This year’s Consumer Electronics Show turned into a showcase for new tablet computers from several manufacturers from the latest touch-screen models to some businesses using iPads and Samsung Galaxy Tabs as booth props.
With the enormous success of the Apple iPad last year and the concrete sales of its Android-based competition like the Galaxy Tab, some of the other businesses were attempting to get their own piece of the action.
Another popular item at this year’s CES was all kinds of e-reader devices, with several businesses showing off their own versions of products they hoped would be good enough to beat the Kindle e-reader. However, so far none of them have been able to be successful in the marketplace and some didn’t make it past the prototype stages.
Using that example, only time will tell if any of the tablets shown off at the CES will actually be successful in the sales market.
Some of the models being shown off at the CES included the Motorola Xoom, an Android 3.0 tablet being produced by Motorola and Verizon and coming out in February. It’s powered by the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor to get more speed, and has been optimized for tablet-size applications and widgets, so the 10.1-inch device could prove to be a hit.
Samsung also has plans to make a version of the Galaxy Tab that will work on the Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network.
Dell and T-Mobile showed off the Streak 7 tablet, which is designed to work on T-Mobile’s 4G network. It has a 7-inch WVGA multi-touch screen with ultra-tough Gorilla Glass, and uses the Android 2.2 operating system with a dual-core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. It also features what are fast becoming standard – front and rear facing cameras for video conference calls.
What could hold it back, however, is the fact that many of the other devices shown at the CES use the newer Android 3.0 operating system. Toshiba, too, has an Android 3.0 tablet they expect to put out later this year.
Dell, Motorola and Toshiba found out they have to compete with the Research In Motion’s upcoming PlayBook, a 7-inch tablet that has its own proprietary operating system. RIM is keeping its fingers crossed that it will appeal to those consumers who choose to try something other than the Google Android and Apple iOS systems.
Microsoft didn’t have the flare that the others showed, with their booth putting out only a few tablets running Windows 7 that seemed to e for the Asian market. The devices featured larger 10- and 12-inch screens, instead of the 7-inch tablets debuted by Samsung and RIM.
Microsoft and its manufacturing partners were touting laptops with ultra-slim form-factors and touch screens instead of trying to come up with something to compete with the Apple iPad.
Samsung’s booth showed off the Series 7, a laptop with a keyboard that slides underneath to make it convert into a tablet. Acer, too, showed off a notebook with a second touch-screen instead of a keyboard. Microsoft also worked with Samsung to help make the Surface 2, which is the next generation of its table-sized tablet.
All in all, tablet computers were King at the CES, getting more attention than even the 3-D televisions or laptops running Intel’s “Sandy Bridge” chip architecture. Only time will tell which of the many devices shown off at this year’s CES will still be around in 2012.
