Know iPad alternatives

Microsoft’s Bill Gates talked about tablet computing as the future of the PC, more than a decade ago. However, nothing much materialized till 2010 when iPad entered the scene. Since, then it has been raining tablets and every hardware manufacturer is building one.

I own an iPad and love it. While the iPad is awesome, it has got plenty of limitations.

1. It is quite bulky – at 1.5 lbs and 9.5 inches in length, an iPad is a bad mobility choice for many.
2. Unlike the Amazon’s Kindle Fire it is a little hard to get content into the iPad. Except for the iTunes route or though email it is hard to get even a simple document into your device.
3. There are no communication ports. So you want to connect your external hard drive, camera or another device, you are out of luck.
4. At around $500 it is quite expensive.

So, if you are not yet ready for an iPad and still want to join the tablet revolution, here are your choices.

Best iPad alternatives

non-Android tablets

1. Amazon Kindle Fire – This is the best iPad alternative and is a top seller. Amazon has taken the Android opensource code and has modified it extensively. At $199 it is a steal and at 7 inches long it is easy to hold. It is great for browsing the web and buying Amazon’s digital goods – Kindle books, movies etc. In fact, Amazon has subsidized the tablet to make you buy more on Amazon.com. Here is a detailed review of the Kindle Fire. Its only trouble is that there are not many apps for it unlike the iOS and Android platforms.
2. Blackberry Playbook – For those who like Blackerry this is a great tablet and allows you to check mail and other things you typically do in a Blackerry mobile. Its design is extensively copied in Amazon Kindle Fire and thus its uniquness is not longer there. See a detailed review on the playbook here.

Android Tablets

1. Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 – It is touted as an iPad Killer and though it has not lived up to the name it is still cool looking device that has a great battery life. It has a 3.2MP rear facing camera and a 1.3MP front facing camera for video conferencing. Here is a detailed review in Engadget.
2. Barnes & Noble Nook – It is slightly bigger and costlier than the Kindle Fire, and like the Kindle it target the readers market. It has better display and RAM than Kindle Fire. Here is a detailed review of the Nook in Engadget.
3. Asus Transformer Prime – One of the surprise hits from Asus, this tablet weighing 580g is light and at $499 it is slightly cheaper than the iPad. The best part about this is dock to attach external keyboard and speakers and the ability to expand storage from the default 32 GB.
4. Motorola Xoom 2 – It has got a good camera and is 4G LTE enabled to give you lightening speed browsing. Here is a detailed Xoom review.
5. Toshiba Thrive 7 – It is yet another 7 inch Android tablet and its distinctive advantage is its superior display that plays great video and its HDMI ports & SD slots that allows you to expand the memory and connect external devices. It has got a Nvidia Tegra dual core processor and has got a nice camera with a flash. Here is a detailed review in Yahoo.
6. Sony Tablet S – It runs Android Honeycomb release and its unique feature is its design that allows easier holding and carrying. It has been praised widely for its design, though the sales have not picked up due to the higher price.

Image source: Courtney Boyd Myers