The boys over at Engadget posted a slew of Verizon leaks, including news that Motorola plans to launch its Stingray tablet on Verizon in Q1 of next year with a 10″ screen, Android 3.0, and a hardware upgrade option to add LTE. I should say right off the bat that I work for Motorola, but not for the part of the business that has anything to do with tablets. All of this is news to me.
In light of the info on Moto’s upcoming tablet, I thought this might be a good time to do a quick round-up of several iPad-like devices set to enter the market over the next six months. I am mightily disappointed that many of them aren’t due until after the new year, since I was hoping to add one to my holiday wishlist. But there’s always my birthday in February.
Samsung Galaxy Tab: 7″ display, Android 2.2 (Froyo), 3G and Wi-Fi, 1GHz processor, front and back cameras. It’s due in the UK “in the coming months,” and expected carried-subsidized in the US later.
BlackBerry PlayBook: As covered earlier this week, 7″ display, new BlackBerry tablet OS, Wi-Fi (later 3G), 1GHz dual-core processor, front and back cameras. Due out early in 2011.
HP Slate 500 PC: 9″ display, Windows 7, 3G and Wi-Fi, 1.6GHz processor, front and back cameras. Due out early 2011.
HTC tablet?: There are rumors of two HTC tablets in the works for early next year. One running Android 3.0, and one running Google’s Chrome OS.
Dell tablet: Dell has confirmed a 7″ tablet set to arrive in “the coming weeks.” It will run Android, but not much else is known. Dell has also said it will release a larger tablet some time in the next year.
I just ordered the Archos 101.
I’m figuring that this is a great cheap way to get into the “early adopter” slot. and start playing. Later I can give it to the wife as an eBook reader and get what evers out for new Holiday Season.
I almost added in the Archos line-up here. Curious how it performs in daily use.
Price points are going to be critical here. Samsung’s Tab looks great from what we’ve seen but rumors suggest the 7″ model will be almost $1000.00, nearly double Apple’s entry-level price for a 10″. Non-starter if true. Sure there might be a carrier-locked version going for $200 with a 2-year contract on a $60+/month data plan or something. But most people have enough trouble coming up with the scratch to pay for that Smart Phone they just decided they needed. Apple and BlackBerry seem to have this part right at least. With the iPad you can pay only when you travel, or just buy the Wifi model. With the BlackBerry PlayBook you can tether to your BlackBerry.
All of these things are so far behind though, its kind of shocking. When there were all those tablets at CES in January I think we all assumed SOME of them would be shipping by now. By the time the BlackBerry PlayBook is something other than a render there will presumably be a 2nd-gen iPad out. By then it will have a front facing camera, be thinner and lighter, have multitasking and … some unknown upgrades.
I don’t think the HP Windows 7 Slate has a chance honestly. But priced right the Samsung Tab and the BlackBerry PlayBook have a real shot. Assuming they can get out the door.
Assume everybody also saw the news that LG killed their Android Tablet today saying Android 2.2 isn’t tablet ready. Could just be cover for their own internal development problems of course, but could be a bad sign…
On Android front, it seems like waiting for 3.0 version is a smart move as it’s more optimized for tablet devices, especially since 2.2->3.0 updates aren’t guaranteed or, like 1.6->2.1 or 2.1->2.2, won’t be out very quickly
With regards to Windows-based devices, ExoPC looks very interesting and will be out end of October/early-November, but — IIRC — Intel is coming out with better, more intergrated silicon early next year, so I’d wait for CES.
Insofar as BB Playbook is concerned, it looks OK, but software support is going to be key. I’d be more comfortable going for an Android or Win7 device.
Anyway, I think vendors are working as far as they can, so Android and Win7 tablets have a good chance against upcoming iPad 2 which will probably just add a camera or something small like that.