tablets reviews

Apple iPad 2
Pre-eminent and still the best tablet currently on the market, the iPad 2 is
light, slim and a delight to use. But it's not just the fact that you can
read books, check your emails, browse the webs or watch videos that mean
Apple, for now, own this market: the iPad has spawned a library of Apps that
is continuing to grow rapidly and that has changed how many consumers think
of media.
That means that there are countless, excellent games as well as apps that
reinvent magazines and serve purposes that were impossible on other devices.
Even cab drivers collecting passengers at airports are using iPads for the
name of the person they're picking up.
Asus Transformer
Asus's Transformer is a departure for tablets: it combines an excellent
Google Android tablet with a fully-fledged keyboard. The result is both a
decent netbook and tablet that does everything an Android tablet currently
can. That means web browsing, movies, a range of apps and scores of other
uses are all possible, but so too is the longer-form work that demands a
keyboard.
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The Tranformer may not be the lightest or the most elegant of the
forthcoming Android tablets, but it is certainly the first to really tackle
the problems of typing on a touchscreen. An added bonus is that they
keyboard effectively acts as a battery pack for the tablet and so can extend
life to up to 16 hours.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2
The Galaxy Tab 2 is the only Android tablet to rival the iPad 2 for style.
It's light, slim, powerful and elegant. At 10.1", the screen is big enough
while the surprisingly light weight means it's genuinely portable too. The
only real downside is that the Tab 2 isn't out yet. Using one extensively
before release, however, indicates that at launch it will only be the
availability of apps and the ease of use that differentiates the Tab 2 from
the iPad.
That's a double-edged compliment, however: the Tab 2 has a single dock
port, rather than any bells and whistles that might let you connect HDMI
cables etc. In due course, however, wireless technologies may render that
complaint irrelevant.
Motorola Xoom
Motorola's Xoom, in both the US and the UK, was the first tablet to come to
the market using Google's Android operating system. It remains an
impressive device: a decent 10" screen, a powerful processor and the real
faults at launch were simply down to the lack of apps for Honeycomb, the
codename for the tablet version of Android.
Although critics suggested that the placing of the on button on the back,
for instance, was a design flaw, in fact it was simply different from the
iPad: the Xoom remains a viable alternative because most users of tablets
will be focused on web browsing, email and ereading. With that in mind, it's
as good an Android tablet as is currently available in the UK.
Acer Iconia
Available in both 7" and 10" versions, the Acer Iconia is a reasonably
priced (from £299) device that surpasses expectations. It has more ports
and consequently can do more than most of its counterparts, and it's also
nicely put together. A Windows version is also available, making it plain
that tablets really need to have proper tablet interfaces such as Honeycomb
to be effective.
What the Iconia really reveals, however, is how different a 7" and a 10"
tablet is: one device feels like there's enough space for browsing the web
and watching films in relative luxury. The other, however, is far better
suited for portability. That means consumers should decide what's most
important to them and buy accordingly, rather than simply going for the 7"
because it's cheaper.
HTC Flyer
The HTC Flyer is one of a very few tablets that is distinctly different:
featuring a pen, it might feel like this is a technological instalment of
Back to the Future, but in fact the 'stylus' is used to write on the 7"
device and take handwritten notes in a way that has genuinely not been easy
before. Integration with Evernote and other applications means that it could
replace a notepad and also record audio too.
Aside from the pen, the Flyer also offers a version of HTC Sense, the
company's own interface, that runs over an older version of Android. The
result is a tablet that's genuinely very different from the others,
although not necessarily a rival to larger models.