Apple iPad 2
Score: 4.5 /5
Pre-eminent and still the best tablet currently on the market, the iPad 2 is light, slim and a delight to use. But it’s not just the fact that you can read books, check your emails, browse the webs or watch videos that mean Apple, for now, own this market: the iPad has spawned a library of Apps that is continuing to grow rapidly and that has changed how many consumers think of media.
That means that there are countless, excellent games as well as apps that reinvent magazines and serve purposes that were impossible on other devices. Even cab drivers collecting passengers at airports are using iPads for the name of the person they’re picking up.
Operating System: Apple iOS 4Dimensions (WxDxH): 18.6 cm x 0.9 cm x 24.1 cm
Weight: 601 g
Display: 9.7" IPS TFT - LED backlight - 1024 x 768 ( 132 ppi ) - Multi-Touch
Processor: Apple A5 1 GHz ( Dual-Core )
Memory: 16 GB integrated
Digital Camera: Rear + VGA front
HD Video Recording: 720p
Asus Transformer
Score: 4/5
Asus’s Transformer is a departure for tablets: it combines an excellent Google Android tablet with a fully-fledged keyboard. The result is both a decent netbook and tablet that does everything an Android tablet currently can. That means web browsing, movies, a range of apps and scores of other uses are all possible, but so too is the longer-form work that demands a keyboard.
The Tranformer may not be the lightest or the most elegant of the forthcoming Android tablets, but it is certainly the first to really tackle the problems of typing on a touchscreen. An added bonus is that they keyboard effectively acts as a battery pack for the tablet and so can extend life to up to 16 hours.
Specifications:
Operating System: Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) Platform
Display: 10.1-inch WSVGA IPS capacitive multi touch display
Chipset: NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Mobile Processor
Memory: 1GB DDR2
Storage: 16GB eMMC Flash
Camera: 1.2 megapixel (Front); 5.0 Megapixel (Rear)
Dimensions: 10.67” x 6.89” x 0.47” –inches (W x D x H)
Weight: 1.5lbs
BlackBerry PlayBook
Score: 3/5
At 7”, the PlayBook is more portable than the best rival tablets, all of which are currently around 10”. It is as well built as the iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab and its screen makes for a bright, sharp viewing experience whether you’re playing games or watching movies. So it looks and feels like a really professional-grade device. You could justify paying £399 for it.
As has been much reported, the PlayBook also lacks the thing for which makers Research in Motion are so famed: email. If you tether your phone to your BlackBerry handset, software called Bridge means your email and calendar appear properly. Without a handset, you are left simply to access email via the web, as you could on any other device.
The logic behind this is that it’s more secure to keep your email on just one device, and simply use the PlayBook as a larger screen. This may be the way to the heart of a corporate IT manager, but users deserve better. Confronted with a security problem, BlackBerry have bodged a workaround rather than provided a solution. That's a real pity, because the operating software itself is slick, whether its editing documents or playing music.
When it comes to apps, the secret to the iPad’s success, there simply aren’t enough for the PlayBook. Yet.
Critics, however, would be foolish to write off the PlayBook. Corporate apps, from RBS to many others, are already impressive because the company has capitalised on rich relationships in those sort of markets. Accessory makers, too, are excited by the PlayBook because its users are likely to be well-heeled. Proper email is coming soon as well. RIM are playing a longer game here.
Specifications:
Operating System: BlackBerry Tablet OS
Dimensions (WxDxH): 19.4 cm x 1 cm x 13 cm
Weight: 425 g
Display: 7" TFT - 1024 x 600 - Multi-Touch
Processor: 1 GHz ( Dual-Core )
RAM: 1 GB
Memory: 16 GB integrated
Wireless: 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1
Digital Camera: 5 Mp rear + 3 Mp front; 1080p video record
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2
Score: 4.5 /5
The Galaxy Tab 2 is the only Android tablet to rival the iPad 2 for style. It’s light, slim, powerful and elegant. At 10.1”, the screen is big enough while the surprisingly light weight means it’s genuinely portable too. The only real downside is that the Tab 2 isn’t out yet. Using one extensively before release, however, indicates that at launch it will only be the availability of apps and the ease of use that differentiates the Tab 2 from the iPad.
That’s a double-edged compliment, however: the Tab 2 has a single dock port, rather than any bells and whistles that might let you connect HDMI cables etc. In due course, however, wireless technologies may render that complaint irrelevant.
Specifications:
OS: Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
Display: 10.1” WXGA 1280x800
Processor: 1GHz Dual Core application processor
Camera: Rear: 3.0mp with LED Flash; front : 2.0mp
Playback : 1080p Full HD Video @ 30fps
Recording : 720p HD Video
Memory: 16G / 32G / 64G, microSD (up to 32GB)
Size: 256.6 x 172.9 x 8.6 mm, 595g
Motorola Xoom
Score: 4/5
Motorola’s Xoom, in both the US and the UK, was the first tablet to come to the market using Google’s Android operating system. It remains an impressive device: a decent 10” screen, a powerful processor and the real faults at launch were simply down to the lack of apps for Honeycomb, the codename for the tablet version of Android.
Although critics suggested that the placing of the on button on the back, for instance, was a design flaw, in fact it was simply different from the iPad: the Xoom remains a viable alternative because most users of tablets will be focused on web browsing, email and ereading. With that in mind, it’s as good an Android tablet as is currently available in the UK.
Specifications:
Android Platform: Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
Camera: front-facing 2MP webcam; rear 5MP Camera with LED flash, digital zoom; HD recording; playback in 720p HD
Screen: 10.1-inch
1280 x 800 pixel resolution, at 150p per inch
Processor: dual-core processor
Memory: 1GB
Size: 9.8 inches, 6.6 inches, 0.5 inches (LWH)
Weight: 1.61 pounds
HP TouchPad
Score: 3/5
Wireless charging. Audio from Dr Dre. An operating system unlike that made by either Apple or Google. HP’s new tablet, the TouchPad, ought to have a lot going for it. It’s even got a magazine to tell you all about the best apps to buy.
It feels solid, albeit slightly plasticky in the hand. At 740g, it’s slightly heavier than an Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab, although perfectly portable enough.
Perhaps it would be perfectly forgivable if WebOS, the operating system that HP bought from Palm, lived up to the hype. And indeed there is a lot to like. In many ways the TouchPad rewrites – reinscribes? – the tablet handbook. Gone is the homescreen with icons and widgets indicating programmes or services. Instead, there’s a desktop that is basically just a staging post each of the apps the TouchPad runs. So press the home button and each ‘card’ is arrayed in a line. Swipe up to close or tap to select. If you’re writing an email message, the message gets a new ‘card’ so you can also refer back to your inbox. This is progress, compared to other tablets.
But is it enough when the email app itself takes five seconds or so to grind into action every time you fire it up? When other apps take more like 10 seconds? This doesn’t sound like long, but other tablets don’t keep you hanging around. And is it enough when, inexplicably, the TouchPad decided to duplicate my inbox nine times, offering a range of different unread message counts? These may all be teething troubles. When the TouchPad works, it does work very well.
Specifications:
Screen: 9.7” (1024x768) Touch Screen Display
Weight: 740g, 14 mm thick
Operating system: HP webOS 3.0
Processor: Dual Core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Storage: 32GB Storage
Camera: 1.3 MP Front-facing Camera – video chatting capability
Acer Iconia Tab
Score: 4/5
Available in both 7” and 10” versions, the Acer Iconia is a reasonably priced (from £299) device that surpasses expectations. It has more ports and consequently can do more than most of its counterparts, and it’s also nicely put together. A Windows version is also available, making it plain that tablets really need to have proper tablet interfaces such as Honeycomb to be effective.
What the Iconia really reveals, however, is how different a 7” and a 10” tablet is: one device feels like there’s enough space for browsing the web and watching films in relative luxury. The other, however, is far better suited for portability. That means consumers should decide what’s most important to them and buy accordingly, rather than simply going for the 7” because it’s cheaper.
Specifications:
Dimensions:260 (L) x 177 (W) x 13,3 (H)
Weight:700g
Processor:nVidia Tegra 250 Dual cortex A9; 1GHz
OS:Android v3.0 Honeycomb
Memory: 1GB DDR2 RAM (1x1GB)
Screen:10.1" WXGA LED
Resolution:1280 x 800
Hard Drive:eMMC 32GB
Webcam:Front 2.0 MP & Back 5.0 MP with flash
HTC Flyer
Score: 3.5 /5
The HTC Flyer is one of a very few tablets that is distinctly different: featuring a pen, it might feel like this is a technological instalment of Back to the Future, but in fact the ‘stylus’ is used to write on the 7” device and take handwritten notes in a way that has genuinely not been easy before. Integration with Evernote and other applications means that it could replace a notepad and also record audio too.
Aside from the pen, the Flyer also offers a version of HTC Sense, the company’s own interface, that runs over an older version of Android. The result is a tablet that’s genuinely very different from the others, although not necessarily a rival to larger models.
Specifications:
Operating system: Android 2.3 with HTC Sense
Screen: 7 inch touch-sensitive screen with 1024 X 600 resolution
Weight: 420 grams (14.82 ounces) with battery
Processor: 1.5 GHz
Camera: 5 megapixel color camera with auto focus; 1.3 megapixel front camera
Internal storage: 32 GB
RAM: 1 GB
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