Apple iPad 2 Tablet Reviews
You can't have a best tablet PCs list without mentioning the iPad. Now in its second generation, it offers an even more stylish design and is lighter and thinner than other tablets despite still offering an 8.9-inch screen. This screen is responsive, displays great colours, sharp and offers a multi-touch function. The real differentiating point of the iPad over other tablets is the huge range of apps specifically designed for it available via the Apple iPad App Store. It also has a very intuitive user interface, cameras and a long battery life of around 10 hours on continuous video playback. It's weaknesses are well documented in that there's no Flash support so you miss out on any web Flash videos and you're restricted to only load content from the App Store so you don't have the freedom you get on Android tablets.
There are iPad alternatives available in the UK so if you like any of the tablet reviews below then click through to whattabletpc.com to investigate these options further.
Motorola Xoom Tablet Review
Released early in 2011, the Motorola Xoom is one of the best Android tablet PCs available to buy in the UK. It runs the very latest Android operating system plus has a responsive 10.1-inch screen, very speedy processor and lots of sensors with a strong graphics performance for gaming. It's capable of outputting high definition video and has a long battery life. The only downside is Android 3.0 lacks the finish of the iPad operating system, it's also a bit pricey in comparison to the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer or Acer Iconia.
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Tablet/Netbook Review
The ASUS Eee Pad Tablet sticks out as it offers the option to buy a separate keyboard that you can attach to the Eee Pad Transformer tablet PC to turn it into a netbook. It also has a good quality processor that provides strong gaming, video, web surfing and general all-round performance. The 10.1-inch screen is vibrant and highly responsive to swipes and it has a very good battery life of up to 9 hours that can be extended by another 6.5 hours if you buy the keyboard dock. Again, the only really significant downside is the lack of polish on Android 3.0. You also only get a USB port on the keyboard dock - it's not available on the tablet.
Acer Iconia Tab A500 Tablet Review
The Acer Iconia is a strong, all-rounder with an excellent spec and a decent price to match. Again it runs Android 3.0 and had a pretty comparable processor to the Motorola Xoom and ASUS Eee Pad Transformer. This means the web browsing is speedy, you get good 3D gaming functionality, it copes with Flash video and high-definition video happily and has ok quality cameras for shooting video and video chat. The 10.1-inch screen is also decent and there's plenty of memory. It's weaknesses come back to Android 3.0 again and there is only a Wi-Fi version available.
It's fair to say on these Android 3.0 tablets that Google will improve the Android operating system and it's much better to have Android 3.0 on your tablet as it's designed for this format rather than any earlier versions of Android that are more designed for smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy Tab Tablet Review
Speaking of earlier versions of Android, we have the Galaxy Tab that has been out for a while now and runs Android 2.2 (although it can be upgraded to Android 2.3). The Samsung Galaxy Tab is different from the earlier slates thought as it's a 7-inch format and so is more portable than 10-inch tablets and fits in a jacket pocket. Although it runs this earlier version of Android it does this smoothly and has direct access to the Android Market range of apps. The screen quality is very good and gives sharp vibrant images. It also deals with Flash and video content plus a decent web browsing, gaming and eBooks experience. The smaller screen does mean its a bit more fiddly for web surfing as you've simply got less space to fit the pages into. It's disappointing it doesn't run the latest version of Android and the battery life isn't great but it has come down a lot in price so offers decent value.
