Tablets

Samsung's Galaxy Note defies easy categorisation and really begs the question: just how big is too big? This Android 2.3-powered device packs a 5.3in screen, but it’s a little too large to really be called a phone and a little too small to be called a tablet. Samsung itself describes it using the slightly cringeworthy moniker of ‘phablet’. It’s not all bad, however, and in both design and use the Note actually fills its unusual niche quite effectively.

The release of Amazon’s first Android tablet called the Kindle Fire, which was still unavailable outside the US at the time of this review, has also heralded a new range of budget-priced ebook readers, starting with this new entry-level WiFi-only Kindle. This new budget model has no free 3G access or physical keyboard. The latter is replaced by a virtual keyboard, navigating with a four-way rocker and four other buttons. It works well enough but what didn't impress us was the new way the 6in electronic ink display works on this new model.

It’s not clear why Samsung has not yet officially released this 8.9in Android tablet locally, particularly as Apple's court case against Samsung (temporarily) prevented the sales of the bigger Galaxy Tab 10.1 only. Perhaps it’s because the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is essentially just a smaller clone — size aside, they’re indistinguishable from a looks, features and software perspective. However, shaving 10% off the size has made the 8.9 a whole lot more portable, weighing over 20% less at 440g (the 10.1 is 560g).

With Apple having lost its High Court bid to block the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, Samsung's flagship tablet has finally gone on sale here officially – but how does it actually stack up? We received our review unit of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from the online retailer MobiCity, which imported the tablet into Australia even while Samsung was banned from selling it – and, generally, we were quite impressed.

Acer has recently gone big into the tablet arena, offering both Windows 7 and Android models. On the street for around A$800, the Acer Iconia Tab W500P is its newest Windows 7 version, powered by a 1GHz AMD dual-core C-50 CPU with Radeon HD 6250 graphics driving a 10in, 1,280 x 800 LCD panel. The novel feature here is the unit’s removable keyboard dock, which basically turns it into a notebook.

On the surface, Pioneer Computer's DreamBook H10 HD Tablet looks to be a reasonable example of an Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) tablet. Its big 10in multi-touch capacitive screen features 1,280 x 800-pixel resolution and it’s powered by a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. There are dual cameras (front 2MP and rear 5MP), there’s 16GB of onboard storage, plus a microSD card slot for adding up to 32GB more. Unlike some other Pioneer Android tablets we’ve seen, this one comes with Android Market and Gmail preinstalled.

The Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 is a tablet PC aimed squarely at business, although its features and pricing will likely see it remain a niche product. Built around a 10.1in 1,280 x 800-pixel touchscreen panel, it combines Windows 7 Professional SP1 with Intel’s new Atom Z670 single-core CPU and a 62GB Toshiba solid-state drive. It’s a rarity with its removable battery, fingerprint scanner and SmartCard reader, but the Windows interface makes it necessary to use the supplied battery-powered touchpen.

Toshiba’s had announcements around an Android tablet for quite some time, but it’s only now that there’s an actual product you can buy. Known as the Thrive internationally, it’ll just be the Tablet AT100 locally for truly strange trademark reasons. Like most recent competitors, this is an Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablet with a 10.1-inch display, but it does have a few unique features that make it stand out from the Android pack. Android 3.0 isn’t cutting-edge, but Toshiba reckons it’ll be updated to 3.1 in short order.

Tablet PCs might be the next big thing, but they still sit in an uncomfortable place in terms of productivity. They work best as devices for media consumption, be that reading ebooks, surfing the web or watching videos. For getting work done, though, a touchscreen interface is nowhere near as efficient as a keyboard and mouse (or trackpad) combo. The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is one solution — a 10.1in Android 3.0 tablet bundled with a keyboard/mouse dock that effectively ‘transforms’ it into a netbook-style PC.

RIM, makers of the BlackBerry line of smartphones, state that the new PlayBook is the world’s only ‘professional-grade’ tablet. We should be excited by the prospect of another tablet platform. If RIM can do for tablets what it did for mobile email, a RIM tablet should be very exciting news indeed. The actual tablet hardware is gorgeous — while its 7in display is somewhat reminiscent of last year’s original Samsung Galaxy Tab, the PlayBook’s build quality is much better.