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Due to popular demand, we are back with a follow-up to our BlackBerry PlayBook, Dell Streak 7, Apple iPad, and Motorola Xoom infographic. After a handful of press conferences which dished out plenty of information, we finally have the full scoop on four new unreleased tablets: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Apple iPad 2, HP TouchPad, and LG G-Slate. Two of these run on Android 3.0 Honeycomb, one on iOS 4.3, and another on webOS 3.0 making it a great mash-up. Without any further ado, enjoy:
For those wondering, we are only comparing out of the box features. We also referenced official documents from the respective manufacturers for this comparison. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments and we will try our best to answer them or find someone else who can.
Also, we appreciate feedback about any errors, suggestions for improvements, or ideas for another infographic. To let your friends and family know, use the floating share box off to the right. To stay updated about upcoming infographics, just subscribe to Skatter Tech by email, a RSS feed, or through a social network. On that note, are you ready for a tablet? Which one are you considering?
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Does the iPad 2 really only have a “circa 2004” 1MP rear camera? Profit margins much? Let me guess, the iPad 3 will have a “revolutionary” 3MP camera.
Ah, did a little more digging and the 1MP camera is just a rumor. Given that, I doubt it will have something that low. It seems more likely that they would use the same 5MP backlight illuminated rear camera and VGA front camera as in the iPhone 4. It’s been rumored that the iPhone 5 will be using the same rear camera as it has better low-light performance than competing 8MP cameras. I’d be surprised if a company that advertised itself as being hip with art crap would stuff such low end hardware in one of their most successful products. The profits margins between cameras would never be worth the bad rep.
“I’d be surprised if a company that advertised itself as being hip with art crap would stuff such low end hardware in one of their most successful products.”
They didn’t really advertise their camera resolution. Before you label it as lies and rumors, take a look at the information on the Apple website:
“Back camera: Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio; still camera with 5x digital zoom
Front camera: Video recording, VGA up to 30 frames per second with audio; VGA-quality still camera”
A VGA camera has 640 x 480px resolution, or .3 MP. That’s enough to do what it was meant to do: video chat. The back camera has 720 lines of resolution, so the still image is somewhere around 1280 x 720px or 1 MP. It DOES seem incredibly low, but I think the resolution is reasonably believable. A tablet doesn’t need a high resolution camera; we have smaller devices better suited for that purpose.
Of course, if Apple wants to put out more details on their camera resolution to prove me wrong, I will happily update the graphic.
Look, I wasn’t trying to slam you for it, but since you’re defending your stance…
That information doesn’t say anything about the camera sensor, you’re purely speculating. Being able to do 720/30p means it has /at least/ a 1MP rear camera, not necessarily 1MP exactly. No mobile camera on the market is capable of more than 1080/60p (1920×1080=2073600, ~2MP), yet we have 8MP sensors. It comes down to bandwidth and light sensitivity–most 1MP cameras are poor performers, not to mention they won’t be able to shoot 720p while digitally zoomed and will take useless stills. So, no, I don’t think it’s reasonably believable.
You’re defending conjecture; your guess is as good as mine–the difference is that you’re an author presenting it as fact, with poor practical evidence to boot. In a side-by-side comparison, speculation need not be included unless noted as such. At best, it looks like bias, at worst, bad reporting. If I’m wrong, I’ll eat my words, if you’re wrong, it diminishes the integrity of the site.
kep,
You make a good point about the rear camera sensor. I misinterpreted Apple’s [sparse] specifications, and in retrospect it was a bad idea to include that in the graphic. I’ll remove it from the graphic until the actual resolution is revealed.
Looks like Galaxy Tab 10 ftw!
Hurry up, Samsung. Don’t pull a ThunderBolt and delay, delay, but also don’t pull a Xoom and launch an unfinished product.
G-slate has a 8’9 inch screen, not 7 !
Thank you. The rest of the information on the screen resolution is correct for now, and an updated graphic will appear shortly.
1. Wrong type of CPU fro iPad 2 – it is Apple A5 (in theory) not A4. 2. HDMI for GT 10.1 has not been confirmed either way – maybe it will have it.. 3. SD card reader for GT 10.1 has not been confirmed or denied. 4. It should be mentioned that mobile hotspot by Apple will only work with Apple devices and no others.
We are issuing a correction for hotspot shortly. You are correct, iOS 4.3 has the feature but it will only appear on iPhone, not iPads. We already issues a fix for the iPad processor a few minutes ago.
I thought the processor was the A5, not the A4? Also it may be worth comparing the amount of apps actually designed for pad use (not just iPhone or Android phone apps that happen to work).
On the camera thing: I don’t get the complaint about the resolution of the iPad 2 camera. Who the hell is going to be running around taking snapshots with a 10″ pad? It’s there for video conferencing, and a 5MP camera would be serious overkill for that.
It’s not as much the resolution as it is the quality of an off-the-shelf 1MP camera. Unless it’s been purpose built, the light sensitivity and bandwidth would be awful, leading to highly compressed images with high noise. When the competitors have up to 8MP with 720/60p and 1080/30p capture, the iPad would stand seriously outclassed. Also, think of the apps that require a camera…they would be crippled. For all intents and purposes, a 1MP rear camera is a “why bother?”. Why bother having a rear camera at all if it’s unusable for what a rear camera is for: taking pictures and video?
You are right about the processor. The update will appear later today.
The iPad 4 has dual A5 processors not A4.
Sorry for the error, it has been updated!
This is a beautiful grid. But to really make this the ultimate in beauty, need to gather current prices, like wifi only 32g, 64g 3g, etc…pricing is very important to shoppers, but this really was very nice.
Hey everyone,
We made a few mistakes and the corrections have been finally updated. (I was sick and ended up bed ridden for about 2 days.)
The changes include:
Apple iPad Processor A4 -> A5
LG G-Slate Screen Size 7 inch -> 8.9 inches
Very nice. This is a great graphic, thanks for the work. That said I think prices would be great…without subsidy though as that is Apples to Apples (no pun intended). Totally agree with other comments on the resolution of the camera…not really all that relevant as long as it does HD video. One interesting thing though is that everyone (not necessarily here) has been whining about the fact that the iPad screen res remains the same, but I haven’t heard anyone complaining about the xoom screen res which is the exact same.
Hey Dave,
Regarding screen resolution, the new iPad 2 has a 1024 x 768 pixels. The Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 both have 1280 x 800 pixels. That means that Apple has a slightly lower ppi on their display, but they are using an IPS screen which is a better technology than the TFT screens on the majority of tablets. This equates to significantly better viewing angles, colors, etc.
Thanks. Very interesting.
include official accessories
1: Smart Cover
2: Digital AV Adapter
3: Camera Connection Kit
4: Wireless Keyboard
5: VGA Adapter
6: USB Power Adapter
7: Earphones with Remote and Mic
http://www.apple.com/ipad/accessories/
Each and every one of those tablets has device specific accessories. For instance, the HP TouchPad uses a TouchStone for wireless charing and syncing. It wouldn’t make sense to add a point for it and not for others. The same logic applies to each of the tablets.
We are focusing on comparing categories that are standardized/comparable features.
The accessories are nice, but may be too much info which may make the grid too busy. Pricing is still the main deal killer and deciding factor for me, I suspect it is for many others too. Maybe make a column that has a link to the accessories, if the buyer wants to research that on their own.
Convert Flash to HTML5 (2011)
http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/wallaby.html
i feely pity for HP touchpad which has only 5k apps :D
anyways very informative infographic ;)
thanks Ian for a great share
There’s a row for “available apps” but why not one for “tablet-optimized apps”? Trying to avoid juxtaposing iPad’s 65,000 with Android’s 100, eh? (Kinda the most important consideration when buying a tablet…blown up phone apps are a pretty dismal experience on these devices.)
Tobias,
I don’t think there are any official estimates for “tablet-optimized apps” for enough devices just yet. Apple provides 65k as an official number for tablet-specific apps, but Google doesn’t for Android and neither does HP for webOS. We decided to only stick with officially mentioned numbers.
I have a Xoom tablet, which I have to send back today, but it has managed to run just about any app I had on my EVO smart phone. It naturally looks odd since it doesn’t take advantage of the larger screen, but most apps still work. For those wondering, it does not stretch smart phone apps like the iPad. Instead apps scale to a fluid width, which is a neat touch. The iPad also runs iPhone apps quite well, but Apple’s software simply zooms in, which slightly reduces the quality.
But yes I agree, when a good set of numbers are available for each platform, we will try to make room for another row.
G-Slate screen resolution is 1280 x 768.
Not to discredit your comment, but can you please provide a source? We want to be 100% sure before we update the infographic!
Also, thanks for the correction.
Based on this simple but powerful grid, I’m thinking that the Galaxy is the only way to go – as long as they can get their pricing competitive with Apple, I’m totally sold.
Also forgot that the LG G-Slate has a 3D screen, and dual, 3D shooting cameras on the back.
I recently learned that the Xoom does not support playing video with copyright protection and as such services such as Hulu+ and Netflix are not currently available and although Netflix is working on an application, nothing is definite. My understanding is that this is a limitation of the design of the Tegra2 processor. Until I head that I was planning on purchasing the Xoom over the iPad, but that is functionality that I use regularly on my phone. I think that might be important to add as this functionality is widely available on most other devices.
I just realized that Xoom was not included here. My bad…so sorry!! Wish I could delete my comment :)
We hope you can add the Motorola Xoom into this Infographic
As we stated in the first sentence, we already featured the Xoom in another infographic. It would get too cluttered by attempting to add it here.
Enjoy: http://skattertech.com/2011/02/infographic-blackberry-playbook-vs-dell-streak-7-vs-apple-ipad-vs-motorola-xoom/
I agree, not sure why Apple bothered with the 1MP camera, particularly as a number of people seem against the idea of using a tablet to take photos and video, a poor quality camera certainly won’t encourage people to use the technology. Personally I was looking forward to using the photo editing apps that can take advantage of the extra work space the iPad offers over an iPhone, but it seems like a real pain to take a photo with your phone then transfer it to the iPad?!
It has definitely pushed me towards the Galaxy or Xoom..
oops sorry that was meant to be a reply to a post earlier by kep.. new to the website ^.^
I’m stuck between the Galaxy tab 10.1 and Ipad 2. Your reviews are well laid out and it’s easy to get the desired info. Loved your Honeycomb demo (as I haven’t used an android tablet myself). Many thanks, Skattertech. (Think I’ll go with the tab 10.1)