The Year of the Tablet

Since Apple revealed the iPad back in January we have seen a huge number of tablet (slate) devices being unveiled from all the major manufacturers. It is estimated that at least 50 unique devices are set to hit the market in 2010, proving that this will be the year of the tablet (whether we like it or not).

My only experience with tablet devices up to now have been hybrid laptops (such as the HP 2730p) which incorporate a standard laptop and a stylus driven touch screen, historically running Windows XP Tablet Edition. Unfortunately these devices are horrible and in my opinion fail as a laptop and a tablet.

Thankfully the new wave of tablets (also known as slates) intend to redefine the experience by offering a custom made device that has been specifically designed for touch. These devices no longer suffer from the same identity crisis as the previous generation hybrid laptops and instead aim to fill the gap between the laptop and the smartphone. They also intend to provide a significantly improved user experience with software that has been designed from the ground up with touch in mind. Considering it looks like we will be seeing plenty of these devices this year, I thought I would take a few moments to outline what I consider to be the most exciting products.

Apple iPad (Confirmed $500 to $850) Arguably one of the most hyped technology devices in history. The iPad is Apple's answer to the tablet. At it's most basic the iPad is a scaled up iPod Touch, running the same iPhone OS. The iPad incorporates a custom built Apple A4 processor running at 1GHz, which should provide fantastic performance whilst maintaining good battery life (estimated 10 hours). It also has a beautiful 9.7" IPS screen, is 3G capable and has up to 64GB of storage. When you add this hardware combination to the time-tested iPhone OS and its incredible number of apps, it makes for a formidable combination. That said, the iPad does have some limitations. The lack of an integrated camera is surprising and the limitations on multi-tasking is particularly painful considering we know this device has enough power to run more then one application at a time. Finally Apple's hatred for Adobe Flash will continue to divide the public, meaning that video streaming sites such as Hulu will not be compatible with the iPad's browser at launch.

Dell Mini 5 (Price Unknown) The Dell Mini 5 is a strange device. It only has a 5" screen, which when you consider the HTC HD2 smartphone has a 4.3" screen makes it more like an oversized smartphone then a tablet. Also the device runs Google's Android which is more commonly found on the smartphone and is yet to prove itself as a viable option for tablet devices. Dell have stated that they intend to write their own custom software for the device to ensure it competes with rival platforms, however historically Dell's strengths have not been in software development. Thankfully the Mini 5 is packed with a good amount of power, with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, integrated 5MP camera and expandable micro-SD storage. Unfortunately I am not sure there is enough differentiation here to make me consider this device over a modern Android smartphone, such as the Nexus One or HTC Desire, especially considering these devices will provide similar performance and have the ability to run all the same applications.

HP Slate (Estimated $600) The HP Slate is based on the Intel Atom architecture and as a result the only device on my list that runs Windows. Unfortunately this will probably be its greatest strength, but also its ultimate weakness. The fact that it runs Windows will immediately make this device more accessible for the enterprise, where I can see lots of interest from sales staff and other remote users. However, even though Windows 7 is "touch aware" it was still fundamentally built for the traditional desktop keyboard and mouse environment. As a result the usability of the device will certainly suffer. The HP device itself looks very similar to the Apple iPad, however seems to lack Apple's quality and attention to detail. The specification of the device is also close the the iPad with a 10" screen and 64Gb storage. Although being Atom based I would be surprised if we see the device achieve more then 5 hours battery life.

JooJoo (Confirmed $500) Apart from having the worst name in technology history, the JooJoo (previously known as the CrunchPad) is actually a very interesting device. Instead of relying upon local storage to run applications, JooJoo has followed the Google Chrome OS example by being web-only. This means that the device runs a lightweight operating system (known as JooJoo OS) which is basically a webkit based browser. As a result it does not have any apps, can't multi-task, and pretty much confines you to the custom browser. Personally I really like the JooJoo and with a 12" screen and Atom processor it stands up well on the hardware front. Unfortunately the reliance on the web may prove to be too constrictive when compared to its competitors. It is also worth mentioning that the JooJoo has a troubled past and is still fighting litigation. As a result the device may been killed before it gets started.

When Apple first unveiled the iPad I was a little disappointed. I had expected something revolutionary, but instead we got an evolution of the iPod Touch platform. The only real surprise was the competitive starting price at $500. As a result I thought there was a real opportunity for another vendor to beat Apple at their own game and take a risk by bringing a revolutionary product to the market. Unfortunately it would appear that so far everyone has failed to deliver, leaving the iPad easily the best tablet on the market. The iPad has the best screen (size and quality), the best hardware (performance VS battery life), the greatest options on storage (up to 64GB), a proven touch operating system (iPhone OS) and over 100,000 applications ready to go from launch, with just as many developers eager to release new iPad specific applications through the already established iTunes AppStore. If that is not enough it is also priced very competitively when compared to the competition. I just hope that one of the 50 tablet devices set to be released this year is bold enough to break the mould and offer something unique and exciting.