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The best tablets at MWC 2011

 

The dust had barely settled after a chaotic stampede of tablets at CES. Now, a month on, there’s more tablet action to come.

At this year’s Mobile World Congress, Samsung, HTC, Acer and LG all announced new tablets. Add these to devices on show from HP, RIM, ViewSonic and Motorola and you can see why 2011 is going to be the year of keyboard-less computing.

Here’s our round-up of the best tablets and pads on show at MWC 2011…

HTC Flyer

After much speculation, HTC finally revealed its Flyer tablet at Mobile World Congress. It comes with a 7-inch display, so it ducks direct comparison with the iPad and has more in common with the original Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Blackberry PlayBook.

In fact, the HTC Flyer fits neatly between the two – it’s better specced than Samsung’s mini-tablet, yet not as high-tech as RIM’s over-sized Blackberry.

We like the screen, which has a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels and can be used with a stylus. We also like the 5MP camera on the back and the addition of a 1.3MP lens on the front for video chat.

What don’t we like? The early model on show at MWC ran the Gingerbread phone OS with HTC Sense rather than the tablet-specific Android 3.0 version.

The 1.5GHz single-core processor inside is also a strange choice compared to the dual-core CPUs being deployed in rival devices.

 

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

While the HTC Flyer is a mixed technology bag, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 eliminates any niggles we had with Samsung’s original 7-inch device.

Rocking the Android 3.0 OS, the new Galaxy Tab speeds along courtesy of a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU and impresses with a luxurious 10.1-inch (1280 x 800 pixel) touchscreen.

 

 

On the back, Samsung has added an 8MP camera, while around the front there’s a 2MP lens for video conferencing. Or for simply using the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as an expensive mirror. With Flash 10.1 and 1080p support, the overall specification just edges out the Motorola Xoom. Just.

LG Optimus Pad

It’s difficult to pick a favourite Android tablet when the hardware specifications are so similar. Like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, The LG Optimus Tab boasts a screamingly fast dual-core Tegra 2 processor (with Nvidia GeForce graphics) and Android 3.0, aka Honeycomb. See it in action here.

But the Optimus Pad stands out in two respects. First, it features an 8.9-inch (1024 x 768 pixel) touch-sensitive display that might just hit a sweet spot for anybody who thinks that 7-inch screens are too small and 10.1 is too unwieldy.

 

 

Second, it features two 5 Megapixel cameras on the back, enabling it to take 3D videos and photos like the LG Optimus 3D smartphone.

Whether you see this as a deal-maker or a pointless gimmick (like fingerprint recognition on a consumer laptop), it certainly differentiates the Optimus Pad from the crowd.

HP TouchPad

This was the TouchPad’s first appearance since HP unveiled the device at its San Francisco WebOS event in early February.

Like the iPad, the HP TouchPad features a 9.7-inch display and is well-built and neatly designed. The fact that it runs WebOS 3.0 and multi-tasks beautifully makes it a credible alternative to Android 3.0, the Blackberry OS and Apple’s iOS 4. See it working here.

 

Under the hood, there’s a turbo-charged Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core CPU (APQ8060), ticking along at 1.2GHz. It’s also available in two configurations, with either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage.

Oddly, there’s no rear camera. But HP has specced a front-facing 1.3 Megapixel camera for Skyping.

Acer Iconia Tab A500

While the tablet spotlight gets hogged by LG, Samsung and HTC, Acer rolled out its own Android device with hardly a ‘ta-daa!’

Again, here you’ll find a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, a 10.1-inch (1280 x 768 pixel) display, HDMI out, plus a 5MP rear camera and a front-facing camera. Here, the Iconia Tab A500 ran Android 2.3 laced with Acer’s own UI tweaks.

ViewSonic ViewPads

ViewSonic is making a real effort to ensure that its tablet devices stand out. Its 10-inch ViewPad 10Pro, for example, can dual-boot both Android 2.2 and Windows 7 Professional and is one of the first tablets to use Intel’s Oak Trail CPU. Is this the future of tablet-kind?

Blackberry Playbook

RIM had already announced the Blackberry PlayBook, but its appearance at MWC was an opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with the tablet.

Like the HTC Flyer, the PlayBook has a 7-inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, a 3MP camera on the front and a 5MP lens around the back.

Crucially, it’s powered by a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, which gives it a performance advantage over the HTC Flyer.

Motorola Xoom

We’ve already written a lot about the Motorola Xoom, the darling of CES 2011 thanks to Android 3.0, a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) display, dual-core processor, 1080p video playback and 3G/4G/Wi-Fi connectivity.

But what a difference a month makes. Facing up to the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 and LG Optimus Pad, it doesn’t seem quite so special.

Nevertheless, the appearance of the Xoom at MWC did allow us to get some hands-on time with the Android 3.0 OS, which you can find in video form here.

 

Original from:
http://mwc2011.techradar.com/2011/02/the-best-tablets-at-mwc-2011/

 

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