Last week’s Mobile World Congress must have sent tabulaphiles (tablet lovers, for the Latin- and Greek-challenged) to a place equivalent to Shangri-la, Nirvana, and oasis rolled into one.
The Barcelona tech show just became the launching pad for some of the best and most impressive tablets. Outside the iOS realm, some pundits are likely to promptly add.
Sony Xperia Tablet Z
Sony ditched the weird when it unleashed its latest Android tablet, the Xperia Tablet Z. Unlike the Tablet S of a year or two ago, the Z comes in a conventional rectangular body. Its impressive list of features, however, makes the Z almost as unique as its older stable-mate was.
Sporting a couple of cameras, a rear-facing shooter that comes with an 8-megapixel resolution and Sony’s proprietary camera technology — Exmor R for Mobile image sensor with Burst mode and Sweep panorama feature, the Z can shoot 1080p HD videos. It also has a 2.2-megapixel front-facing camera.
Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and upgradeable to 4.2 post-launch, the Z comes packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core 1.5GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. Available in 16GB and 32GB versions, the Z includes a built-in micro SD slot, which allows for memory expansion up to 64GB.
The Z comes with a 10.1-inch HD display.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Its display comes with a 1280 x 800-pixel resolution and a 198-pixel per inch density to edge out the iPad mini’s 163 PPI.
The Galaxy Note 8’s having a screen with the same size as that of the small iPad’s 8-inch display somehow makes it seem like Samsung is again copying Apple.
Well, it might be or might be not, but this does not take anything away from the fact that the latest tablet from Samsung is one cool gadget.
With a 1.6GHz quad-core A9 processor for its brain and 2GB of RAM, the Note 8 is one quite capable tablet.
Asus Fonepad
This Android 4.1-running tablet is one curious animal.
Although it comes with a 7-inch display like almost every other tablet in the market today, the Fonepad from Asus comes with not a few features that help differentiate it from the rest.
In addition to its WXGA (1280 x 800-pixel) screen, the Fonepad comes with an Intel Atom Z2420 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. Buyers may choose between the 8GB and 16GB versions, but whichever they opt for, they will have access to 5GB more of storage via the Asus Webstorage online storage service.
Moreover, the Fonepad tablet is also a telephone.
Its wireless capabilities include HSP+, WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100, EDGE/GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and WiFi b/g/n, as well as Bluetooth 3.0.
Other connectivity options include micro USB, 2-in-1 audio jack, micro SD slot capable of reading cards up to 32GB, and a 3.5mm headphone socket. It also includes several sensors, such as GPS, G-Sensor, E-compass, and proximity sensor.
Asus claims this tablet’s Li-polymer battery offers up to 9 hours of life.
There are other tablets recently launched by their respective vendors. These three, however, have created the most buzz so far.
That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.