receive a page not found message.
Combined with the core recipe database, QOOQ has another features. There's meals planner, which fits but may caught us out. You can't select Saturday and select meals you need to pick a recipe and combine it with Saturday.
You could have QOOQ produce a grocery list and email it for you. This may be helpful, though I had been amused to determine “13 3/8 tbsp .. Water” on my small grocery list.
There's additionally a rather complex system of user profiles, tastes and methods which frankly Irrrve never fully determined (which help isn't any help as you can tell above).
Users can take shape up profiles which ingredients that they like and which techniques they've mastered, which assumes are taken into consideration if you are using QOOQ’s meal suggestion feature, and perhaps in different ways. I believe many users will ignore this facet of QOOQ.
Hunting for a recipe
Cooking meals is just the final part of a procedure that starts with greater task of deciding things to prepare. QOOQ includes a search feature that allows you to search by recipe name, or by component.
This can be a little confusing. There's two search tabs. The very first search tab is perfect for “All QOOQ”. Searching for recipes here, only by name. If you choose ingredients, you'll be searching the meals encyclopaedia, and finish track of an entry about onions, for instance, instead of recipes that contains onions. If you wish to search by component, you'll need the component tab. Search shows the amount of results while you type.
The outcomes are proven inside a scrolling list, in 1 of 2 views. The detail view is the greatest, and shows preparation time, difficulty, price of ingredients, and price to get the recipe if you don't possess a full subscription (more about this later). You are able to filter the vista in a variety of ways, for example only recipes with videos. You are able to sort by various fields for example calories, or preparation time.
Regardless of the richness from the information, QOOQ’s search could use some work. It's disappointing that you can't filter by specialist needs for example vegetarian or gluten-free meals. Looking can also be too complicated. QOOQ ought to learn from Google and also have a single search page with intelligent results. Another limitation would be that the recipe search doesn't account, we believe, for synonyms, so you may need to experiment. Still, it's good enough and you'll likely find what you would like if QOOQ has it available.
Observe that a few of the recipes are on the web and is going to be downloaded quickly. This aspect works seamlessly, and then any background downloads are invisible towards the user.
The recipes
This is actually the heart from it. How would be the recipes?
This can be a collection for serious cooks. Observe that Unowhy has centered on chefs, and persuading well-considered chefs to talk about their techniques and recipes underneath the eye of the camcorder. That's fantastique and beyond cost for professionals or ardent throwers of dinner get-togethers. I discovered QOOQ much better than any cookery book I'm able to consider for suggesting cooking ideas and enabling me to evaluate how achievable each recipe could be, considering available skills, ingredients, and batterie de cuisine .
That stated, QOOQ leans strongly for the high finish of cooking. My look for a lowly Christmas Pudding emerged blank and also the synonym Plum Pudding wasn't any better.
I additionally looked useless for general techniques like how you can roast a duck (getting enjoyed duck brle on the recent occasion) the duck recipes are more complex and fascinating than that.
Quite simply, there are lots of wonderful recipes here which will keep you going, but I don't know it's ideal being an everyday companion for that less expert, though this might be easily fixed with the addition of more content.
You're meant so that you can incorperate your own recipes using software downloaded in the QOOQ site, however i couldn't think it is french website is more extensive so it's most likely there somewhere.
The price
Is QOOQ worthwhile? Thatrrrs the true question, and also to answer this we have to consider the cost.
A QOOQ costs $399 that is about 260. With this you receive named and 1000 “recipes, videos and techniques”.
My loan QOOQ could search 3681 recipes. How about recipes past the provided 1000?
Here you've two choices. You can buy an exciting-you-can-eat (ho ho) subscription that is $99.00 (65) each year or $9.90 (6.50) monthly. Alternatively, you can purchase individual recipes for credits. Recipes appear to cost between 2 and eight credits, along with a credit costs $4.90 for 25, to ensure that means recipes cost from 50c to $2.00, or from about 30p to at least one.30. Once purchased, a recipe is up to you for good.
Unless of course you're a professional, the person recipes strike me as less expensive, especially as they are utilized over and over.
Keep in mind though there are numerous free recipes on the web, which you'll even take on the QOOQ while using built-in browser. Certainly the QOOQ provides a premium experience and it is recipes are exclusive. Getting a specialist chef explain a recipe for you within the comfort of your kitchen may be worth a great deal. But this isn't full of market proposition.
A Google Nexus 7 or Nexus 10 device propped facing the toaster isn't quite as great for cooking, but works in or from the kitchen. A fast look for “splashproof iPad case” got me some results too.
Final ideas
A QOOQ is a great device with a few fabulous content yes it's the perfect gift for that cookery enthusiast that has everything. It's somewhat cool and also the transition from French to British is frustrating and incomplete in places.
Could it be throughout us though? In the current form, most likely not. That stated, there's potentially a large marketplace for these recipes and videos, especially if the organization can increase your bigger assortment of true British videos or improve producing in france they videos with British dubbing.
QOOQ would also benefit greatly from true social networking integration. Presently you are able to rate your personal recipes, however, you cannot see other people’s ratings. I must see user ratings and discussions fully integrated, so that you can determine what others loved, what went wrong, discuss alternate ingredients and methods and so forth.
Within the finish it's all about the information, and that's why the organization would prosper to advertise its content more strongly in addition to the device. I was told in Paris that users can subscribe to the net site and obtain recipes without getting to purchase a QOOQ, however i cannot use whatever method of doing that presently (possibly this can be done in French). This really is needed, together with iPad and Android apps.
The QOOQ was created not from a want to make a kitchen tablet, speculate the founders wanted a means of preserving recipes and skills. It had been “how to immortalise recipes before you decide to die”, as described by company co-founder Guillaume Hepp.
The QOOQ ought to be reasonably limited method of getting the information, as opposed to the primary delivery funnel.
You will get your QOOQ here .