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. It might be worth reigning in that Steve Jobs-induced credit card trigger finger for a bit.
Let’s have a look at what alternatives to the iPad are likely literally just around the corner.
1. 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. More details about the device were recently revealed by HP in the video below.
2. 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 (MIDs) 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, but Engadget did snag some hands - of photo's of the device.
3. Asus Eee 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
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
Another tablet running Android and powered by the Tegra 2 chip is the Adam, a 10-inch tablet from Indian start-up 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
Wait for it: 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. Quanta
One last prototype running Android on the Tegra 2 chip: the Quanta tablet got some early dings in terms of usability. Still, it is only a prototype, so the Wi-Fi and 3G-enabled tablet device could still be a contender in the about-to-be-crowded tablet space.
8. ICD Vega
Seattle-based startup Innovative Converged Devices announced its Vega Tablet back in November 2009, and now the device is officially headed to T-Mobile UK sometime before the end of 2010. Yet another tablet based on Android, the Vega will have a large amount of screen real-estate at 15.6-inches.
9. Google and HTC
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.
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