Tablet Hands-On Roundup
by Vivek Gowri on January 27, 2011 10:25 AM EST
2011 is the Year of the Tablet. With all due respect to the rabbit, who would have otherwise been assigned to this year, I think the tablet has earned the right of representing 2011. If you followed CES at all this year, you’d know why.
I decided pretty early on that I would make a huge post with all the tablets we looked at instead of posting each one individually, simply because the sheer number of tablets on the show floor meant that I would have taken over AnandTech’s front page with tablet-related posts. It would have been impossible to cover all the new tablets, but I think we managed to get our hands on most of the high profile tablets in addition to some of the more promising new tablets out there.
Everyone, it seemed, was debuting a new tablet. The usual suspects were out in full force, with Motorola showing off the first Honeycomb tablet to hit the market, ASUS releasing a quartet of highly specced tablets, Dell’s 7”, Tegra 2-based follow-up to their first Streak tablet, Acer coming up with new 7” and 10” Honeycomb tablets, Samsung releasing a convertible slider PC tablet to go with the newly LTE-infused Galaxy Tab, and RIM showing off the PlayBook prior to its imminent launch this quarter.
But they weren’t the only ones. Notion Ink had the production Adam on hand, with the first US shipments going out this week. Panasonic’s Viera range of tablets was unexpected to me, since it’s been ages since Panasonic had a consumer-level computing device in the US. Razer debuted a pretty sweet looking dual screen gaming tablet running Oak Trail and Windows, though we didn’t get a chance to go hands on with it. And then there were new companies like Enspert coming out of the woodwork with new devices amongst all the big launches. So let’s get this party started.
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jade_angel - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
"Cloud control"? Yuck. I'd really rather not have control over my TV or set-top box mediated through some random company's servers out there in Cloudland. Hello security problems, or else massive amounts of PKI ickage to secure it.Now, if it's entirely within the LAN, that might be a different story. Still a potential security issue, but not to nearly the same magnitude.
That said, I'm not convinced IR's old-and-slow nature is actually a problem for use as a TV remote (though, more bandwidth would allow unforeseen use cases). IR would also have the advantage of potentially working with existing TVs.
bupkus - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Maybe Logitech has just that in mind with their universal remote, perhaps broadening that to a tablet. They charge enough for their remote now anyway.PeterS1 - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Thank you for the preview on Notion Ink Adam, I am very much looking forward to a in-dept review of the Adam from the industry experts whom I trust the most.Kamen75 - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
The Enspert 201 tablet looks like a winner. Yes froyo is needed so let's hope it really is coming soon. I would like to see a higher resolution than 800x480 but to put that in perspective it is 133ppi, while the ipad at 9.7 inch and 1024x768 is 132ppi so text and everything else should be adequately viewable. Given it's nearly Galaxy Tab matching specs and it's $200 dollar price point this IS what a tablet should be right now. Cheap and disposable.geniekid - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
"2011 is the Year of the Tablet. With all due respect to the rabbit, who would have otherwise been assigned to this year..."I loled.
melgross - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
None of these seem impressive. If it's true that a dual CPU is required for honeycomb, then any tablet that doesn't have that is already obsolete, and not worth bothering with. That seems to cut out the majority of the tablets shown at CES. We can move on.The Notion Ink screen also looks crappy in the photos. If it's supposed to look good in sunlight, then it's a fail.
Kobaljov - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
Based on the experiences of the first Adam buyers, the screen is glossy, the Notion Ink offers a matte screen protector for it.(source: http://liliputing.com/2011/01/roundup-of-notion-in... )
Beenthere - Thursday, January 27, 2011 - link
...they are called TOYlets. Because they are toys.rpmurray - Friday, January 28, 2011 - link
It's TABlets, not TOYlets. A toilet is something you drink from, although its a shame you forgot to flush first.Enlightenment777 - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 - link
Apphole Toilet