Lately I’ve been thinking about all the tablet options available today. If you’re buying yourself the Apple iPad, you don’t have to think about it – Apple thinks the 9.7-inch screen is perfect and it doesn’t offer any other option. On the other hand, having Apple’s product offers more choice in terms of apps you can install and it keeps outselling all other tablets combined. That will undoubtedly change at some point in the future, but in the meantime we must agree – iPad is still the king of this game.
Presuming you want to grab some, non-iOS based device, you can pick a tablet with a screen size ranging from 7 to 10.1 inches. Here are the most popular tablet options from major OEMs:
7-inch tablets
The 7-inch category is pretty crowded so I decided to split the list between already available and upcoming tablets. Here they are:
Already available:
- Samsung Galaxy Tab – possibly the single most popular Android tablet to date. It is available across multiple carriers all around the world. Feature wise, the Tab rocks a single-core processor and Android 2.2 or 2.3 (and not Honeycomb).
- HTC Flyer aka Sprint’s Evo View 4G – fancy 7 incher with a faster (than Tab’s) single-core processor and fancy aluminum body. It also runs Android 2.x with HTC’s own Sense UI on top.
- Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Color – ebook centric device that is available for $250 sans any contracts, making it pretty popular among B&N’s users.
- BlackBerry PlayBook – RIM’s baby doesn’t run Android OS and is everything but a darling of the media these days. I’m not a BlackBerry fan myself, so I’ll leave it to others to comment on it.
- Dell Streak 7 – the slightly bigger (than the original) Streak hasn’t managed to impress us… at all.
Upcoming:
- Acer Iconia Tab A100 – Acer’s baby will be released later this month and may easily turn into the company’s best-selling device if it hits the store shelves with a $300 price tag (as we reported).
- Asus Eee Pad MeMO – unlike Acer’s 7-inch tablet, we’ve no idea when exactly this bad boy will be released. We do, however, know it will rock a glasses-free 3D screen, which is kinda neat.
- Huawei Mediapad – probably the single best 7-inch tablet announced to date will resemble HTC’s Flyer while packing more horse-power under the hood. It should be out at some point in the third quarter.
8.9-inch tablets
For some reason there are not that many tablets with an 8.9-inch screen. Not sure why that’s the reason cause I find that screen size to be a sweet spot. We have only two devices on the list:
- LG Optimus Tab / T-Mobile G-Slate – the 3D-ready device with two cameras on the back allows users to take 3D videos. The Optimus Tab is easy to carry around and also rocks a dual-core processor under the hood.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 – this is most likely one of the sexiest Android tablets around. It looks awesome, feels awesome and I want one. Not sure why Samsung decided to launch its 10.1-inch tablet before this one.
9.x-inch tablets
This category also has only two devices, though they have different screen sizes — hence 9.x. They are:
- HP TouchPad – the first webOS-based tablet with a 9.7-inch screen a la iPad. The UI rocks, but there’s a “small” problem with it – apps. You don’t really get that many options in HP’s App Catalog to choose from. Hopefully this will change soon.
- Sony S1 – it comes with a 9.4-inch screen and a look of a folded magazine. Not sure I like it that much but we gotta give it to Sony for making its products look different.
10.1-inch tablets
Arguably the most popular category, even though our list doesn’t reflect that. The reason is simple – we picked only the most talked-about products, and again (like that was the case with 7-inch tablets), divided them into two groups – available and upcoming.
Available:
- Motorola Xoom – the Xoom is sort of a standard in this category since it was officially the first Honeycomb tablet. It has a dual-core NVidia processor, tons of built-in storage, dual cameras, Wi-Fi and optional 3G connectivity. Design wise – I don’t like it that much, though I will use it as a reference point.
- Asus Transformer – think of Asus’ baby as the Xoom with detachable keyboard that “transforms” it into a netbook/smartbook. Users like the idea and Asus keeps moving tons of these every day.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – super-sexy lookin’ Xoom. Sammy’s product really stands out from the crowd with its fancy design.
- Acer Iconia Tab A500 / A501 – another Xoom-like device.
- Toshiba Thrive – Xoom with full-sized USB and HDMI ports and a full-sized SDHC/SDXC slot.
Upcoming:
- Asus Eee Pad Slider – Xoom with a sliding QWERTY keyboard that makes the whole product super-heavy (for a tablet).
- Panasonic Toughbook – rugged Xoom with an XGA screen and active stylus made to handle job sites.
- HTC Puccini – business-centric Xoom with an active stylus (digital pen) and HTC’s custom software that runs of top of Android.
Other options
There two other tablets worth mentioning, both of which are still not available:
- Sony S2 – a dual screen tablet with two 5.5-inch 1,024×480 pixel displays that can work either separately or as one big screen, which is kinda cool.
- Asus Padfone – actually a smartphone with a big 10.1-inch tablet screen that “swallows” the phone part, offering big screen experience and extra battery life. Love it!
So what do I prefer
These three top my list:
- Huawei Mediapad – it is super compact, easy to carry around and the best-specced 7 incher announced to date.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 – offers great compromise on the screen estate vs portability. It also looks pretty sexy.
- Asus Padfone – arguably the best product I’ve seen announced this year. If all three options were available today, I would grab the Padfone – that’s how much I like it.
I do think the screen size matters though you can’t tell that from my list. However, I don’t see the Padfone as a pure 10.1-inch tablet — rather I see it as a bundle product that allows me to use my phone in a new way. I do want a compact device, but this compromise (if it’s a compromise at all) is well worth it for me.
Now which tablet(s) you like? And do you think the screen size matters that much?