A Day for ‘tablets’ [Sony, Samsung and Toshiba announce variants]
Just like it’s been the week for Angry Birds updates, today has been the announcement of tablets.
SAMSUNG
There’s Samsung revealing their 7.7.
This will be a SUPER AMOLED screen with 1280×800 resolution [not bad for something that small.
Powered by a dual core 1.5GHz processor (type unknown) It will run Honeycomb 3.2 on top of Samsung’s TouchWiz.
The battery will be approximately 10hrs (from a 5100mAh battery) and as for aesthetics — it’ll be under 8mm thick (or thin as you may want to say).
You’ll get to choose from the spectrum of 16 – 64GB, and it will sport a microSD slot [which the 10.1 was lacking].
Samsung also reveals their Note, which is a sort of hybrid phone/tablet (think of the Dell Streak). This will be just 5″ in size (same as the Streak), powered by a dual core 1.4GHz processor. It will display 1280×800 [even better dpi for such a small device]. It will have 16 or 32GB storage space with a removable microSD.
This model worries me a bit – the Streak didn’t do so well. I think if you’re going to go down that small in size, keep it a player. Not sure who this would to appeal to, but then again screen sizes in phones are getting larger [the S2 is 4.5″]. But hey, it comes with a pen!
SONY
Then Sony announces their S&P models (as I’m dubbing them the “Salt ‘n Peppa” lineup).
S – will be a 9.4″ model with the 1280×800 [naturally for that size], but sport a processor we’ve already seen [the Tegra2 1GHz]. The battery should last you about 8 hours.
You’ll have the option of wi-fi only or 3G for the 16GB size, whereas the 32GB will only be wi-fi. It will also have the card slot option. The camera options aren’t nearly as good as others out there being only 5.1MP with a VGA front facing camera.
P – will be a clamshell type with dual 5.5″ screens. It will have the same processor as the S, but only come with 4GB of storage [really??].
TOSHIBA
Announcing the newest, thinnest tablet, Toshiba puts out their Excite.
This will sport a new processor, a TI-OMAP dual core 1.2GHz processor, come in 16 – 64GB sizes. It will sport a whack of ports, both in and out [USB port and VGA out!].
It will also have a user replaceable battery [let’s hope it’s not too cumbersome to get the back off to do that].
This will take aim directly at the Tab 10.1 from Samsung to be the sleekest model out there.
Comparisons
| Samsung Note | Samsung 7.7 | Sony S | Sony P | Toshiba Excite | |
| Screen Size | 5.3” | 7.7” | 9.4” | Dual 5.5” | 10.1 |
| Storage | 16/32 | 16/32/64 | 16/32 | 4 | 16/32/64 |
| Processor | Dual 1.4GHz | Dual 1.5GHz | Tegra2 1GHz | Tegra2 1GHz | Dual 1.2GHz |
| Battery | ? 2500mAh | 10 hours (5100mAh) | 8 hours | 7 hours | 8 – 10 hours |
| Card Slot | microSD | microSD | SD | microSD | microSD and USB |
| Camera | 8 / 2 | 5.1 / 0.3 | 5.1 / 0.3 | 5 (flash!) / 2 | |
| Radio? | Wifi / 3G | Wifi | Wifi3G available for 16GB version | Wifi / 3G | |
| Android OS | 2.3 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Miscellaneous | A pen! | VGA out! |
So there you have it – a quick run-down of the latest tablets to have come out.
What do you think?
Have you already bought a tablet? Or are you waiting for one of these?
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