5 New Tablet PCs that Will Give the iPad Competition

By now, most people know the term iPad, and many people have been purchasing this very popular item. The emergence of the iPad has brought about a frenzy of activity in the IT community in regards to production of Tablet PCs. One might even go to say that the iPad has brought about a new way of thinking concerning the arena of the mobile environment and how people wish to interact with their computers, technology and connectivity. It seems that the market has gone from small to large. Where it once was how small can we make the device and still get connectivity to the Internet, now it is all about how thin and light weight can we make a device that will do everything that we want from a mobile device. Thus the new market of the Tablet PC, where we can do our work, connect to the Internet, make phone calls, etc all from a fairly small device.

The iPad opened the world to meet the needs of the people, now other manufactures are producing their products to compete. I have looked at five Tablet PCs that will produce some good competition to the iPad.

• Samsung Galaxy Tab

• Blackberry Playbook

• HP Slate

• Toshiba Folio

• Acer Tablet

The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a very easy to use sleek design touch screen unit that is equipped with a 7" screen, 1.06 application processor and either 16 or 32 GB of memory. The unit is ready for eReading and has built in wifi, and mobile technology included. Out of the box, it is ready to play or record movies, integrate with your email system.

The BlackBerry Playbook includes video-conferencing allowing you to meet on the go. Weighing in at .9lbs and supporting a 7" screen as 1024x600 resolutions you can do your work from just about anywhere. This unit connects easily to your email and is CEO ready by including services to connect to most corporate networks.

The HP Slate has sighted, but not much is known about this unit at this time. Rumor has it that it will offer a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and the screen size is to be 8.9-inches (one of the largest offered). It is suppose to ship with 1GB of Ram, and offer true 1080HD playback.

With a snappy interface, the Toshiba Folio has been leaked as of early September, but actual date for marketplace delivery has been kept under wraps. It does offer a 10.1" screen, standard wireless and cellular connectivity, a 7-hour battery life, and 16 GB of storage.

Acer is coming out with three different Tablet PCs, ranging from a 5-inch screen up to a 10.1 inch display. From initial photos, the unit looks sleek and easy to use; all the specifications on the product have yet to be released.

There are other companies that are also working on their line of Tablet PCs, but in looking at the pictures of the units, I was not impressed as much by the design as I was by the ones in this article. The manufactures are all working hard to get their unit on the market before Christmas in hopes of a good sales season. As the manufactures finalize their products my bet is that the price and software offered on the Tablet Pc's will give some stiff competition to Apple.

www.apple.com

http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com/

http://na.blackberry.com/#

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/39814/20100730/hp-ipad-slate-500-processor-os-price-storage.htm

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/09/02/toshiba-folio-100-tablet-tegra-2-android-2-2-500/

http://goodereader.com/blog/tablet-slates/acer-developing-3-tablet-compputers/