Discussion on:

Geek Gifts 2011: Tablet roundup

It's more functional, friendlier and more useful than many people I know. Now, if I could only get it to make a non-VOIP phone call, that would be perfect.

For those still pining for their PDAs, who absolutely do not want an iPDA from Apple (the so-called iPod Touch, which is really a PDA), there's the Archos 43IT with a 4.3 inch screen at 480x854. Available at WalMart.com. If that's still too large, Archos has even smaller ones, the 35 (272x480), the 32 (240x400) and the 28 (240x320) weighs only 2.4 ounces. A bit larger is the 48 with the standard Android phone screen resolution of 480x800.

So if you desire a non-giant Android tablet that has decent performance and build quality, without the Yikes! price of Dell's little one, Archos is pretty much the only game in town.

Though not talked about much, (it just came out), it is the best Windows 7 slate out there. Pretty much a laptop with it's hardware.

I've been following this company since it's inception about 3 years ago. Their tablets allow hot multi-OS switching between Android, Ubuntu, Chromium, and their proprietary Linux based OS. There are 4" and 9" models with optional detachable keyboards. The prices are relatively inexpensive and have some unique hardware and features.

I have yet to try any of them but would be interested to hear if anyone out there has used them and has an opinion about them.

While everybody inside Techrepublic insist in presenting Amazon's Kindle Fire as a tablet, they all avoid the new Nook Tablet from Barnes and Noble. Is B&N so insignificant that it may be ignored? Is that product so bad that - while Coby junk finds a place in this list - it is not considered by any tablet reviewer?
And, an argument regarding existing tablets on the market doesn't hold since the article is dated Nov 14th and, Amazon started delivering the Kindle Fire on 15th.

This article seems to be missing some information, and refering to old information that is no longer true.
How can you mark the Motorola Xoom down because when it came out Google hadn't caught up with the hardware that was supplied? Now it has a fully working SD slot, and flash is pre-installed. If you're in the US, you get prompted out of the box to update to 3.2, so it's not as if people who buy this won't upgrade!
Gamespot aren't really a Tablet manufacturer - as is demonstrated by the fact that they're shipping other people's units - seems strange to even mention them in this list.
Finally, Archos have a whole new line of tablets availiable - the 80 G9 and 101 G9 are far more respectible, specs wise - both running Honeycomb 3.2, which is as up to date as they can be right now.