It was inevitable that the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early 2011 would have a fair share of Android-based tablet devices on show. We look at some of the Android devices that will very likely be heading our way this year.
Most of the devices here will run Honeycomb, Android's 3.0 release, which has already been earmarked as being specifically designed for tablet PCs.
Motorola
Motorola put in its comeback bid with the XOOM tablet. Once a mobile powerhouse, Motorola is pinning its hopes of a return on Android and its 10.1-inch screened XOOM is the company's first big move. Under the screen the XOOM will run a 1Ghz dual-core processor and include built-in 3G support. 4G LTE support is also an option for networks with that capability. The widescreen XOOM will also pack in a 5 megapixel camera capable of 720p HD video and 32GB of on-board storage.
Asus
A tablet PC from Asus has been long predicted. The Taiwan-based PC maker is credited with kicking off the netbook market a couple of years ago and has been working on a follow-up to its EEE PC for many months. At CES, Asus showed off the EEE Pad Slider and the Transformer tablets. Both of these are slightly different to many of the tablet PCs on the market in that they include a physical keyboard. As the name suggests, the QWERTY keyboard slides out from under the Slider version while the Transformer includes a dock and external keyboard and touch pad. Both will also be built around Nvidia's Tegra 2 dual-core processor.
Toshiba
Toshiba also has an Android tablet PC in its future. Toshiba's tablet will sport a 10.1-inch screen and, like the Asus tablets, will be based on Nvidia's Tegra 2 processor. The tablet will run Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) when it is eventually released.
Acer
Acer was relatively quick to jump on the netbook wagon with its Aspire, but they have been relatively slow in releasing a range of tablet devices. At CES Acer showed off its Iconia Tab A500 tablet which sports a 10.1-inch screen. Multiple USB (full-size and micro) ports are to be included as is a docking connector.
OLPC
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has long been active in the ultra-portable PC market, albeit rather controversially. Now Marvel Technologies, the makers of the XO hardware, has confirmed that an Android-based OLPC tablet is close to being released. The XO-3, as the tablet will be known, will sport an ARM processor, the Armada 610, which will reportedly reduce power consumption to just 1W.
