Tablet PCs

Let’s face it, with the release of Apple’s iPad, Steve Jobs and company pretty much own the tablet market right now. The iPad has quickly become the most popular tablet of choice not only for fun, but for business as well. A lot of people consider it to be nothing more than an oversized iPod Touch, but for those that have held and used one, they know that it is so much more than that. While there are a lot of things missing from the iPad though, competitors are hoping to take advantage of that fact as more and more tablet PCs are set to hit the market in the coming months, and those companies are hoping to gain a foothold into Apple’s market with their own unique creations. Let’s take a look at some of the tablet PCs that are available now, or are soon coming, and how they measure up.
HP Tablet – Purported by HP to be the iPad killer, their tablet PCs will run on Windows 7 and feature some key elements that are missing from Apple’s tablet.

Namely, a built-in camera, video recording capability, a USB port and an SD card reader, all of which are absent from the iPad. It’s supposed to cost less than $500, too, which is a steal, really. It’s said to have an 8.9-inch touch screen, but the battery life is only around five hours, which is half of what the iPad’s is. Sorry, HP. You can have the best specs in the world for your tablet, but if the battery isn’t going to hold up, I’m not buying it.

Sony Dash – Sony calls this one a “personal internet viewer” rather than a tablet, since it doesn’t run an actual operating system. It’s more of a personal media player, really. You can watch videos upright like a TV, or lie it flat and use it as a web browser or e-reader. With the addition of Netflix, the Sony Dash is perfect for those who want nothing more than a media player to mess around with. At around $200, the price is right, too.

Dell Streak – This is a hybrid device. With only a five inch screen, it lies somewhere between the mystical world of cell phone and tablet. Running on the Android operating system, the Streak tablet does have Adobe Flash and comes in at 10-mm, which is thinner than lot of smart phones, but it weighs more. I don’t know, to me it looks like an overhyped personal organizer with social media and video capabilities. I’m not excited for the Dell Streak, but how can I be when it just pales in comparison to other tablets?

Archos 9 PC Tablet – This one is similar to the HP tablet mentioned earlier, as it has an 8.9-inch touch screen and runs on Windows 7 Starter Edition. It’s also got WiFi and Bluetooth, HD videos, a QWERTY virtual keyboard that allows you to edit and create documents, and a web cam for video conferencing. Like the HP tablet, though, there’s only five hours of battery life in the Archos 9, which kind of makes me want to shy away from it. Still, it’s got a lot of stuff for $450, which isn’t a bad deal at all.
There are just a few tablet options that are soon to be hitting the market, or are already out there right now. While none of them really match up to the iPad, they do offer some features that Apple’s tablet device doesn’t, like cameras, Adobe Flash, and USB ports. They all claim to be a game changer, but really, they’re piggybacking on the success of the iPad. Look at how fast they all came out of the woodwork once Apple released the iPad. Come on, something’s afoot right there. Regardless, once Apple comes to its senses and adds all those features in the next generation iPad, you can be sure that no one will be able to compete with not only their name, but their quality of product. Tablet PCs will get better though, not only in terms of size and weight, but features as well. Before too long we’ll all be living in a Star Trek envisioned universe where we all walk around with computers connected to our belts. When that happens, that’s when you know that the iPad, and tablet PCs are really the future, and something tells me the future isn’t too far off.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

http://www.hp.com/

https://store.archos.com/archos-tablet-p-96.html