Samsung Galaxy Tab: The Tablet Comes of Age

Early tablets were a mess. In fact, few of them were actually slates at all. Most were thick, chunky laptops with rotating screens that the user could fold back and write on with a stylus. Based on Windows, most tablets released at the start of the millennium were awkward to hold and difficult to write on. Consumers and most business users yawned and looked the other way.

Meanwhile, smartphones such as the RIM BlackBerry utterly destroyed the once-thriving PDA market with the help of relatively powerful, network-connected operating systems that let users do real work without a PC. When the iPhone appeared in 2007, the marketplace was primed for a versatile smartphone, and Apple's iOS touch interface revealed a whole new direction for mobile computing.

By October 2008, smartphone users were ready for a compelling alternative to Apple's iPhone. Despite repeated attempts by Microsoft with the Windows Mobile OS, it was finally Google that stepped up to offer what consumers were clamoring for. And so far Android has delivered well beyond most expectations, with more than 150 devices introduced worldwide to date and Google reporting more than 200,000 units activated with Google Services every day (a number that doesn't account for the growing selection of units that ship without Google Services installed).

As early as September 2009--three months before Apple unveiled plans for the iPad--Archos had delivered the first Android tablet in the Archos 5 Internet Tablet (which initially fell more into the media-player category than the tablet category). Although it was far from perfect in its execution, the Archos 5 hinted at what Android could do on bigger hardware, and set the stage for future tablets.

The market'

Apple created the market's first good tablet with the iPad. In typical Apple style, the device was elegant, slim, and alluring, igniting a sudden enthusiasm for tablet computing unlike any the tech world had known before. Building on the massive developer community that Apple had founded around the iPhone, the iPad was an instant hit with the Mac set and even managed to attract many PC users, though not as decisively as the iPod and iPhone did before it.

By the end of its first fiscal quarter on the market, the iPad sold some 3.27 million units, making it the most coveted tablet device in history. Despite those early numbers, however, the iPad remains a niche product, and sales have leveled out. Its high price and restrictive functionality prevent many mainstream users--particularly in the business world--from taking it seriously as a real computer.

Unfortunately for Android-hungry consumers, the first few Google-powered tablets to hit the market have fizzled. Despite its unique appeal in the pre-iPad world, the Archos 5 looks outdated and sad by current standards despite being merely a year old. The larger Archos 7 doesn't bring many improvements apart from screen size, and it does nothing to change the competitive landscape. Meanwhile, Dell's Streak--which the company positions more as an oversize phone than as a tablet--came to market with outdated software and no compelling uses.