The Tablets Are Coming. Here Are Four You Should Be Eyeing

It seems as though everyone wants in on the new technology fad. Tablets. There have been rumors flying around about any and all companies trying to get their hand in on this new department. So of course there are a few that are supposedly leading the revolution.

Apple Tablet -

The mythical Apple tablet created the biggest buzz and might have alerted other companies to the growing opportunity and competition in this niche of computers. Rumors started flying about a rumored 10″ screen with an OS that either reminds you of a big iPod touch or a rather interesting portrayal of Snow Leopard. Although we were all “sure” that this new tablet was going to be announced in the Fall Apple event, no tangible evidence of the fairytale computer exists. Although if it is out there somewhere, with this set of specs and a rumored (lot’s of rumors ain’t it?) $800 price tag, I’d pick one up. Then again it’s Apple, so who wouldn’t?

Microsoft Courier-

Well we couldn’t expect Apple to take the glory without a fight. So who do we expect to step in. Well Microsoft of course. This new courier brings a whole new type of user interaction with their computers. In the video preview by Microsoft, the Courier leaves you wanting a little more. But besides the brilliant marketing, at least there is something tangible to look forward to. You will be able to manipulate pieces of webpages and basically anything you want to take notes of. I feel like this will be perfect for researchers and other reporter type jobs. Overall pretty amazing looking although there is no launch date or even prototype date set.

Courier User Interface from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Archos 9 Web Tablet-

The Archos 9 is the closest to market of all of the tablets on this list. The Archos 9 sports a 9″ resistive touchscreen (why resistive? why?) with a 1024 x 600 resolution display. However this may be more than just a tablet but rather a computer. It has a 120gb hard drive, camera (which will be great for video conferencing), Atom processor, and of course Wifi. The Archos 9 tablet has a planned release date of October 22nd and will be running on the glorious Windows 7 operating system. The set price is said to be at $499 which seems fair enough for a tablet and will definitely be cheaper than the mythical Apple tablet.

Crunchpad-

I will credit the Crunchpad with the resurrection of the concept of the tablet computer. A while back Michael Arrington of TechCrunch got inspiration for a simple web tablet, and a very elegant one at that. The following video shows the elegant 12 inch screen against a flush body. You can choose one of three colors based on this video and it looks to be priced cheaper than previous the previous tablets. Definitely worth checking out for guaranteed great lounge-around-the-house days.