Gadget of the Year 2011 - Tablets

Tablets have got to be one of the hottest trends of 2011, and what year it has been for this once niche segment. If you look at the market today, you’ll find tablets in various sizes and different price points, there’s something for everyone. While manufacturers dabbled a bit with Windows-based tablets, late last year that now seems like it was just a stop-gap to their main focus, Android tablets. They came in droves right after CES and till now, show no signs of stopping. We’ve tested almost every tablet in the market today and it’s time to rack up the scores. Without further ado let’s countdown to the ‘Tablet of the year’, starting with the second runner up.

Second Runner Up - Reliance 3G Tab
Reliance’s 3G Tab was a real surprise package offering a good feature set for a very affordable price. The only little niggle we had with it was the slightly slower processor and the fact that it was locked into Reliance’s 3G network, but apart from that, it was quite the performer. The 800MHz processor didn’t rear its ugly head too often and Gingerbread ensured a smooth overall experience. While video playback top out at 720p, Reliance have included a Dolby support for the video and audio player, which we feel is a fair trade off. We also quite liked the battery life of this tab. Overall, for a little over 10K, you could have a very usable, 3G tablet for work or play, which has earned it a spot in our list today.

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A very good budget 3G tablet

Some of the highlights of the Reliance 3G Tab include:

• 7-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and USB 2.0

• 3 megapixel fixedfocus camera, video capture up to 640 x 480 resolution

• VGA resolution secondary camera

• 3.5mm earphone socket

• Expandable memory up to 32GB

First Runner Up - Asus Eee Pad Slider
The Slider from Asus blurs the line between a tablet and notebook, however unlike its cousin, the Transformer, this is still very tablet like even when ‘transformed’. Rather than simply creating another clone and shoving it down consumers throats, Asus have listened to the wants of the user and have given them exactly what they need, a tablet for play with a slide-out keyboard for work. Keyboard accessories for tablets are a dime a dozen and still remain an extra piece of tech one needs to lug around. Despite the slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the Sliders remain relatively slim and lightweight. Whats more, you get a full-sized USB port for quick transfer of data. Yes, it’s a bit expensive, but there really isn’t anything like it out there in the market right now, which is why it has earned this spot.

‘Sliding’ its way to second place

Some of the standout features of the Slider include:

• 10.1-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 1280x 800 pixel resolution

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and USB 2.0

• 5 megapixel autofocus camera, video capture up to 1280 x 720 resolution

• 1.2MP resolution secondary camera

• 3.5mm earphone socket

• Expandable memory up to 32GB

GOTY 2011 - iPad 2
No prizes for guessing this year’s winner, Apple’s iPad continues to reign supreme despite having a whole fleet of Android tablets as competition. While we’ve seen some really good Android tablets ( like the ones above), the iPad still manages to give you a better and more pleasing experience. While one of the reasons is a better and more optimized OS, the main reason we feel is the support for dedicated apps for the tablet platform. It’s the same apps you get for the iPhone, but now, every major app has an iPad version, which makes it looks better and is more user-friendly, since there’s more space to play around with. The slim form factor, aluminium body and speedy processor took the original iPad one notch higher, which as you can see was enough to survive 2011.

And the winner is…

Here are some of the highlights of the iPad 2:

• 9.7-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity   

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and USB 2.0

• 0.7 megapixel camera, video capture up to 1280 x 720 resolution

• VGA resolution secondary camera

• 3.5mm earphone socket

Honourable mentions
These are some of the tablets that stood out from the crowd for being unique and different, obviously in a good way.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750
The Galaxy Tab 750 makes the cut, simply due to it’s slim size and lightweight. Besides having an impressive spec list like the other Android tablets, it also supported USB On-the-go out of the box, which earned it brownie points. Also, Touch Wiz UX UI adds a refreshing take on what’s otherwise a rather dull interface of stock Honeycomb. It wasn’t the smoothest of skins (Samsung just can’t seem to get this right), but it was functional and made the tablet lively and vibrant, thanks to its varied colour palette for the icons.

Slim and lightweight

Here are some of the highlights of the Tab 750:

• 10.1-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 1280x 800 pixel resolution

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and USB 2.0

• 3.1 megapixel autofocus camera, video capture up to 1280 x 720 resolution

• 2MP resolution secondary camera

• 3.5mm earphone socket

Asus Eee Pad Transformer
The Transformer, like Slider, gives you the best of both worlds as a tablet and a netbook. Asus weren’t kidding around when then named it as, when it’s docked, you won’t be able to tell the difference from any other netbook. But it’s not merely a fancy attachment, the dock also features a built-in battery that helps charge the tablet when low, thereby boosting the overall battery life, significantly. It also sports a USB port and a memory card reader, just like a netbook.

Best of both worlds

Here are some of the highlights of the Eee Pad Transformer:

• 10.1-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 1280x 800 pixel resolution

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and USB 2.0

• 5 megapixel autofocus camera, video capture up to 1280 x 720 resolution

• 1.2MP resolution secondary camera

• 3.5mm earphone socket

• Expandable memory up to 32GB

We have plenty more GOTY line up for you. What according you was the best tablet in 2011?