The last two years have seen a great number of new tablet PCs enter the market. With so many new models, features, and choices we wanted to put together a brief list of some of the year's best offerings. The tablets listed on this page have all been reviewed and classified as "very good" or "excellent." Their individual rankings are largely determined by 1) aesthetics, 2) features, 3) performance and 4) price. Here we provide a brief description of each with their main advantages and disadvantages.
1. Apple iPad 2
Features: While the iPad 2 is considered by most to be only a moderate upgrade to the first generation iPad, it has a great combination of design elements and features that push it ahead of the pack. Whethere your a die-hard Apple fan or not, you'll likely appreciate the iPad 2's icredibly sleek design; at only 8.8 mm at its thickest point, the iPad 2 is the slimmest of the tablets. One downside, however, is that the iPad 2, which is 3G, is not currently upgradable to the 4G network like the Motorola Xoom. Despite this flaw, the iPad 2 benefits from great design, a fast and responsive OS, plenty of power under the hood (with a dual-core A5 processor), great battery life, and the largest database of apps available to any tablet. Perhaps best of all, the iPad 2 is priced below many of its closest competitors.
2. Motorola Xoom
Features: The Motorola Xoom is one of the larger tablets available, with a 10-inch display. As mentioned earlier, the display also has a 1,280x768 pixel resolution, making the Xoom display one of the largest and sharpest of any tablet out there. The Xoom is equipped with a 1 ghz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and 1 gb of ram - twice the 512 mb of ram found on the iPad 2. The Xoom also sports an impresive 5 megapixel camera in the back and a 2 megapixel camera in the front. Although the device is a bit heftier than the iPad 2, and may be harder to carry around for extended periods of time, it's strong features and durable build make it a strong contender.
3. Blackberry Playbook
Features: We recently reviewed the Blackberry Playbook and overall found it to be a very competitive price, even when compared side-by-side with the Apple iPad 2. Like the Samsung Galaxy, the Playbook is a "petite" tablet with a 7 inch screen. It has quite a bit of power under the hood, however, with a dual-core processor and 1 GB of ram (similar to most netbooks). The only glaring downside to the Blackberry Playbook is that it is somewhat tethered the Blackberry handset, meaning that only users with Blackberry phones will be able to access the device's on-board e-mail. The price, however, is still very attractive.
4. HP Touchpad
Features: The first "full-sized" tablet pc on our list is the HP Touchpad. In regard to most features and specs, the device competes very well with the iPad 2 and other larger tablets. The device's 9.7-inch display is the same size and has the same resolution (1,024x768 pixels) as the Apple iPad 2. The resolution, however, is slightly less than that of the Motorola Xoom at 1,280x800. The Xoom has a 1.2-pixel fron-facing camera, but unfortunately (and unlike many of the othe tablets on this list) does not have a back-facing camera. One interesting feature of the Touchpad is the ability to resize the touch-screen keyboard. The device has a good solid, but slim build and is very reminiscent of the iPad 2.
Features: The Samsung Galaxy looks much like a large smartphone - probably because it essentially is. With a 7 inch display weighing less than one pound it is one of the smaller tablets on the market, which also means it is one of the most portable. The device Some of the tablet's features include a 1.3 megapixel front camera, 3 megapixel rear camera with autofocus, Android 2.2 OS, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, and standard music/ video players. The Galaxy is also flash-compatible - a major selling point in recent advertisements. The device is quick and responsive, with a bright display, and is one of only a few tablets that you can reasonably expect to fit in your pocket.
By Frank James
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