A second wave of Android Honeycomb tablets is due to hit shelves over the coming months. Announced this week at the IFA conference in Berlin, there’s the Galaxy Tab 7.7 from Samsung, (essentially a smaller version of the highly rated Galaxy Tab 10.1) Sony’s long awaited S1 and Tablet P (nee the S2) devices and the Toshiba AT200 which has a 10.1-inch screen is an amazing 7.7mm thin.
All of these Honeycomb tabs look pretty interesting in their own right. Here’s a quick round up of them all, listing all of their key features and vital stats.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
On paper, this looks to basically be a Galaxy Tab 10.1 with a 7.7-inch screen. If that’s the case then we can’t see why this one won’t fly off the shelves; we love the Tab 10.1 and can see this being a hit with those who want something a bit more portable.
The Tab 7.7 will come with the TouchWiz additions (including the neat built-in screengrab tool) on top of Honeycomb 3.2 and that screen is a Super AMOLED Plus jobbie with a res of 1280 x 800.
You get 1080p video playback, natch, while the battery promises 10 hours of video playback.
Internal memory weighs in at 32GB and you get a 3-megapixel main camera with a 2-megapixel one round the front. Like the original Galaxy Tab that shipped with Froyo, you’ll also be able to make voice calls on the Tab 7.7, though you will run the risk of looking like a Dom Joly wannabe.
Unlike the Tab 10.1, Samsung hasn’t skimped on the connections this time round; you get microUSB and microSD along with a proprietary port for charging and data.
Read our Samsung Galay Tab 7.7: hands on and first impressions
Toshiba AT200
Like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, Toshiba’s impressive sounding AT200 gives you microUSB and microSD ports and throws in an HDMI connection as well.
Camera-wise, it matches the Tab 7.7 in the megapixel stakes at least – 5-megapixels for the main unit and 2 for the front-facer. With a staggering thinness of just 7.7mm – the world’s slimmest Android slate to date – the its a wonder Toshiba found room for any connections on the AT200.
The screen measures 10.1-inches across, underneath which hums a 1.2GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4430, a hefty 1GB of RAM and 64GB of memory. Nice specs – but how much will this all cost?
Stated battery life is an impressive 8 hours, around what you get with the iPad 2 but pipped slightly by the Tab 7.7’s purported 10 hours. Proof, as they say, will be in the pudding. Or in our case, the reviews.
Though the Wi-FI only versions will ship with Android 3.1, we understand that the Wi-Fi and 3G ones come with 3.2 loaded already.
Read our Toshiba AT200 hand-on and first impressions
Sony Tabet S
Sony has really gone for something different with the design of its Android tablets. Whether or not this folded magazine shape works in real life remains to be seen. But you have to tip the hat to Sony for trying something new.
Shapes aside, you get a 9.4-inch screen with the Tablet S, along with 5 and 3-megapixel cameras back and front. Along with 1GB of RAM, Nvidia’s 1GHz Tegra 2 chip is running everything under the hood.
What’s more is the fact that the S is PlayStation Certified, meaning you’ll be able to access all of the PS1 content available for the Xperia Play, which you can play on with the touchscreen or with a connected PS3 Sixaxis controller.
You’ll also get access to a plethora of music via Qriocity, ebooks via the Reader Store and there’s also the neat-sounding Throw feature. This should allow you to ‘throw’ content from the S1 tablet to compatible Sony TV sets; Tegra Zone games on a big TV could be very nice indeed.
Pricing for the Sony S1 has already been announced, starting at £399.99 for the Wi-Fi model, £499.99 for the 16GB 3G option and the same for the 32GB Wi-Fi-only tablet.
Dixons have the 16th of September down as a release date for the 16GB with Wi-Fi version and the 23rd of September for the 32GB with Wi-Fi version. No ETA announced for the 16GB Wi-Fi and 3G have been revealed yet.
Likewise, its only been announced that the Sony S will run on Honeycomb 3.1 – we’d assume that the other would run on at least this as well.
View our Sony S Tablet pictures
Sony Tablet P
This is the most interesting-looking Android tablet we’ve seen so far. Design-wise it has more in common with Nintendo’s DS range than any of the other devices here.
The Sony Tablet P comes with two separate 5.5-inch touchscreens stuck into a foldable compact design, rather than a big 10.1 single. Perhaps ‘Tablet’ is a slightly misleading name then…
Like the S1, you’ll get access to all manner of Sony-branded media goodness, such as music, books and PlayStation content. We like that you get virtual PlayStation controls ported to that bottom screen, with all the gaming action taking place up top. Bring on Minecraft Pocket Edition we say.
Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chip is all present and correct here, but you get just 512MB of RAM. This means that it won’t be able to power through tasks as efficiently as the other devices here.
The Sony Tablet P has two cameras, a 5-megapixel main camera and a VGA one on the front. You get 4GB of internal storage built in, but there’s also the option to expand this through the microSD card slot.
There’s been no word on which version of Honeycomb the Tablet P will ship with, but if it’s 3.1 we’d expect there to be scope to upgrade to 3.2.
Coming this November, the Sony Tablet P will set you back £499.
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