iPad's Newest Competitors
iPad's Newest Competitors
iPad's Newest Competitors
Touch screen tablets may forever on out always be called iPads, thanks to Apple being the first to launch the piece of technology in the biggest and best way. And while Apple has enjoyed an amazing success with their iPad, having sold 3 million units in its first 80 days, the competition is now approaching the company's heels with their own version of the device.
If you haven't heard of the iPad or touch screen tablets, they are devices smaller than notebook computers yet larger than a smartphone. They feature touch-screen interfaces that allow people to browse the Internet, download apps, read the news or watch movies. Just with these features, people are loving this device.
So who is the competition?
Toshiba has produced the Folio 100, an Android-based tablet and it will come in 3G and non 3G versions. This tablet is expected to ship later this year, starting in Europe. The Toshiba is 10.1" in size with a 1024x600 multi-touch display. It weighs 1.7 pounds and has 16GB of internal memory which is expandable via SD/MMC memory card readers. It has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a Nvidia Tegra processor, stereo speakers and a 1.3MP web camera. The battery for the Toshiba is expected to last 7 hours. The Toshiba also comes with Adobe Flash 10.1 and Android 2.2. Pricing in Europe is expected to be around 399 Euros or ($511).
Another competitor who has a smaller version of the touch screen tablet is Samsung with their Galaxy Tab. This device is also Android-based and is only 7 inches in size. (iPad is 9.7 inches). Other specs on this device include Flash 10.1, 16GB or 32 GB of memory, GPS, and a gyroscope, accelerometer, and a 3.2-megapixel camera, with autofocus and a flash. There is also a phone in the Galaxy Tab, which means you have to buy the device through a carrier, but on the other hand, it is almost like having a super-sized smartphone.
And then there is Dell who has the Streak, which is quite tiny - only 5 inches in size. This device was launched first to customers in the United Kingdom in June of this year. The Streak is considered a hybrid between a smartphone and a tablet, just like the Toshiba, but smaller. It comes with a 5 MP auto focus camera, dual LED flash for easy point and shoot capabilities, VGA front-facing camera for video chat, 3G WiFi, Bluetooth and a Micro SD slot that expands up to 32GB. The downside for is that it comes with Android 1.6, whereas new tablets will have Android 2.2. One can pick up the Streak in the US now with a two-year phone contract with AT&T for $299 - or buy it unlocked for $549.
BlackBerry or Rim now has the Black pad - or at least that is the rumor. The rumor also states that this device will be a companion gadget to the BlackBerry--it will come only with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity options, and for 3G service would need to be tethered to one of RIM's smartphones. It is expected that this device will not run on BlackBerry OS but a software from a company called QNX that RIM bought earlier this year. The device may not be available for Christmas this year but possibly some time next year.
We can't forget about Hewlett-Packard or HP. They are working on the HP Slate with Windows 7. The HP Slate was just unveiled this month. It has a webcam, 3 MP camera, memory card slot, 1.86 GHz processor, and 2GB of RAM. The Slate is aimed at business consumers, HP said, and is an entirely different device than the iPad. They add that it runs on the same operating system as your PC and laptop (as it uses Windows) but it has 8 times the amount of RAM in an iPad.
There are many others in the touch-screen tablet race besides the large well-known companies. Operating systems will vary too, just as it does with smartphones. You will see in addition to Apple's iOS, Google's Android, Palm's WebOS, RIM - BlackBerry operating system, and Microsoft's Windows 7. Who will come out on top - we shall only see.
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