iPad vs the tablet

Dell was quick out of the blocks with the Dell Streak when it came to launching a tablet, going for a rather safer 5-inch screen size so that if the iPad failed it could claim it was a large phone instead. Now that the iPad hasn't failed the company is pushing ahead with a US launch following the UK one.

Samsung has confirmed that it will be releasing a 7-inch Internet tablet it is calling the sPad later this year. Confirmation first came via a tweet from the South Africa arm of the business, however the company has since gone on record to say that the new device will be Android powered. From the picture we know that it will be charged via the bottom, feature a 3.5mm headphone jack and come with a similar button configuration to the company's Galaxy S smartphone.

Motorola has yet to announce anything formally however that hasn't stopped the famous "sources familiar with the matter" claiming that it's planning on launching a 10-inch tablet based on the Android OS and tied in with a Verizon exclusive in the US that will work on the company's FiOS broadband package. 

Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, has Internet tablet plans that are, so far, only rumours. Those rumours currently suggest that it will be called the BlackBerry BlackPad and feature a 9.7-inch touchscreen display, come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity with the ability to pair it to a phone for internet access away from a hotspot. It will have two video cameras for video calling and is expected to be available, if all the "sources familiar with the matter" are true, in November.

The HP Slate has been teased more times than a businessman at a strip club, with videos and photos pushed out by HP hoping to build excitement. The latest specs from the company, thanks to a leak state that it will sport a 8.9-inch screen, feature two cameras will let you use a pen to write or draw as if on a piece of paper. As for the operating system that's all up in the air at the moment after HP bought Palm with some sources saying it will be a Windows 7 powered device and others suggesting that it will run Palm's webOS. Perhaps we will get two units; one for business and one for consumers.

Tablet thanks to the Maemo powered Nokia N900

You could say Nokia already has a tablet thanks to the Maemo powered Nokia N900, however chatter is starting surface that Nokia could have a new tablet running its latest OS MeeGo but the end of the year. Intel and Nokia have previously confirmed that we will see the first batch of devices appearing before Christmas, and with both trying to show that it is more than just a mobile phone OS, a tablet launch in 2010 is highly likely.

LG has two tablets on the go according to what the company is publically showing. The LG UX10 is a Windows 7 touting device running on an Atom Z530 processor. It will sport a 10.1-inch screen, which is LED and capacitive, and there's 1GB of DDR2 RAM packed in. There's a 1.3-megapixel webcam for all your VoIP needs and an SD slot for storage expansion. Of course, there's Wi-Fi (b, g and n) and there's also a micro-HDMI out socket too.

However the company is also planning a second Internet tablet that will run Android and take on the Samsung sPad among others. It's specs according to LG include a 1.2GHz A8 processor with 16GB of built-in storage, microSD support and Wi-Fi of course as standard.

Just because Apple is doing well with the iPad, you don't expect them to rest on their laurels do you? Apple is already rumoured to be adding a front facing camera so people can FaceTime each other as well as planning on adding it's retina screen technology as found in the new iPhone 4.

The Cisco Cius will be a business focused device that features a front mounted 720p HD camera, a 5-megapixel rear facing camera, dual noise-cancelling microphones for audio conferencing and a 7-inch, high-resolution widescreen super VGA touch-target display. Elsewhere there is an on-board accelerometer, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity offered. Bluetooth and Micro-USB means users can work untethered and share data with a PC, while a detachable and serviceable battery offers 8 hours life under normal usage.

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