The tablet war is really on in a big way and almost every major hardware manufacturer is launching tablets pitting against each other. Some of them have been already launched, while others will soon be launched. We took a look at five last time, and now we continue to take a look at five more who will prevail at the top in the year 2011.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9
We had known that Samsung had something up its sleeves, and under the wraps. And now it has finally revealed the new Galaxy Tab 8.9, which outdoes the iPad 2 in almost every aspect. As the name suggests, this tablet has an 8.9-inch screen with a resolution of 1200x800, thus a good upgrade over the first Galaxy Tab with a 7-inch screen. At just 8.6 mm, this is the thinnest tablet in the market today and it weighs 470 g. Powered by a 1GHz dual core processor, this tablet runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb with Samsung's TouchWiz UX or TouchWiz 4.0 layer. It comes with Flash 10.2 support and comes pre-loaded with Samsung's Readers Hub and Music Hub, allowing users to access millions of books, magazines, songs, etc. Storage capacities available are 16GB, 32GB and 64GB.
thanks to the 2MP front facing camera and a 5MP rear camera with flash can be used for taking quick snaps on the go. Connectivity is available in the form of 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB 2.0. Everything looks good with this tablet but if Samsung could reduce the announced price from $ 469 for 16GB and $569 for 32GB, then it is going to give a really hard time for the iPad 2, which still has the popular App Store to its advantage.
2. BlackBerry PlayBook
When it comes to tablets, it is not just about computing and entertainment, but it is also about business. RIM has long been touting the BlackBerry PlayBook as the platform to which businesses would want to shift once it is launched. The main factor for the PlayBook as far as businesses are concerned is the BES backend infrastructure similar to that on BlackBerry phones. The BlackBerry Tablet OS QNX looks good at least in the demos and provides for portability of BlackBerry smartphone applications to the tablet.
This 7-inch tablet with a 1024x600 capacitive multi-touch screen is powered by a 1GHz Cortex-A9 dual core processor and has 1GB memory. The PlayBook features two cameras, a 3MP facing forward and 5MP facing backward, and both support 1080p HD to facilitate high quality video conferencing on the go. The web browser will support HTML5 and Adobe Flash. Weighing a reasonable 425 g, this tablet is just 1 cm thick. One gripe with the PlayBook is that it will not have any kind of mobile connectivity, but will rather rely on Wi-Fi or secure Bluetooth communication with a compatible BlackBerry smartphone. Production is supposed to begin in March, but we don't have any news about whether or not it has already commenced. It is slated to be available in U.S. and Canada on April 10, 2011.
3. HTC Flyer
HTC has been known to lean towards Windows mobile operating system when it comes to smartphones, but it will favor Google Android for its upcoming tablet HTC Flyer. HTC avoided mentioning anything about the tablet at CES, but announced details about this tablet a month later at MWC in Barcelona.
The HTC Flyer comes in an attractive unibody design and has a 7-inch capacitive multi-touch screen with a resolution of 1024x600 - similar to a netbook. It is powered by a 1.5GHz processor, has 1 GB RAM and has an SSD with a storage capacity of 32GB. Contrary to expectations, it will not run the latest Android 3.0, but it will rather be Android 2.3.3 with the refined HTC Sense UI. It will come with digital ink technology and a stylus.
4. Samsung Sliding PC 7
Samsung is going to launch a Windows 7 tablet, which will probably be as powerful as a PC. Known as Samsung Sliding PC 7, it looks like a normal 10-inch tablet, but it has a slide-out keyboard that turns it into a full-fledged laptop. Even with the sliding keyboard, it is still slim enough as was seen at a demo at CES in January this year. The usefulness of a physical keyboard can simply not be replaced by any touch screen keyboard, and that is going to be the main selling point of the PC 7. The screen resolution is 1366x768, which is again better than most tablets
With a 64GB SSD, 2GB memory and connectivity by means of 3G and WiMAX, this tablet running the full version of Windows 7 will quite possibly give other tablets a run for their money. That being said, we think that the battery life may be a concern due to obvious reasons. Since it is running the full version of Windows 7, the speed may be an issue especially after you install and run several applications.
5. Acer Iconia
We were not sure whether or not to include this amongst tablets, but since it has got elements to qualify as a tablet, we did include it. Just like its name, the Acer Iconia is one iconic tablet with a dual touchscreen interface. Introduced during CES this year, the Iconia sports two 14-inch touchscreens attached to each other with a hinge, so that it resembles a laptop. The difference here is that keyboard in this "laptop" does not have physical buttons but a virtual keyboard with a touch interface. This screen can also be used as a multimedia controller and has customizable touch gestures. This tablet is powered by a powerful Core i5 processor with huge 4 GB RAM, and a storage capacity of 640 or 750 GB. Its comparison with a laptop does not end there; it even has USB 3.0 and HDMI along with a 1.3 MP webcam and Bluetooth connectivity.
Unfortunately, this Windows 7 tablet is quite heavy at 2.8 kg and will probably not be considered as portable as the other tablets. If only Acer could price it well along with maintaining a good battery life, the Iconia would make it big in the tablet wars even though it is overweight.
