All about Tablet Pc

All about Tablet Pc.

Tablets: What to Look For

When deciding which tablet is best for you, consider what you'll use it for. Several tablets offer more entertainment features with high screen resolution, video chat capabilities and strong graphics. Others include multitasking capabilities, long battery life and multiple inputs and ways of connecting to the internet. Our side-by-side comparison chart and objective reviews can help you find the tablet with the features you're looking for.

Below are the criteria Top Ten REVIEWS used to rate these computing devices.

Features
In this section we look at the main functionality of each tablet. A music player, video chat capabilities, a camera, GPS and even a built-in eReader are features you will find in several top products. The operating system is also a critical feature we explore to give you a feel for the interface and navigation.

Hardware
The hardware is an important part of your computing device, and it is essential you know what is available to you. When considering different tablets, you need to look at the processor and make sure it offers the speed you need. Also, the amount of memory is important, especially if you plan on storing your music collection, photos and videos on this device.

Display
The display makes these computing devices unique compared to other computing devices. A responsive touchscreen is a necessity, along with beautiful display resolution, particularly for viewing photos, movies or even playing games. Portability is paramount for a good tablet. And although you definitely want a lightweight device, you have to decide for yourself whether you want a larger screen or a more portable product.

Ease of Use
For a tablet to be worthwhile, it must be easy to use. Some devices include a built-in stand to hold up the product for easy viewing. Others provide a digital pen for easy navigation, especially if you don’t want to use your fingers all the time. But most importantly, the device must be easy enough to navigate that even a tablet beginner won’t have any difficulty.

If you combine all these different elements together, you create the ultimate computing device that gives you access to what you need, whenever you need it.

Most people probably won't give much thought to the processor that comes with a tablet PC. The type and speed of a processor can make a huge difference in the overall functionality of a tablet. Because of this, it should be something that most buyers are at least aware of. In general, companies will probably mention things like the speed and number of cores but it can be a bit more complex than that. After all, two processors with the same base specs may have very different performance. This article takes a look at some of the typical processors used for tablet PCs now how to look at them when considering the purchase of a tablet PC.

ARM Processors

The majority of tablet use a processor architecture that was produced by ARM This company works differently than many others in that it designs the basic processor architecture and then licenses those designs out to other companies that can then produce them. As a result, you can get similar ARM based processors manufactured by a wide range of manufacturers. This can make it a bit more difficult to compared two tablets without having a bit of knowledge.

The most dominant of the ARM processor designs to be used within tablet PCs is based on the Cortex-A. This series is comprised of four different designs that vary in their performance and features. Below is a list of the four models and the features they have:

·      Cortex-A5 - Lowest power consumption, generally single core, frequencies between 300 and 800MHz

·      Cortex-A8 - Modest processor with better media performance than A5, generally single or dual core, frequencies between 600MHz and 1.5GHz.

·      Cortex-A9 - Most popular of the processors, typically dual core but available with up to four, frequencies between 600MHz and 1.2GHz.

·      Cortex-A15 - Newest processor design that is not very common yet, typically dual or quad core, frequencies between 1GHz and 1.5 GHz

As mentioned before, this is just the basis for the ARM based processors. Each manufacturer can make some small changes to the design but for the most part, performance will be very similar between products within the same base design. This means that Apple's A5 and NVIDIA's Tegra 2 which are both based on the Cortex-A9 with dual cores and 1GHz clock speeds will have very comparable base speed. The actual speeds can differ though because of the amount of memory, the operating system run on each platform and the other hardware such as the graphics processor. However, if one processor is based on the Cortex-A8 while another is the Cortex-A9, the higher model will typically offer better performance at similar speeds.

x86 Processors

The primary markets for x86 based processor are tablet PCs that run the Windows operating system. This is due to the fact that the existing versions of Windows are written for this type of architecture. Microsoft will be releasing a special version of Windows 8 called Windows 8 RT that will run on ARM processors but this does have have some big drawbacks that consumers should be aware of that make it different than a traditional Windows 8 tablet.

The two major suppliers of x86 processors are AMD and Intel. Intel is the most frequently used of the two thanks to their low power Atom processors. While they don't have the same levels of efficiencies as ARM based chips, they still provide sufficient performance for running Windows albeit below the level of traditional laptops. This means that they have more in common with netbooks in terms of their capabilities. Now, Intel offers a wide range of Atom processors but the most common series to be use for tablets is the Z series because of its lower power consumption and reduced heat generation. The downside to this is that these processor typically have lower clock speeds that traditional processors which limit their potential performance.

Serious business class tablet PCs are on the market that use the new energy efficient Core i series processors similar to what is used in the new class of ultrabooks which are also being designed now as hybrids of laptops and tablets with the Windows 8 software. This means that they offer a similar level of performance but generally are not as compact or have the same level of running times as the Atom based processors.

AMD also offers several processors that could be used in tablet PCs. These are based on AMD's new Fusion architecture that they like to call an APU or Accelerated Processing Units. At this time, there are just two series of Fusion processors on the market that could be used for a tablet, the C and E series. The C series equates more to the Intel Atom Z series of processors in terms of performance while the E series is closer to the lower end to the Intel Core i ULV processors. A new Z series processor should be hitting the market around the launch of Windows 8 that is more like the ARM processor levels but fully x86 compliant.

Here is a breakdown of the x86 processors in terms of performance from least to most powerful:

·      Intel Atom Z Series

·      AMD Fusion C Series

·      AMD Fusion Z Series

·      Intel Atom N Series

·      AMD Fusion E Series

·      Intel Core i3 ULV Series

·      Intel Core i5 ULV Series

Just remember that the faster the performance of the x86 processor, the more power it will typically consume and the larger the tablet will generally have to be in order to properly cool off the processor. Similarly, it will likely have a shorter battery life due to increased power consumption. Prices will also be more expensive the more powerful the processor is as well.

Why Number of Cores Matter

Most software now is written to take advantage of multiple processors cores. This is referred to as multi-threaded software. The operating systems and software can allocate tasks to be run in parallel between two different cores within a processor to help speed up the performance compared to running on a single core. As a result, a multiple core processor is generally advantageous to a single core processor.

In addition to having multiple cores help speed up a single task, it can make an even bigger difference when the tablet will be used to multitask. A good example of multitasking is using a tablet to listen to music while also surfing the web or reading an e-book. By having two processors over one, a tablet PC should be able to better handle the tasks by assigning each to an individual processor core rather than having to swap both processes between a single processor core.

In terms of numbers of cores, there are also issues. Having too many cores can also increase the size and power consumption of a tablet PC. While it is possible to have up to four cores, most tablet PCs software have a limited set of capabilities that will not really benefit from more than two cores. Four cores would certainly help with multitasking but it won't be as beneficial as most tasks that are run simultaneously are fairly modest in their power consumption where having additional cores is not a noticeable benefit. This may change in the future though as tablets become more widespread and what they are used for evolves.

Another feature that is being introduced into tablet processing is variable processing. This is essentially taking two different processor architecture designs into a single chip. The concept is that one lower power core can take over when the tablet doesn't need to do much work. This helps reduce the overall power consumption and presumably increase battery life. Don't worry, if you still need high performance, it will ramp up by using the larger processing cores as needed.

Google’s Android operating system.

It all depends on what you need from a tablet. Lots of An­­droid models beat the iPad 2 in specific respects. Some have longer battery life, for instance. Others make it easier to get work done. Some are simpler to use with a camera or TV. Others may come in a size that you find more convenient.

Of course, a tablet’s operating system is hugely important. iOS is consistent, polished, and dependable. If you buy Apple’s tablet, however, you also buy into Apple’s universe--and you can use only the apps that Apple okays.

Android gives you more freedom and control (although it doesn’t always work as smoothly). And Android offers several other benefits. For example, Android 3.x Honeycomb was made to take full advantage of larger tablet displays, and it does a better job than iOS 4.x or 5.x in effectively using the screen for notifications, email, Web browsing, and image viewing.

Android is dynamic and customizable. You can tailor the home screens’ look and function. Many apps have live widgets that let you preview email or weather from the home screen, without opening the app. Some tablets have custom apps with navigation shortcuts; Lenovo’s favorite-apps ring stands out, as does Sony’s customizable menu design. In contrast, iOS screens are static; the icons are just graphics that open apps.

You have more Android hardware choices, too. Tablets come in varied screen sizes: 7 inches, 8 inches, 8.9 inches, 9.4 inches, 10.1 inches. Some have screens of a higher resolution than the iPad 2’s display, some offer the option to add more storage with a memory card, and some boast integrated ports.

Android can’t compete with iOS, however, in the number of available apps. More than 100,000 apps are designed to run on the iPad, but at this point it’s unclear how many apps are made specifically for

Android Honeycomb tablets.

It’s difficult to know for sure because Google’s Android Market doesn’t make it easy to find apps created especially for tablets.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Android 4.0 is coming to phones in the next few weeks and to tablets in early 2012, should encourage developers to create more apps that will work on Android tablets. Theoretically the new OS will let developers scale their apps from small screens to large, so one app can serve both phones and tablets. Don’t expect Android 4.0 to be an instant cure, however. It will be some time before you see a jump in the number of apps that properly employ tablets’ larger screens. And finding apps may continue to be a problem: Although Google says the Market returns results that are appropriate for the device you’re searching from, in our experience it’s no guarantee that a listed app will display or work well on a tablet.

Top 10 Tablets

We examined more than two dozen tablets for this roundup, working with each model extensively and running all of them through the PCWorld Labs suite of tablet tests. The iPad 2 is our top choice overall, primarily because of the strength of its app ecosystem and how it allows you to find apps. However, Android tablets­, led by the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, are hot on the trail of our leader, excelling in areas such as enhancing productivity and playing well with other devices

 Top 10 Tablets ranked chart, -http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/collection/8786/top_5_tablets.html

top tablets in media handling, openness and expandability, battery life, productivity, and gaming.

1.     Boxchip AllWinner A10 and A13 ARM Cortex-A8 with Mali-400 GPU. Boxchip has now exploded in popularity among Chinese device makers. It offers a beautifully smooth Ice Cream Sandwich experience for a really low cost. This cheap ARM Cortex-A8 SoC with Mali-400 GPU acceleration for Android 4 ICS might be key to make this solution now very popular.

2.     Rockchip RK3066 Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 with Quad-core Mali-400 GPU .The initial benchmarks I’ve heard about on RK3066 place its performance very high. There are already a range of prototypes with RK3066 inside being shown by a whole range of Rockchip partners. Expect lots new RK3066 devices to be released quickly. The SoC and price difference between this and ARM Cortex-A8 solutions may make this one very popular even for cheap/affordable implementations out of China.

3. MediaTek MT6575 ARM Cortex-A9 with SGX531 GPU. MediaTek looks to dominate the low-cost Android smart phone market out of China. Last year, it was the ARM9 based MT6516 (as in my FG8 phone that only supported 2G Dual-sim, which they then upgraded to the ARM11 based MT6573 with 3G dual-sim about 6 months ago, but now the MT6575 is a single-core ARM Cortex-A9 with full Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich support. The MT6575 is likely going to have a huge influence on the new higher performance yet still cheap Android phones to come in the next weeks and months out of China.

4.       Rockchip RK2906 ARM Cortex-A8 without HDMI for cheap. As with the Boxchip A13 without HDMI, Rockchip now also releases a new lower cost ARM Cortex-A8 skew without HDMI called the RK2906. The thinking might be that many people in China and worldwide do not have a HDMI or do not need the HDMI output, so they may as well design the SoC without HDMI to save another $2-$5 on the bill of material for the device. Rockchip also launched the RK2908 for cheaper ARM Cortex-A8 Set-top-boxes only.

5. AmLogic announced their AML8726-MX Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A9 design. I think I’ve been hearing about a Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 coming from Telechips. But those cannot yet be sighted at the fairs as far as I know.

A bit can be seen featuring the ST-Ericsson U8500 and low-cost skew U8410, I expect several more devices to be shown soon out of China featuring these. Also offering potentially great value Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A9 for smartphones and connected tablets. I think ST-Ericsson wants to position their Dual-core Cortex-A9 to compete with Single-core Cortex-A9 solutions.

AML8726-MX Family Combines 1.5 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore™ processor and Multi-Core MaliTM-400 MP GPU to Provide Industry-Leading Performance, Low Power and Reduced System Cost.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-April.09, 2012-Amlogic, a leading fabless semiconductor company providing solutions for advanced consumer products, today announced the availability of its newest high-performance system on chip (SoC) family, the AML8726-MX. These new SoCs are powered by a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor, a multi-core ARM Mali-400 MP GPU, Amlogic’s industry proven HD video engine, and advanced security technology. The AML8726-MX family supports a wide variety of open-source environments and provides processing power for state-of-the-art gaming, Over The Top (OTT) video playback, new app stores that are increasingly providing content and applications, and can be used at the heart of any connected display device.

Amlogic has been a leading supplier to the advanced application processor market for many years; the AML8726-MX reconfirms the company’s position. This new family of dual-core products includes advanced technology, such as ARM TrustZone® security technology and NEON™ SIMD technology to provide enhanced security, gaming, image and audio processing. During their development, a close cooperation with its partners allowed Amlogic’s engineers to design a hardened Cortex-A9 processor-based SoC operating at speeds above 1.5GHz while using a 40nm low power process. The AML8726-MX family provides Amlogic’s customers with one of the industry’s most cost effective yet highest performance solutions.

“We are pleased to introduce our 3rd generation Cortex-A9 processor-based devices and deliver a solution to the dual-core segment that would require many of our competitors to use a tri-core design.” said John Zhong, CEO of Amlogic. “Our new AML8726-MX family of processors sets the standard that others have to follow; yet again Amlogic has established itself as a market leader not only from an integration and power perspective, but also raw CPU and graphics performance. We are confident that the AML8726-MX family will maintain our leading supplier position to the connected display segment.”

“Amlogic has already established a reputation as an innovative supplier of ARM technology-based solutions,” said Mike Inglis, chief commercial officer, ARM. “The combination of the energy-efficient ARM Cortex-A9 processors and Mali-400 GPUs alongside Amlogic’s own IP and system design expertise has resulted in a SoC that enables a rich media experience. This is particularly suitable for Over The Top (OTT) delivery, 3D Gaming and other Internet applications, all of which are key to the future growth of the tablet, set-top-box and smart-TV markets.”

Amlogic’s new AML8726-MX chips are available now for sampling and AndroidTM 4.0.3 ICS OS-based reference development platforms will be available in late April 2012.
Highlights of the AML 8726-MX family include:

◆A dual-core Cortex-A9 processor achieving over 7500 DMIPS of performance

◆Direct to panel connection with advanced scaling, de-interlacing and picture quality enhancement

◆Industry leading power management technology to extend battery life in mobile applications

◆The ability to run Android 4.0 (ICS), Linux 3.X, OpenGL ES 2.0

Connectivity options provided by the AML8726-MX include 10/100/1000 Ethernet, two USB interfaces, 3-in-1 Card Reader, Analog and digital video outputs, LVDS and TCON with backlight control, digital video and camera interfaces, software driver support for popular external WiFi chipsets.

6. Broadcom can be found just a bit. I hear rumoring of impending Freescale i.MX6 devices, up to quad-core but I guess possibly also great value lower priced Single and Dual-core devices to come.

7. Renesas announced their MP5232 1.5Ghz Dual-core Cortex-A9 with integrated LTE modem back at Mobile World Congress. But I have not yet found devices featuring that. I wonder if they plan to regain Chinese makers interest with a faster low-cost successor to last year’s EV2 533Mhz Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9.

8. Qualcomm seems to have upgraded the MSM7227 with skews that use the new faster ARM Cortex-A5 instead of the previous year’s ARM11. I am not sure if I have noticed that on this trip. I get a bit confused as they still call it MSM7227 or MSM7225, they add a T or an A at the end, I forget, which is the new Cortex-A5 design. Telechips also has a new Cortex-A5 processor which I first saw in March at CeBIT in the Valueplus Tizzbird HDMI stick, but I am also not sure if I have seen any other devices on this trip using that yet.

9. Intel next-generation Atom chip

Intel-based Windows 8 tablets, and share details about their next generation Atom processor, codenamed Clover Trail. The tablets will be built around a dual-core, 1.8GHz Atom Z2760 processor, a close cousin to the Medfield chip used in smart phones. The chip houses a SGX545 graphics core, 1MB of L2 cache, and depending on the configuration tablets with the Z2760 can include NFC and LTE capabilities.

They’ve also tuned down power consumption significantly -- a major drawback with the previous Atom tablet chip, codenamed Oak Trail, which appeared in just a handful of Windows 7 tablets. According to Intel, Windows 8 tablets based on its Clover Trail chip should offer up to 10 hours of use and 30 days in stand by.

Windows 8 tablets from Asus, Lenovo, Samsung and others based on the Atom Z2760 are expected to run $650 and up -- quite expensive for an Atom machine. More powerful variants (with shorter battery life) based on Ivy Bridge will be known as Windows 8 Pro tablets, and come complete with USB 3.0 and 1080p video playback, while Windows RT tablets are powered by ARM chips and won’t run traditional desktop software.

The whole mix is a bit confusing if you ask me. Unfortunately we won’t have a clearer picture of what price range each of these Windows 8 tablets will target until products start arriving next month.

Windows RT Tablets

New Windows RT tablets announced at the IFA trade show in Berlin this week have intensified competition among ARM-based chip makers, which are adding unique capabilities to processors so tablets become more attractive to buyers based on performance and features.

Samsung and Dell announced Windows RT tablets with Qualcomm's dual-core Snapdragon S4 APQ8060A processor, which is built on ARM architecture.

These are the first Windows RT tablets using Qualcomm's chips, while tablets announced earlier in the year, such as Microsoft's Surface and Asustek's Vivo Tab RT (previously called Asus Tablet 600), were based on Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor.

Microsoft is working only with ARM-based chip makers Qualcomm, NVidia, and Texas Instruments for Windows RT on tablets and PCs. Toshiba previously showed a Windows RT tablet based on Texas Instruments' OMAP processor, but the device was scrapped due to a component shortage.

Microsoft has also announced Windows 8 for tablets and PCs based on Intel and Advanced Micro Devices chips. The Windows operating systems will become available Oct. 26, at which time devices like tablets and hybrid laptops are also expected to ship.

Much like Android, the Windows RT ecosystem is fragmented with the OS divorced from the hardware, said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research. Hardware makers are offering unique features in Windows RT devices, and key differentiators could be connectivity, performance and form factors, McCarron said.

Windows RT

Windows RT devices on Qualcomm's S4 chip may provide a better blend of performance and connectivity, while Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 chip may deliver faster overall performance and better graphics, McCarron said. ARM processors are power efficient and will bring long battery life to Windows RT devices, McCarron said.

Windows RT has the look and feel of Windows 8, but Microsoft says that RT has been re-engineered with mobile features like power consumption and instant connectivity in mind. Chips with ARM processors are used in most smart phones and tablets that ship today, and Qualcomm and Nvidia are pitching different features on their chips in order to capture a larger share of the future Windows RT device market.

Dell XPS 10Qualcomm wants to bring smart phone features to Windows RT tablets with its S4 chips, said Luis Pineda, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm. The chip in the Samsung and Dell tablets will bring a wide range of cellular and Internet connectivity features, while also enabling long battery life on tablets, Pineda said.

The S4 chip being used in the tablets has an integrated 3G/4G radio, Pineda said. The S4 chips also have a powerful graphics core, and the integration of all key components helps enable thin and light devices with long battery life, Pineda said. Qualcomm has also announced a quad-core S4 chip for tablets, which will bring more performance to tablets.

Tegra will be the only quad-core processor for Windows RT devices this year, and great graphics performance will bring console-quality gaming to devices, said an Nvidia spokesman via email. The Tegra 3 processor is already being used in some high-performance gaming tablets. Nvidia in the future will offer chips with integrated radios, but for now is working with partners to offer a separate 3G/4G radio on chips.

Intel and AMD

While chip makers in the ARM camp are watching each other closely, the companies also have to contend with x86 processors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, on which the Windows OS has grown up. Beta testers have played with Windows 8 on x86 tablets and PCs for months now, giving it a leg up over Windows RT, which has been shown as a product in development via a few tightly monitored tablet demonstrations at trade shows.

The first choice buyers will make is whether they want Windows 8 or Windows RT, after which they will decide on the device, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.

Both the operating systems have a similar touch user interface, but existing Windows applications will not work on Windows RT devices. Microsoft is trying to make RT attractive to new buyers by bundling desktop Office productivity applications.

As we look past the iPad, the tablet market is poised to become a significant market for chipmakers. And that’s an exciting opportunity for the likes of Nvidia and Qualcomm to seize this new ground from Intel.

ARM-based processors power most of the smartphones and tablets now in the market. And Apple’s A4 processor (an ARM-licensed design) has led the pack in tablets, given Apple’s commanding market lead with the iPad.

But Apple is the sole consumer of the proprietary A4, and with an explosion of tablets coming to market in the next 6 to 12 months, it’s unlikely that Apple and its A4 will continue its total domination.

Tablet device vendors will choose from an array of primarily ARM-based chip suppliers who could be rewarded handsomely if the market takes off as predicted (100 million-plus tablets in the next 1-2 years, 200 million-plus in 3-4 years), and Android-based systems eclipse iPads in sales volumes. (We expect non-Apple tablets to outsell iPads by a factor of three to four within 2-3 years). So the silicon land grab is on!

Nvidia with its ARM-based, dual-core Tegra chip is chalking up some wins for next-generation tablets, and even some high-end smartphones. (LG recently announced Tegra will power its soon-to-be-released tablet running a new version of Android.) Qualcomm, with its Snapdragon chips powering many leading-edge smartphone designs, will be a contender. Intel has set its sights on this market with its Atom chips. The chipmaking giant lacks a substantial vendor base for smartphones, but should never be counted out.

Nvidia, long known for its graphics processors, gambled on the emergence of new mobile devices requiring both processor and graphics capability. It licensed the ARM core and built a graphics engine into a chipset it promoted as being the most advanced low-power, graphics-enabled processor available.

However, its efforts for the past year have gone largely without major success in the smartphone arena. (It had something that momentarily looked like a win with Microsoft’s Kin smartphones, but the devices failed to sell and were pulled off the market within weeks of launch. Windows Phone 7 devices use Snapdragon.) But tablets have larger screens and are much more media-centric than phones, and Nvidia’s recent move to dual-core and its enhanced graphics capability means it is finding new respectability.

Its primary competitor, Qualcomm, has a long presence in the phone business and has been very successful with the Snapdragon in smartphones. But it has fallen behind Nvidia in graphics, relying on a licensed graphics core from Imagination Technologies, which licenses its graphics cores to most ARM producers, including Apple and Intel. That licensing deal means Qualcomm does not completely control its own destiny. Nonetheless, with a who’s who of smartphone vendors buying its chips, it has an advantage winning new business in tablets since all of the major smartphone vendors are expected to have tablet devices to market in the next 6-12 months.

The real turf battle in tablets is between ARM and Intel architectures. Intel’s Atom chips own the market for any Windows-based tablets, since Windows does not currently support anything but Intel. (Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s rewritten mobile operating system, does run on ARM and could eventually make its way to tablets.) But other than Apple’s iPad, the vast majority of tablets will run Android on ARM-based chips. And graphics performance will increasingly become a product differentiator in tablets since media aptitude is such a compelling requirement.

Of course there is no shortage of contenders in the chip wars. Besides Nvidia and Qualcomm, Marvell has made some gains with its ARM-based processors, a business it bought from Intel several years ago, but so far has had less impact in the tablet market than in phones. Samsung’s own chips power its successful Android devices. TI, Freescale, and others have done well in phones but have minimal presence in tablets so far. However lower-end, lower-cost devices may give them an opportunity.

Completely absent so far is longtime Intel rival AMD, which does not have a competitive product for this class of device, and is unlikely to have one in the short term. When it does, it will likely be based on Intel’s architecture, like Intel’s own Atom — a nod to AMD’s long history of providing compatible alternatives to Intel’s designs. With AMD’s graphics prowess, it could potentially rival Intel’s Atom, although I’d expect AMD to have a hard time catching Atom in power-to-performance ratios at this point.

So, this will be a knock-down, drag-out fight. Nvidia needs to be successful in tablets, and 2011 may indeed be the long-promised, long-unrealized year of the Tegra if Nvidia can demonstrate performance and price advantage over Qualcomm’s Snapdragon. The market for standalone graphics chips is shrinking as an increasing share of PCs have central processing units with integrated graphics.

Nvidia needs to find a new high-volume, high-margin market. Tegra in mobile devices just may be the market that provides this opportunity. It will depend on how many chips it can sell and if it can keep margins high in an increasingly competitive tablet market. Nvidia stands to gain handsomely if it can stay ahead of Qualcomm (and Intel) in design wins.

But Tegra will have to work hard to displace Snapdragon as the king of smart devices, and Qualcomm is not standing still with its technology. And Intel has an all-out blitz going to capture market share with newer more competitive Atom designs. This battle is going to get graphic.

Branded Tablets

1.      Amazon Kindle Fire 7 Inch Internet Tablet

The Kindle Fire has Wi-Fi and a full color 7" multi-touch display -- with this tablet you can read books, watch movies, load apps, music, games, handle your email - an "ever increasing in popularity" tablet that won't be going anywhere soon.

2.      Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 Inch Internet Tablet

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 has a 7" screen and Wi-Fi. This tablet comes with preloaded software, such as: contacts, alarm, camera, gallery, photo editor, web browser and even more features that are making this internet tablet a true hit.

3.      ASUS Transformer TF300 10.1 Inch Internet Tablet

Easy to hold with a nice screen, the ASUS Transformer TF300 T-B1-BL 10.1-Inch 32 GB Tablet comes in Blue color. It has the qualities of both a notebook and a tablet with a 10.1 inch screen, ultra-slim (.39" thin) and light (1.4lbs). It has enough space for just about any use that a user could want.

4.      Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Inch Internet Tablet

Keep yourself entertained at home or on the road. Have access to internet and stream media over home network with ultra-fast Wireless-N Wi-Fi, with a 10.1" touch screen. It is designed to fit in one hand, making typing messages and notes easy. It has a virtual QWERTY keyboard and other features that are making it a favorite.

5.      Apple iPad 2 Internet Tablet

The iPad is considered the "master of the tablets," this Apple iPad 2 comes with various specifications, 16GB, 32GB or 64GB and has Wi-Fi. Can also be customized to have AT&T 3G or Verizon 3G. it also available in different colors (black and white).

6.      Blackberry Playbook 7 Inch Internet Tablet

The Blackberry Playbook 7-Inch Tablet standard version comes with a 16GB hard drive and can be upgraded to 32GB or 64GB. With this tablet you have access to the full web and apps can run simultaneously in real time. A great tool for multi-tasking!

7.      Coby Kyros 7 Inch Android Internet Tablet

This Android Internet Tablet has good internet speed, direct access to games and apps, can browse internet, watch videos, check email, listen to music, has e-reader with access to thousands of books. Has a 4GB Internal memory and a microSD port for an additional 32GB space. Another great tablet for multi-tasking.

8.      HP TouchPad 9.7 Inch Internet Tablet

Put this one to work for you - the HP touchpad has 32GB storage. Designed for multi-tasking, automatically groups related activities together. Has an on-screen keyboard, can download movies and TV shows plus other entertainment and helpful features.

9.      Motorola XOOM Android 10.1 Inch Internet Tablet

The Motorola Tablet has Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system. With a 10.1" HD screen and 32GB hard drive, it has the ultra-fast wireless-N Wi-Fi. With a multi-touch, holographic user interface that improves on Android favorites such as widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization. More features with this one as well.

How to Buy the Best Tablet

First Off: Do You Even Need a Tablet?
Simply put, tablets aren't really filling a true need—they're neither replacements for full-fledged computers nor smart phones. A tablet is a touch-screen media device that is actually most similar to a portable media player, but with a larger screen. Many tablets have mobile service features, but they don't make phone calls via a traditional mobile provider. And while you can tackle productivity tasks on an iPad or an Android tablet, you won't get a desktop-grade operating system, like you'll find on a PC. Plus, since we're talking about slates here, there's no hardware keyboard. The main focus of the tablets we'll discuss is media consumption.

Tablets have an advantage over both laptops and phones, offering a portable way to check email, browse the Web, video chat, watch movies, listen to music, and play games, but with a bigger screen with more real estate than your smart phone can provide. Even so, you probably don't need one, but if you want a tablet, read on.

Pick an Operating System
Just like with a full-fledged computer; if you're getting a tablet, you need to pick a side. Right now, the main contenders are Apple with its iPad, and Android with its many hardware choices from the likes of Amazon, Asus, HTC, Samsung, Toshiba, and others. (Check back next year, and Microsoft, with Windows 8, its tablet-friendly Metro interface, could be a serious contender.)

Apple's iOS is the mobile platform used by the iPad, as well as the iPhone and iPod touch. On the iPad, iOS works very similarly to the way it does on the iPhone, with certain tweaks to take advantage of the tablet's larger 9.7-inch screen. The built-in iPod app on the iPad, for instance, has an extra side menu for additional navigation options that wouldn't fit on the iPhone's screen. Generally speaking, the great strength of Apple's iOS is twofold: it's very intuitive, and the wide selection of iPad apps that you can buy right on the tablet—more than 200,000 iPad-specific titles at the time of this writing—work uniformly well with very few exceptions.

Google's mobile OS, Android, is a more complicated story. Besides having your choice of hardware from several manufacturers, there are a few iterations of Android floating around on tablets right now. The latest version, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which merges Gingerbread (the phone OS) with Honeycomb (the tablet OS) into a single operating system for all Android devices, was released back in November, but we've only seen it on a couple of tablets so far.

Most manufacturers have made the move to Honeycomb, but some are still making tablets with previous versions of Android that are meant for phones with smaller screens. Amazon with the Kindle Fire, and Barnes and Noble, with its Nook Tablet, each use its own highly customized version of Gingerbread, which, for the most part, in the cases of these smaller 7-inch tablets, is successful. 

But for larger screen tablets, ideally, you want Android 4.0. The good news is that most Honeycomb tablets will be upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich. Just when is the question. Android is infamous for painfully slow OS updates.  

Source of Information by:

Discount Cheap Tablets Features Comparison Table -http://www.cheapism.com/cheap-tablets/discount-cheap-tablets

Sorting-out-the-china-android-tablet-market -http://www.squidoo.com/sorting-out-the-china-android-tablet-market

video-blogging-at-4-conferences-in- -hong-kong-and- china -http://armdevices.net/2012/04/27/highlights-from-my-2-weeks-of-video-blogging-at-4-conferences-in-shenzhen-hong-kong-and-guangzhou-china/

By Jose Vilches - http://www.techspot.com/community/staff/jos.81017/

By Mark Kyrnin- http://compreviews.about.com/bio/Mark-Kyrnin-8976.htm

By Agam Shah –PCWORLD.com- http://www.pcworld.com/author/Agam-Shah

 tablets-graphics-chips  -http://venturebeat.com/2010/11/10/tablets-graphics-chips/#wfUPp7aElWDTa7Te.99