After so many tablet announcements in past months we got a pretty clear picture of upcoming models, which consumers will be able to purchase in a few months time, once production sets off and those slates will start showing up in online stores. We know that now there aren’t plenty tablets to choose from, but we do know what’s coming around the corner. That’s why we made a list of the best 7 inch tablets you should look for (and save money for). It’s a list with the tablets showing the most potential to become iPad challengers due to size, price and features included.
This doesn’t mean they’ll be able to overtake the iPad in sales, but getting closer is good enough, as competition will always bring down prices and increase the number of features we’re getting for the same amount of dollars. If you’re not decided what to buy yet, you can wait, of course, for new models to be announced, but if you know how the gadget world works, you already understand that waiting only makes things worse, as better and better devices are announced every day (plus they’re cheaper). So let’s see what the market has for us right now in the 7 inch tablet sector, one of the most important segments of the tablet market, because of the excellent price per size ratio.
Samsung Galaxy TAB : $ 650
The Samsung Galaxy TAB is by far the most important non-iPad tablet of 2010. It was announced in September during IFA Berlin and features a 7 inch multi touch screen with a 1 GHz CPU and Android 2.2 OS. Samsung is dead serious about their tablet, positioning it as a true iPad competitor, featuring a smaller footprint, right between the 5 inches of the Dell Streak and the 9.7 inches of Apple’s favorite tablet. Screen resolution was increased to 1024 x 600 to match the iPad’s 1024 x 768 (16:10 vs 4:3), albeit some of the Android apps won’t scale nicely from the usual 800 x 480 pixels provided native by Android 2.2.
As functionality, Samsung Galaxy TAB has to offer pretty much everything you might be expecting in 2010 from a tablet: WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS, HD recording, video chat, accelerometer, geo-magnetic sensor (don’t know the use of that), gyroscope and light sensor for automatic screen brightness. You’ll be able to get a lot of accessories for the Galaxy TAB, including a stylus, QWERTY keyboard, car dock, cases and covers or TV Out cables for video playback on a bigger screen. The issue is that all those accessories will be expensive, as the tablet itself will retail for more than the cheapest iPad, possibly reaching 1000$ without a subsidy from mobile operators. This is the biggest hype that prevents me from considering the Samsung Galaxy TAB the best tablet to get in 2010.
- Display: 7 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel capacitive touchscreen
- OS: Google Android 2.2
- CPU: 1GHz Samsung Cortex A8 Hummingbird
- GPU: PowerVR SGX540
- RAM: 512MB
- Storage: 16GB or 32GB of flash storage, plus a microSD card slot for expansion
- Connectivity: 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetoth 3.0, A-GPS
- GSM Network: 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE) : 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz; 3G (HSUPA 5.76Mbps, HSDPA 7.2Mbps) : 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
- Camera: 1.3MP front-facing camera, 3MP camera on back, 720p HD video recording
- Video support: DivX, Xvid, MPEG4, H.263, H.264
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Geo-magnetic sensor, Gyroscope, light sensor
- Battery: 4,000mAh for up to 1000 minutes of talk time
- Dimensions: 7.5″ 4.7″ 0.5″
- Weight: 0.84 pounds
- Optional Accessories: Keyboard, stylus, TV-out cable, car dock, covers
Blackberry Playbook
RIM is one of the late brand names to announce a tablet, and theirs was the Blackberry Playbook, a very strange name for a professional tablet, as RIM advertises it. As specs goes, it’s very close to the Samsung Galaxy TAB, but there are notable differences: no 3G (will need a Blackberry Smartphone to connect to Internet in areas with no WiFi Hotspots), double the RAM plus the QNX based OS (not too much details about this one tough).
What RIM means by ‘professional tablet’ is the fact that it connects to present Blackberry services, but offers a better experience via the bigger screen with higher resolution and faster overall performance of the tablet versus current RIM smartphones. The fact that Blackberry didn’t present actual prototypes at the official launch makes us believe that the tablet will launch sometime in 2011. This can be attributed to the early stage of development of the QNX based OS which will be used for the Blackberry Playbook tablet.
- 7” LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multitouch and gesture support
- BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
- 1 GHz dual-core processor
- 1 GB RAM
- Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
- Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
- Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
- HDMI video output
- Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
- Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
- Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
- Measures 5.1”x7.6”x0.4” (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
- Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
Archos 70 : $ 340
Archos is well known for its multimedia tablets (and short naming schemes), and the Archos 70 is an very good example of that. Even if specs are top notch the focus is clear on multimedia capabilities (see the HDMI out port, OpenGL ES 2.0 support, a fast 1GHz CPU and support for numerous multimedia formats). There are two versions of the Archos 70, one with an SSD drive (8 GB) and one with a hard drive (250 GB). The 8 GB one sales already for 339$.The OS of choice is Android 2.2 but for now there are no news about Google Android Marketplace support, which is a serious drawback that must be fixed by Archos. Of course this doesn’t mean Archos offers a plain vanilla OS, as the Archos 70 comes with a few installed apps like Aldiko, Ebuddy, Wikipedia, Avecomics, HubKap, Deezer, Mewbox, Raging Thunderlite (a 3D car demo game), WordNewspaper, Touiteur, Fring.
- ARM Cortex A8 at 1 GHz with DSP
- Graphic accelerator: 3D OpenGL ES 2.0
- 7” TFT LCD Capacitive Touch Screen, WVGA 800 x 480 pixels
- WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
- USB 2.0 host, microphone, accelerometer, front facing VGA camera, microSDHC port, HDMI output
- ARCHOS 70 internet tablet Flash series: 201 x 114 x 10 mm – 300 grams / (7.91 x 4.49 x 0.43 – 11 oz)
- ARCHOS 70 internet tablet Hard Drive series: 201 x 114 x 14 mm – 400 grams / (7.91 x 4.49 x 0.55 inch – 14 oz)
Dell Streak 7 : $ 450
This is one tablet released very fast in 2011, after Dell just presented it briefly during a conference at CES 2011. Even if you might think the Dell Streak 7 is almost identical to the Dell Streak 5, released last year, there are major hardware differences, notable the Tegra 2 dual core CPU running at 1GHz and the bigger display (which retains the same 800 x 480 pixels resolution). As size is concerned, the Dell Streak 7 is roughly the same size as the Samsung Galaxy TAB. Battery life is the only point where Dell scores below its competitors, but it will get you through the day with moderate use.
- 1 GHz Dual COrtex A9 Nvidia Tegra2 processor and Nvidia ULP GeForce graphics
- 512 MB of RAM
- 16 GB storage space + SD card slot
- 7 inch 800 x 480 px display
- Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth and T-Mobile’s “4G” HSPA+
- 2 cameras – 5MPx on the back and 1.3 MPx on the front
- Android 2.2 OS
- measures 7.9 x 4.7 x .5 inches and weighs around 1 pound
ASUS Eee Pad MeMO
This is one of the most interesting 7 inch tablets out there. It’s also one of the first tablets to be announced officially with Android 3.0 Honeycomb. The 7.1 inch form factor means this little beast can fit into almost any pocket. Add to that the supplied stylus from ASUS and you really got the journalist best on the go tool. Small doesn’t mean lacking features, as the EEE PAD MeMO manages to prove thanks to its Micro HDMI port, that can output 1080p video to large screen TVs. You can output either videos you download either the ones you produce yourself with one of the two included cameras. All the power of this tablet comes from the 1.2 GHz Snapdragon CPU, so you won’t find yourself waiting too much.
Pricing and availability is still to be announced exactly, by ASUS, but we do know the approximate release date, which is June and pricing that will range from $499 to $699 depending on options and accessories.
Viliv X70 Windows 7 Tablet
This is probably the slimmest and lightest Windows 7 tablet on market, and one of the few to employ such a small screen. That’s not going to fare too well with the default user interface, which is not exactly optimized for touch input. Specs are very interesting, and that’s what matters most, as the adding an external keyboard case and small mouse could transform this little marvel into a regular mobile office. Here are the specs released by Viliv at CES 2011.The tablet is not yet available for sale but we’ll let you know when we find out more about pricing and store launch. Here’s also a nice picture with the Viliv X7
- Next-generation Intel CPU
- 1GB / 2GB Memory
- Windows 7 Starter / Home Premium
- 7 inch 1024 x 600 Clear Type LCD with Capacitive Multi-Touch capabilities
- 1080p Video Playback
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, 3G HSPA or WIMAX or EVDO
- HDMI l Micro USB l Micro SD/SDHC supporting 32GB
- Stand-alone GPS
- Storage : Fast 32GB SATA SSD (64GB available), Read/Write : 100M/70Mbps
- Rear 3MP Camera / Front 1.3MP Webcam
- Accelerometer/Ambient Sensor
- 5600 mA/h, 21W, 6.5 hours Operation
- 420g / 0.926lb
- 14.3mm / 0.56inch Ultra Slim Design
Viliv X7
Contrary to the Viliv X70, this 7 inch tablet is powered by Android, which means better portability and battery life, with the expense of a few software features of the desktop version if Windows 7, the OS that powers the other tablet from Viliv. But enough with the that and let’s take a short look at the specs of teh Viliv X7, a mainstream slate tablet, as hardware capabilities are concerned (it’s actually a similar spec to the Samsung Galaxy TAB).
- Samsung Cortex A8 1 GHz CPU with Power VR SGX 540
- 512MB Memory
- Android 2.2 / 3.0 (TBD)
- 7 inch (1024×600) Clear Type LCD, 16M color
- Capacitive Multi-Touch
- 1080p Video Playback
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
- 3G HSPA or WIMAX or EVDO
- Bluetooth
- Stand-alone GPS
- Rear 3MP Camera / Front 1.3MP Webcam
- HDMI l Micro USB l Micro SD/SDHC supporting 32GB
- Storage: 8GB (16GB/32GB available)
- Accelerometer/Ambient Sensor/Compass
- 5600 mA/h, 21W, 9.5 hours Operation
- 398g / 0.877lb,
- 14.3mm / 0.56inch Depth Design
As you can see, the 398 grams weight and 0.56 inch thickness place the Viliv X7 amongst the slimmest and lightest tablets of 2011. Hope that availability will be announced soon enough by Viliv and that pricing won’t be the one setting sales back.
As you can see, the 398 grams weight and 0.56 inch thickness place the Viliv X7 amongst the slimmest and lightest tablets of 2011. Hope that availability will be announced soon enough by Viliv and that pricing won’t be the one setting sales back.
- Samsung Cortex A8 1 GHz CPU with Power VR SGX 540
- 512MB Memory
- Android 2.2 / 3.0 (TBD)
- 7 inch (1024×600) Clear Type LCD, 16M color
- Capacitive Multi-Touch
- 1080p Video Playback
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
- 3G HSPA or WIMAX or EVDO
- Bluetooth
- Stand-alone GPS
- Rear 3MP Camera / Front 1.3MP Webcam
- HDMI l Micro USB l Micro SD/SDHC supporting 32GB
- Storage: 8GB (16GB/32GB available)
- Accelerometer/Ambient Sensor/Compass
- 5600 mA/h, 21W, 9.5 hours Operation
- 398g / 0.877lb,
- 14.3mm / 0.56inch Depth Design
ViewSonic ViewPad 7 : $ 430
ViewPad 7 is one of the nicest looking tablets thanks to its clean design (I like a square design with slightly rounded corners) and good quality materials used (see the aluminum frame for example). As software goes, ViewSonic ViewPad 7 uses the same Android 2.2 version like all recently announced tablets, but the problem is the CPU, clocked at only 600 MHz, which should lag behind the more powerful 1 GHz models used by competitors. There is also an upside to this: battery life should increase due to lower power consumption, plus the tablet is helped by 512 MB RAM (the iPad has only 256 MB for example). As features, the ViewPad 7 offers 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, USB and accelerometer for screen rotation. Retail price is somewhere around the 600$ mark, but there is a lot to find out about ViewPad 7, so we’re looking towards ViewSonic to send us one for review soon.
- 7″ Capacitive multi-touch screen with 800×480 pixels resolution, brightness 350 cd/m2 contract 500:1
- Android 2.2 OS
- 802.11 b/g WLAN
- Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR,
- Qualcomm MSM7227, 600MHz
- 512MB DDR & 512MB NAND
- G-Sensor, E-compass & Ambient light sensor
- GPS/A-GPS
- Android Market support with over 100,000 apps
- Auto focus COMS 3MP camera in the rear & 0.3MP front camera
OpenPeak OpenTablet 7
OpenPeak OpenTablet 7 is the first Tablet to be using the newest Intel Moorestown CPU, based on Atom architecture, but with more optimizations under the hood for mobile devices (lower power consumption is the keyword here). It was showcased a while ago, but we still haven’t seen prototypes, except a few appearances at IT Shows. The OpenPeak OpenTablet 7 is powered by a 1.9 GHz Atom CPU, has a 5 megapixel camera for still photos and a 1080p front facing one for video conferencing. The whole package weights only 1.15 lbs and measures 9″W x 5″H x .59″D.Other features and connectivity options include: USB, microSD, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, HDMI out. The manufacturer says that the tablet will be able to run 8 to 10 hours without a charge, but we still have to see that to believe. We still don’t know the complete specs or which version of Android it will run, but expect official announcements to follow up soon.
So what's next through 2011 , let's see
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