Saturday, August 6, 2011

Android Tablet: What Will Next Generation Tablets Look Like And What Can They Do

For the moment, the tablets running on Android are in a sort of a holding pattern.  Just about everyone who makes Android smartphones are also tablet makers as well.  You have the Tab from Samsung, Flyer from HTC, and then there's the Xoom from Motorola.

Acer and Asus also have their own devices running Honeycomb.  They mostly sport the Nvidia Tegra 2 chips with a similar body and UI that offers very little differentiation.  And it probably has a lot to do with complying with Google's guidelines at the moment on the use of Honeycomb.

But without some differentiation (which is not the same as fragmentation), all the tablets will look and feel the same.  Samsung is bring its own UI made famous on the Galaxy S.  I am certain that others will do the same as well.

That much is what we know.  What I like to know is what's new and how are they going to be different from the currently tablets on the market and what will we see that could appeal to users and maybe even cause some iPad users to defect.

Right now, a large number of Android users also iPad owners.  I applaud this because it shows that there is no fanboyism among the general population of mobile warriors.  At the same time, there is no data to support this.

It's could be that the Android users who also uses the iPad are those with carriers that do no carry the iPhone.  Or it could be that Google's tablet solutions are so far lacking (for instance, the lack of an iPad sized library of apps to choose from).

Whatever the case, it would be very important to the tablet market that Google is able to find a way to some differentiation in the market, not just between its mobile platform and those of its competitors but also among the Android tablet makers as well.

Yes, competition between Android makers is also a good thing for us.  Also, I like to see the next generation tablets run on more than just Nvidia's chips.

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