The Apple iPad cat is officially out of its bag, but it’s not going to be the only tablet game in town. There are a number of other devices out there in various stages from “barely announced” to “working prototype,” many of which were shown off at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.
Apple may have snagged first-mover advantage in this year’s tablet renaissance, and we have scant few details on things like pricing and release date for some of its upcoming competitors. Still, it’s worth a look at what other tablet contenders are going to be emerging with in the near near future, as we already saw the drawbacks of Apple iPad sometime back.
Let’s have a look at what alternatives to the iPad are likely literally just around the corner.
1. HP Slate
HP Slate
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off this HP tablet prototype very briefly at CES this year. It wasn’t the Apple iPad thunder-stealing moment predicted by the media, but it is one of many indications that the tablet form-factor is about to become practically ubiquitous.
This particular HP slate will run Windows 7, setting it apart from the field of tablets running Android you’ll be seeing on the rest of this list.
2. Dell Streak
Dell Streak
During its CES 2010 keynote, Dell talked about working on multiple “upcoming slates,” including one prototype it showed off, which is currently called the Streak. This particular model is only 5-inches, though, which puts it less in the direct path of the iPad and makes it more akin to the existing line of mobile internet devices like the Archos series of Internet tablets. Not much else is known yet about the Streak, or what other kinds of tablets Dell might be cooking up.
3. Asus Eee Tablet
Asus Eee Pad Tablet
Asus is the company responsible for kicking off the entire netbook craze. They were also showing off a prototype of a 9-inch tablet at CES this year. The device has four control buttons reminiscent of the favored layout for an Android-powered phone, leading to the logical speculation that the Asus tablet might well run Google’s mobile operating system.
4. Compal Tablet
Compal Tablet
This working prototype was shown off at CES 2010. Made by Compal, the 7-inch Android 2.0 tablet runs on the new, high-powered next-generation Tegra 2 processor NVIDIA announced at CES. With this chip, a device can support 1080p video playback, yet retain startlingly good battery life. NVIDIA says it already has several partners lined up to make Tegra 2-based tablets, so expect more of this type of device in the near near future.
5. Notion Ink Adam
Notion Ink Adam
Another tablet running Android and powered by the Tegra 2 chip is the Adam, a 10-inch tablet from Indian startup Notion Ink. It uses a screen technology from Pixel Qi that combines the best of a full color multi-touch LCD display with a low-power reflective mode that’s readable in direct sunlight.
Notion Ink says the Adam should come to market in the second quarter of this year, with a target price somewhere between $300 and $800.
6. MSI Tablet
MSI Tablet
It’s another tablet prototype running Android and powered by the Tegra 2, this time from MSI. Engadget found it “a bit thicker and heavier than we’d like,” but on the plus side its 10-inch screen is “plenty responsive.”
7. Google & HTC
Google Tablet
This one is sadly of the purely rumor variety, but it’s worth mentioning for its potentially game-changing effects. Like it did with the Nexus One, if Google were to take a direct hand in developing a tablet computing device with a trusted partner, it could be a serious contender in the newly emerging tablet wars.
The cited report says the Google Tablet has already been in development for the past 19 months. HTC is a plausible logical choice for the trusted partner as well, given its existing relationship with Google and the Android operating system. Still, with nothing yet official on the books, the Google Tablet is the most speculative entrant on this list for now.
Source: Mashable
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Notice the form factor on all of these contenders. Except for google’s vapor tablet at the end, they have the wrong aspect ratio which makes them either too narrow to use in landscape mode, or if you make it large enough to not have that problem then you are carrying around something like a skateboard. The “slate” form factor is like a net-tablet, a mini tablet. I don’t see much demand in the area betweeen the iPad size and the phone. It will be iPad size or a little bigger, not smaller.
You do know the Slate is cancelled, right?
I bought a netbook before the iPad came out then an iPad. I am glad I have both. My netbook cost less than half my iPad and there are things that my netbook can do that my iPad can only dream about. However, nothing matches the fun factor and instant gratification of my iPad. Guess which one i use the most (my iPad!). All the other wannabees mentioned above are just that–a day late and a dollar short. Apple’s reputation for quality and uncanny ability to give the public what it wants, even to define a need where one does not exist, will keep the iPad on top of this market.