Upcoming tablets to look out for

2011 is almost coming to an end, but there’s still a whole bunch of gadgets that haven’t hit the shelves yet. Today, we’ll take a closer look at some of the upcoming Android tablets that we hope to see before the world, we mean year ends.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 or Tab 730
After the success of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 or 750 as it’s known in India, the next big thing or should we say smaller thing, is the Tab 8.9 or the 730. While both tablets were announced at the same time, we still haven’t seen the smaller sibling.

A good portable option

The great thing about the Tab 730 is that it’s almost identical to the 750 but it’s smaller, thus making it a lot more portable. The  tablet is powered by a 1GHz Tegra 2 processor and runs Samsung’s very own TouchWiz UX interface. It also has full HSDPA and HSUPA 3G support. The following are some of the highlights of the tablet:

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• 8.9-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution

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

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and USB 2.0

• 3.1 megapixel autofocus camera with an LED flash that can capture 720p videos

• 2MP secondary camera

• 3.5mm earphone socket

• 16GB of internal memory

LG Optimus Pad
LG is simply following the natural state technology evolution and has taken their mobile handset 3D technology to the tablet. Their LG Optimus Pad is designed for users looking for a larger mobile 3D experience over and above a mobile handset.

3D on a tablet, that’s how LG rolls

With a 1GHz Dual-Core processor and Android Honeycomb running things, the Optimus Pad should prove to be quite a contender in the tablet race. LG has also made sure that your regular media capabilities are unhindered by providing DivX and XviD codecs with the device so reading standard AVI files on the go shouldn’t be an issue.

• 8.9-inch 3D ready LCD capacitive touchscreen with a 1280 x 768 pixel resolution

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

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth with A2DP and USB 2.0

• Dual 5 megapixel cameras with an LED flash that can capture 1080p videos in 2D and

• 720p HD videos in 3D mode (Stereoscopic)

• 2MP secondary camera

• 3.5mm earphone socket

• HDMI out

• 32GB of internal memory

Sony Tablet S
Sony is a late comer in the tablet game and with the announcement of the Tablet S, they have jumped in head first. The company has not let any of their competitors overshadow them and have included cutting edge specifications in their first ever tablet.

For the sophisticated type

This slate runs on Android Honeycomb and is powered by a Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 NVIDIA Tegra2 processor. Apart from this, the tablet features a universal IR remote that allows you to control your TV, Blu-ray disk player, etc. and Sony Entertainment Network, which features Sony’s services such as Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited. One can also play PlayStation certified games.

• 9.4-inch capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800

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

• Bluetooth version 2.1

• 5 Megapixel AF camera with 720p video recording

• Front facing 0.3 Megapixel camera

• 16/32 GB internal storage along with Micro SD card support up to 32GB

• 3.5 mm handsfree socket

• MicroUSB

ASUS Padfone
The never ending argument is whether screen size is more important or portability. The ASUS’ Padfone concept has been around a while now, and it’s only recently that we saw ASUS’ top man Jonney Shih showing off the Padfone. Turns out, the Padfone will make itself pubic in Q1 2012.

Is it a phone or a tablet? You decide

The tablet-phone combinations brings the best of both worlds. When you’re out travelling, a simple phone is all you need. Get back to your office or home, and you can easily dock the phone into the tablet. It will enable you to have more flexibility as well as have an extended battery life thanks to the battery in the docking tablet.

• 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen (Phone - 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen)

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0

• 5 Megapixel camera

• Memory expandable up to 32 GB via microSD card

• 3.5 mm handsfree socketLenovo Le Pad
  The Le Pad is Lenovo’s attempt at making a device that can run both Windows as well as Android. The Le Pad comes with a 1.3GHz Snapdragon processor and the dock is loaded with Intel’s Core i5 processor with a clock speed of 1.2GHz.

  A cool concept but will it ever ship?

  As a standalone device, the Le Pad is a 10.1-inch Android tablet running on Froyo and users need to simply dock the slate to turn it into a Windows netbook. The Hybrid Switch feature ensures that the switch between the two operating systems is instantaneous. It’s an interesting device and with two OS’ bundled in, functionality is definitely doubled.

  • 10.1-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 1280x800

  • Qualcomm SnapDragon 1.3GHz processor

  • Android Froyo 2.2 OS

  • 1GB RAM memory

  • 32GB Flash memory

  • Intel CULV Core i5-540M 1.2GHz (Dock)

  • Windows 7 Home Premium (Dock)

  • 2GB DDR3 RAM (Dock)

  • 320GB 5400rpm 7mm SATA (Dock)

  • 2MP camera

  • USB 2.0 and HDMI 

    So, which one are you most anxious to get your hands on?