Price: $600
Verdict: Does everything the iPad has ever
done, but now it looks four times as good. An amazing piece of kit
Ratings: 5/5
The most important feature of any tablet is
the screen, mainly because there's not a whole lot else to it. And the screen
is what marks the third iPad apart. Yes, it looks like an iPad 2 (with holiday
weight), but everything you do on it is now rendered in glorious 2048x1536 on
its 9.7in Retina Display. Photos, games and movies look incredible and text is
eggshell-smooth, making reading, communicating and browsing a richer, less
fatiguing experience. A faster dual-core chip and quad-core graphics make it slicker
and more user-friendly than ever, and given the unparallelled riches of the App
Store, it still has all the best apps, too.
Google Nexus 7
Price: From $200
Ratings: 5/5
The Asus-built, Android Jelly Bean-running
Nexus is simply astonishing value. A passable 7in HD IPS screen sits in front
of a mighty Tegra 3 processor, making it brilliant for gaming but there's also
next gen-toys such as NFC and the all-seeing Google Now to play with.
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity
Price: $975
Ratings: 5/5
Don't underestimate the keyboard dock. The
Infinity uses it not just for its trackpad and keys, but also for connections
and battery extension. Along with its quad-core power, that makes this full HD
screen-packer a netbook beater. The $660 Prime is similarly brilliant.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
Price: From $570
Ratings: 5/5
If you can stomach the price, this slim
Samsung is a mid-size Android tablet par excellence. Its 7.7in AMOLED
screen is ultra-vibrant, and it’s clad in lustrous aluminium. If it’s all too
much, the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is about $225 less, or there’s always the Nexus...
Sony Xperia Tablet S
Price: From $535
Ratings: 4/5
Sexier, faster and skinnier than the Tablet
S before it, this 1280x800 quad-core slate has a magazine-style fold for easy
gripping. At 570g the solid aluminium build is lighter than the iPad, and DLNA
skills and an IR blaster make it the perfect living room slate.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
Price: From $650
Ratings: 4/5
This 10in Ice Cream Sandwich tab has an IR
blaster, the ability to run certain Samsung apps side by side albeit slowly and
the S Pen, a super precise stylus with loads of optimised apps. It's just a
shame, then, that its screen is a mere 1280x800.
Toshiba AT300-101
Price: $500
Ratings: 4/5
Inside the 10.1in Tosh's inauspicious
plastic shell beats the heart of a warrior. It has the same Tegra 3 chip as the
Nexus 7 and Acer A700, so everything runs super-smooth on its decent 1280x800
screen. Loads of connections, too. Just don't expect excitement.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
Price: $480
Ratings: 4/5
It's had a year, and all Samsung has done
to the Tab is given it a facelift, downgraded the front-facing camera, added an
SD card slot and cut $150 from the price. Which, actually, is OK by us, as the
screen's excellent and it's acceptably quick in operation.
Huawei MediaPad
Price: $550
Ratings: 4/5
If you're after a small-screened tab,
Huawei's Honeycomb-flavoured 7in MediaPad has that luxury tablet feel, thanks
to its aluminium unibody design, and all the power of its bigger brothers. And
while it may be a little plain, we can't complain with the price tag.
Acer Iconia Tab A700
Price: $625
Ratings: 4/5
On paper, this Acer is nothing short of
awesome: it has a 10.1in, full HD screen, loads of connections and a quad-core
Tegra 3 brain. Oddly, though, it's a bit laggy in use and the shallow gadgeteer
will note that it's fatter and uglier than its foes. Not us, mind you.
Instant expert
Touchscreens are, of course, better than a
poke in the eye with a blunt digit. But if you're a repressed artist, a stylus
will make a huge difference. The problem is, aside perhaps from Samsung's S
Pen, most screen- nibs fall flat. Enter the PressurePen (from US$60,
pressurepen.us), which does what the name suggests. This Kickstarter originated
project is a pressure- sensitive stylus that plugs into your headphone jack and
picks up on a tone that changes depending on the pressure placed on the nib,
which is then relayed to your drawing app. It's an elegant solution - and
because the whole project is open-source, it could prove a cheap one too: the
innards are available for US$30 if you want to 3D print your own, and if you're
a dab hand with a soldering iron (and hate shipping fees), you could make the
whole thing yourself. Easy.
What to look for
Operating system
The OS determines how good a tablet's
interface is, what it's compatible with and how many apps are available for it.
Android 3.x and 4 (ICS) and iOS provide PC-like power; the smartphone- centric
Android 2.x is OK for browsing; BlackBerry's OS multitasks well; and the
Windows tablet experience needs a touch-friendly update which will arrive with
Windows 8.
Processor
Dual-core ARM processors such as Apple's
A5X and Nvidia's Tegra 2 are OK, but quad-core chips such as Tegra 3 are the
future.
Size
Screen dimensions and aspect ratios affect
video cropping and how each device feels in the hand, so try before you buy.
The iPad's screen is vibrant, but rivals offer higher resolution.
Connectivity
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth usually come as
standard; useful sockets such as HDMI and SD do not. 3G can prove pricey.
