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Tablet is a great fashionable word right now. According to Wikipedia, a Tablet is “a pharmaceutical dosage form. It comprises a mixture of active substances and excipients, pressed or compacted into a solid.” We could say that a PC Tablet or a Digital tablet is a mixture of active functions and apps compacted into a solid object. Funny the parallel.

I will not post another iPad article otherwise you might think I am sponsored by Apple 🙂 This week I will give you my alternatives to the iPad. Are there real? yes.

Asus eee padToday ASUS revealed their EEE PAD at Computex. Yeah, I am not joking, the name looks silly (iPad, eeePad…) but the machine it self: not bad. From the Press release we can read : ” The 12″ Eee Pad EP121 is a full-featured slate computer that serves as a multimedia player, e-reader, and compact computing device. Powered by a CULV Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor and the Windows® 7 Home Premium operating system, it effortlessly handles multitasking tasks whether enabling users to check their email and calendars, have video conferences, or process Microsoft Word and Excel documents simultaneously. The ASUS Eee Pad EP121 offers two convenient modes of character input-an embedded virtual keyboard or an innovative hybrid keyboard/docking station design. All of this power is available in a personal computing device that delivers up to 10 hours of usage.  For users seeking additional mobility, ASUS is proud to present the 10” Eee Pad EP101TC that runs Windows Embedded Compact 7, which provides an engaging user experience and delivers

eee pad
photo: engadget

instant connectivity to the Windows world. It also provides a familiar full-featured user experience across various connected devices and cloud computing services.”

What I like in the eeePad, is the fact you can easily connect a keyboard. So it means you can use it as a laptop. It runs under  Windows 7, they talk about a 10 hour battery (I need to see it to believe it).

Let’s see how Asus evolve with this.

We are also waiting for the famous Google Tablet. In deed, last month Google confirmed the creation of a Google Tablet under Android. This tablet will be developed in partnership with HTC. the taiwanese company really wants to get into Google’s strategic products.

They also Google Tablethope to get a leverage among Microsoft and Apple and keep their “supposed” freedom with Android or Chrome OS. We’ve been talking about the Google Tablet for a long time and we can see that Apple is atomizing Google in all ways to keep all the “coolness” for themselves.

But the one I am really waiting to see is the HP SLATE. HP did a very modest launch or perhaps the Apple iPad got it all? This tablet is already announcedHP SLATE as technically superior to the iPad. Check this out :

– Intel Atom Menlow of 1,6Ghz (the iPad= 1Ghz)
– USB Port
– 3M pixels Webcam (I want that!)
–  SD Card Port
HP SLATEOf course there are also weaker points compared to the iPad. The screen is smaller. 8,9″ for the Slate vs 9,7″ for the iPad. Battery is 5 hours vs iPAd 10 hours. In terms of WIFI management, the HP Slate has 802.11b/g vs 802.11a/b/g/n for the iPad.

By the way, Microsoft declared they have abandoned the Microsoft Tablet project called Microsoft Courrier. There is no more comments about Bill Gates company about it, let’s say they have started the race too late.

Do you know other cool tablets?

LA