September 29, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team
These days tablet devices are hot items for the holiday season, here is a roundup of some of the top contenders on the market for the remainder of 2011.
Apple iPad 2
The iPad is currently dominating all other tablet competitors with a 73 percent market share. iPad users get access to millions of songs, TV shows, movies, and other content available through iTunes as well as more than 90,000 apps available from Apple’s App Store. The iPad 2 has the most rugged specs of any tablet on the market with an A5 processor and up to 64GB of internal storage space. The tablet also has built-in front and rear cameras, a nearly 10-inch touchscreen display, and optional 3G functionality.
Apple’s iPad 2 is priced from $499-$799 based on the amount of storage space, 16GB-64GB, and Internet capability, Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi with 3G. There is no doubt that the iPad is the most versatile and most highly desired tablet on the market. Customers willing to spend a little more for a tablet with high storage space and 3G functionality will think Apple is the way to go when choosing a tablet for their shopping cart this holiday season.
Amazon Kindle Fire
Amazon’s highly anticipated entry into the tablet market, the Kindle Fire, was unveiled Wednesday. Don’t be fooled by the name, the Fire is much more than just an ereader. The tablet allows access to all Amazon content including books, music, movies, TV shows, apps, and games. The current model, shipping November 15, uses Wi-Fi for Internet access and a 3G version has not been announced. A new Fire will come with a free 30-day of Amazon Prime, the subscription that allows access to 11,000 titles of video streaming content and unlimited two-day shipping on all shopping cart orders.
The Fire runs on Android but has a highly customized interface unique to the device. It features a seven-inch touchscreen display with a battery life of up to eight hours for steadily streaming content as well as 8GB of internal storage. There is no camera or microphone built into the device, so no video calls from the Fire. What the Kindle Fire lacks in features, it makes up for with its affordable price, launching at just $199. Users looking for less bang for less buck will likely consider the Kindle Fire, with its access to endless hours of Amazon content, a reasonable choice over Apple’s iPad 2 for their holiday wish lists.
BlackBerry Playbook
At first glance the BlackBerry Playbook looks a lot like the new Kindle Fire, and there are some definite similarities like the seven-inch touchscreen and Wi-Fi only Internet access. The Playbook also shares some features with the iPad 2 such as built-in front and rear cameras and storage options from 16GB-64GB. The tablet runs on the BlackBerry Tablet OS and has very limited apps available. Research in Motion, the Playbook’s developer, has said that an Android app player will become available for the tablet, allowing access to some Android apps.
The BlackBerry Playbook is available on ecommerce solutions for around $350-$600, depending on the model, but many retailers are slashing the price due to lack of popularity. The Playbook is a nice device for viewing multimedia or browsing the Internet but has very limited access to apps and content. At the current prices, shoppers will most likely bypass this product and opt for the higher utility of the iPad 2 or the affordability of the Kindle Fire.
Barnes & Noble Nook Color
The Nook Color is Barnes & Noble’s tablet and the most upgraded version of the Nook ereader. Like the Kindle Fire, it has a seven-inch touchscreen, 8GB storage, and built-in Wi-Fi. It also has access to Barnes & Noble’s Nookbook store for access to ebooks but doesn’t have the same availability of audio or video content that the Fire or iPad have. The Nook Color only runs its own apps, of which there are less than 1000.
One feature that the tablet has that others don’t is expandable storage in the form of micro SD cards up to 32GB. The Nook Color runs on an Android operating system and uses a customized Android browser. The tablet retails on ecommerce solutions for $249, making it a cheap alternative to an iPad. However, with less functionality and access to multimedia content than its closest competitor in price, the Kindle Fire, it remains to be seen how well the Nook Color does against the competition over the next few months.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9
The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is Samsung’s latest Android tablet running on the Honeycomb OS and is set to ship at the beginning of October. It is similar in size and appearance to Apple’s iPad with an 8.9-inch touchscreen that has plenty of potential for video watching and Web browsing via Wi-Fi. The tablet also allows users access to all of the apps available through the Android Marketplace.
The Galaxy Tab 8.9 has front and back cameras and comes with either 16GB or 32GB of built-in storage as well as expandable storage with an up to 32GB micro SD card. The battery life lasts up to 10 hours of continuous playback time. Samsung’s newest Android tablet will mainly be competing with the iPad for space in shopping carts this holiday season and is priced at $469 and $569 for the 16GB and 32GB models respectively.
Gavin is a graduate of Washington State University where he studied Communication with a public relations emphasis. He left Pullman behind and currently resides in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle where you might run into him at happy hour. When he is not writing something for ZippyCart he enjoys travelling. His favorite film is Pulp Fiction (Say what again. Say what again, I dare you, I double dare you...! ) and his favorite movie genre is zombies. Follow him on Twitter: @_gdonnelly
