If you followed closely the touch tablet niche in the past year you surely have spotted a trend: people announce various tablets that are not on market even after a few months after the initial announcement. One of the strongest sub-niche is the 10 inch tablet, which currently features the Apple iPad (its screen is actually 9.7 inches) plus a lot of recently announced tablets at IFA Berlin 2010, models that look really interesting and have raised consumer’s attention to this growing segment.
So, in this post we’ll try and make a list of the best 10 inch tablets (slate tablets) that you can buy in stores now (good luck with that), plus models that will show up really soon (according to their manufacturers) or models announced with uncertain date of availability. If you know of any other tablet that should have made it into this post don’t hesitate and let me know so I’ll update this top accordingly. Till then here’s the offer of 10 inch tablet models available or announced.
APPLE iPad :$ 500 to $ 830
The iPad doesn’t need any introduction, as it’s the first slate tablet to date to reach millions units in sales, especially because of the early appearance on market, at the beginning of 2010. The iPad is a tablet everybody tries to copy in some way, design of function wise. It’s the trendsetter, like we’re used to with each new Apple product. Apple succeeded where anyone else failed: it managed to build a portable device with great battery life, rock solid build quality and the best software support in form of access to iTunes media library, the App Store for application and iBooks for eBooks store.
The iPad is the perfect blend of hardware and software design with a touch of Steve Jobs own aura. That’s why the iPad is the fastest selling Apple product, outpacing even the iPhone.
- 9.7 inch capacitive multi touch screen with LED backlight and IPS panel, resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels
- WiFi and Bluetooth, optional 3G module capable of data transfers (no voice calls)
- 1 GHz Apple A4 custom design CPU, ARM based with integrated GPU
- internal memory size of 16/32/64 GB with no expansion options
- virtual keyboard for text input
- 680 grams for the WiFi version and 730 for the one with optional 3G
- 12.7 mm thickness
- 25 WHr battery that lasts up to 10 hours
- Accelerometer and Compass + assisted GPS for the 3G Model
- iBook application for reading eBooks, all supported by an eBook store
MOTOROLA Xoom
This is Motorola’s first 4G tablet. It won’t come standard with 4G in the first place, but you’ll be able to upgrade it by just sending your model to an authorized service. Anyway, this is also a Honeycomb tablet, which is rumored to be the one used as a reference model. This means Motorola is working closely with Google and you should receive a fully capable tablet, one that will work perfectly with the upcoming Android 3.0 version.
The 10 inch screen has a gorgeous 1280 x 800 pixels resolution, which is good enough to playback 720p videos. 1080p are also on the table thanks to the Tegra 2 dual CPU chipset and the 1 GB RAM that power the Motorola Xoom. Battery life is estimated at 10 hours of video playback, so browsing and performing normal tasks should increase that time by a few hours. At 720 grams, the Xoom is lighter than the iPad, while incorporating 32 GB of storage, expandable with flash drives, of course.
ASUS EEE Pad Tranformer
This is one of the most innovative designs of tablets we’ve seen till now. It’s a normal 10 inch slate (with a high quality 1280 x 800 pixels IPS screen), powered by the upcoming Android 3.0, but it can also be docked inside a keyboard base, that also employs a battery good for 16 hours. Add to that the 8 hours provided by the tablet itself and you’ll get a tablet that will last you a few days of normal use. What more can you want? Adobe Flash, smooth HD video conferencing and playback are available thanks to the powerful dual core Tegra 2 CPU found inside the EEE Pad Transformer. Dual cameras and HDMI output are also on the table here. You’ll be able to opt out for 512 MB or 1 GB RAM and 16/32 GB internal storage options, expandable with up to 32 GB more from flash cards. The tablet itself weights only 680 grams. We still don’t know the weight of the docking keyboard.
The EEE Pad Transformer should arrive in April at a price point between $ 400 and $ 700, depending on options.
ASUS EEE Pad Slider
This is a variation of the EEE Pad Transformer presented above, one which uses a sliding keyboard mechanism that slides under the screen, making for a more compact device. This 10 inch IPS tablet also uses a dual core Tegra 2 CPU and will come by default with Android 3.0 OS. Dual cameras and HDMI output are also on the table. There’s also an USB port that will allow you to connect some peripherals. You would even be able to order the EEE Pad Slider with an optional 3G chip to help you achieve total mobility. The gorgeous 1280 x 800 pixels resolution screen will ensure smooth text and picture rendering. You’ll be able to get the EEE Pad Slider with 512 or 1 GB RAM and with 16 expandable with up to 32 GB flash cards. This means prices between $ 500 and $ 800 in May, when this gorgeous 886 grams tablet will arrive.SAMSUNG Sliding PC & Series
This is another example of clever design, that comes from Samsung. What we have here is an actual 10 inch slate with a sliding keyboard that docks beneath the screen. It uses two hinges to slide horizontally and special design that allows the screen to be inclined at an angle of your desire (ASUS EEE Pad Slider has a fixed angle). Another difference is the OS, which in this case is Windows 7. The Samsung Sliding PC 7 Series uses the Intel Oak Trail Atom platform, with the Z670 CPU at 1.66GHz. It should be powerful enough for your everyday tasks, while still proving excellent battery life (up to 9 hours). Also an interesting thing is price, which should start at 699$. An amazing deal considering what you’re getting. Hope the hinge mechanism will prove solid enough.
- CPU: Intel® ATOM Oak Trail Z670 @ 1.66GHz
- Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium
- Samsung Touch Launcher custom shell
- Memory: 2GB DDR2
- Hard Drive (max): 32GB or 64GB (mSATA SSD)
- Screen: 10.1-inch touchscreen HD LCD display (340 nit) with 1366 x 768 pixels resolution
- Graphics: Intel Integrated Graphics
- Audio Technology: Integrated speaker (0.8W x 2)
- USB 2.0, 4-in-1 memory card reader, HMDI out
- Webcam: 1.3MP
- Battery: Lithium Polymer; up to 9 hours
- Wireless: 802.11b/g/n; WiMax; 3G
- Dimensions: 10.47 x 6.88 x 0.78 inches (W x D x H)
- Weight: Starting at 2.18 lbs.
VILIV X10
This is another interesting slate, but with no additional fancy stuff, like the ASUS EEE Pads. It’s got a clear design and mainstream specs, which means it could cost less than you can imagine and could ship sooner, since it doesn’t feature the Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS (but it may be upgraded to that version when it becomes available. Here are the official specs released by Viliv for X10:
- Samsung Cortex A8 1 GHz CPU with Power VR SGX 540
- 512M Memory
- Android 2.2 / 3.0 (TBD)
- 10.2 inch (1024×600), 16M Color, 400 nits, Wide Angle
- Capacitive Multi-Touch
- 1080p Video Playback
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
- 3G HSPA or WIMAX or EVDO
- Bluetooth
- Stand-alone GPS
- HDMI l Micro USB l Micro SD/SDHC supporting 32GB
- Storage: 8GB (16GB/32GB available)
- Rear 3MP Camera / Front 1.3MP Webcam
- Accelerometer/Ambient Sensor/Compass
- 8300 mA/h, 31W, +10 hours Operation
- 680g / 1.50lb
Archos 101 : $ 300
As you can see it’s a pretty worthwhile tablet, with a nice 680 grams weight and the same screen resolution as the Samsung Galaxy TAB, so if you find a 7 inch screen to be too small this 10 inch model could prove handy for you.
This is the biggest tablet announced by Archos at IFA Berlin. It features a 10.1 inch screen, hence the name, capacitive with a 1024 by 600 pixels resolution. This time the Android version is 2.2, but with a minor inconvenient (depending on what you need from a tablet): there’s no Google Android Marketplace integration, something a lot of users will miss. On the other hand, if you’re an enthusiast media consumer then you’ll love the support for audio and video codecs implemented by Archos. The two versions of Archos 101 just surfaced on Amazon for pretty low prices: $ 300 for the Archos 101 8GB and $ 350 for Archos 101 16GB.
A full list of supported formats can be found in the Archos 101 official page. Also the design is something you’ll appreciate, as overall thickness is just 12 mm and the tablet weights only 480 grams, less than the iPad, that has the same screen diagonal, but with a different aspect ratio.
All that I know, if there is i miss or find some new i'll upload again , thanks
- ARM Cortex A8 at 1 GHz with DSP
- Graphic accelerator: 3D OpenGL ES 2.0
- 10.1” TFT LCD Capacitive Touch Screen, 1024×600 pixels (WXVGA)
- WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
- USB 2.0 host, microphone, accelerometer, Front facing VGA camera, HDMI output, SDHC port
- Size: 270 x 150 x 12 mm
- Weight: 480 grams
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