Tablets of 2011: What to Look For

Last year promised to be the year of the tablet, and at least for Apple, it was indeed. The nearly ubiquitous iPad managed not only to outsell every other tablet on the market by a wide margin, it also exceeded Mac sales in the last quarter with a record 7.33 million units moved. But even if Apple is not likely to lose its throne anytime soon, competition is finally making itself present. If Android's gains in the smartphone market serve any indication it should be an interesting year for tablets as well.

Rivals such as Motorola and LG are coming on strong with the first Android "Honeycomb" tablets, while Research In Motion is launching the PlayBook using a completely reworked operating system based on QNX Neutrino. HP will start to see the fruits of its Palm acquisition when it launches the TouchPad, the first webOS-based tablet, this summer.

We've compiled a comparative table with what we consider are the hottest tablets either currently available or announced so far. Note that we've only included those models that are expected to be released in the next few months and the reason for that is two-fold: their specs are official or at least somewhat reliable, and because we've seen a lot of teaser products that in the end don't even make it to market -- which happened a lot last year.

We'll update this guide as new tablets that catch our attention are announced and approaching their release, but if you are in the market for a tablet now this should definitely serve as a starting point for narrowing down your purchase.

	Apple iPad	Motorola XOOM	BlackBerry PlayBook	Dell Streak 7	LG G-Slate	Notion Ink Adam	Eee Slate EP121	HP TouchPad
Processor	1GHz Apple A4	1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2	1GHz ARM Cortex A9	1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2	1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2	1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2	Intel Core i5 470UM	1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8660
Display	9.7-inch	10.1-inch	7-inch	7-inch	8.9-inch	10.1-inch	12.1-inch	9.7-inch
Resolution	1024 x 768	1280 x 800	1024 x 600	800 x 480	1280 × 720	1024 x 600	1280 x 800	1024 x 768
RAM	256MB	1GB	1GB	1GB		1GB	2GB	1GB
Front camera	None	2MP	3MP	1.3MP	2MP	3.2MP	2MP	1.3MP
Rear camera	None	5MP	5MP	5MP	5MP	3.2MP	None	None
Storage	16GB, 32GB, 64GB	32GB	16GB, 32GB	16GB	32GB	8GB	32GB	16GB, 32GB
USB	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
HDMI	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Wireless Connectivity	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G
GPS	Yes (3G only)	Yes	None	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Operating System	iOS 4.2.1	Android 3.0 Honeycomb	BlackBerry Tablet OS	Android 2.2 Froyo	Android 3.0 Honeycomb	Android 2.3 Gingerbread	Windows 7 HP	webOS 3.0
Flash Support	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
App Marketplace	iTunes	Android Market	App World	Android Market	Android Market	Coming Soon	None	webOS App Store
Weight	680-730g	730g	400g	450g		730g	1,160g	740g
Price	$500-$830	$800	TBA	$450	TBA	$375-$550	$999	TBA
Availability	Now	February 24	Q1 (4G in Summer)	Now	Q1	Now	Now	Summer

Lastly, it will be interesting to see the BlackBerry PlayBook and HP's webOS-based TouchPad compete in the tablet market. From what we've seen so far both will bring fresh and beautiful UIs to the game, and webOS in particular is considered to have a very robust multitask implementation, but neither company has had much luck with third-party developers.

There will be quite a few more tablet releases down the road. Those who decide to wait and see how the market plays out can expect devices from HTC, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Toshiba, Vizio and many other lesser-known manufacturers. The HTC Flyer, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and Toshiba's unnamed tablet will probably garner significant attention, not to mention the potential arrival of a number of CES prototypes like the Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Slider, and Lenovo LePad.