For the last few months you may have been wondering about the phenomenon that is tablet devices. A few months ago the iPad was the only option on the market but now an abundance of tablet devices are following suit. With so many to choose from, how do you know which one is best? This article lists the top mobile tablets on the market to date.

1.    Apple iPad 2 – There’s only one place to start and that’s with the current iteration of the device which started the whole trend. Apple released their first iPad back in April 2010 and surely even they could not have imagined how big an impact it would have on the mobile market. Demand for the tablet was huge, with 3 million being sold in the first 80 days after launch.

Since then Apple have further innovated and enhanced their popular tablet device, with the recently released iPad 2 in March of this year. Noticeable changes include it being 33% thinner than the original iPad, as well as the addition of a dual core Apple A5 processor for enhanced multi tasking capabilities. The iPad 2 can also boast front and rear cameras – great for photos and video calls, as well as an amazing ‘10 hour’ battery life.

The iPad is definitely the most popular and successful tablet on the market, but that hasn’t stopped competitors from trying to tap in to the market with their very own portable mobile devices. Still a great all-rounder – buy if you want something that’s simple to use and does almost everything.

2.    Blackberry Playbook – The Blackberry Playbook is a tablet designed by RIM (Research in Motion); in what is Blackberry’s response to the Apple iPad. The tablet is run using Blackberry’s very own Blackberry tablet OS (Operating System).

Developers of Android applications will be able to run their apps on the Playbook, although the tab won’t be able to directly run them, instead developers will have to resubmit their app to RIM’s App World. Features of the app include 1080p video playback, 3 Megapixel front facing camera and a rear facing 5 Megapixel camera. The playbook can also boast 7 inch display screen as well as HDMI and micro-HDMI output.

Since the launch, technology critics have praised Blackberry’s tablet, with some analysts expecting the Playbook to sell 3 million units within the first year of its launch. 

3.    Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – Soon to hit the market is the latest Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, with its arrival on the tablet market imminent. In a tweet from the official Samsung twitter page, they confirmed that the Samsung will support the latest version of Honeycomb Android 3.1.
Other features of the exciting new tab include a dual-core, 1 GHz CPU, a 10.1 inch screen with 1280×800 pixel resolution, a 3-megapixel back camera as well as 2-megapixel front-facing camera which is ideal for video calls. As well as all that the tablet only weighs 1.3 pounds and a staggering 0.34 inches thick.

The launch of he new Galaxy Tab is much anticipated, with the tablet actually replacing another with the same name because Samsung felt it would be unable to compete with Apple’s iPad 2.

4.    T-Mobile G-Slate – The T-Mobile G-Slate is a tablet computer from T-Mobile USA which has been developed by LG electronics. The tablet’s popular features include an 8.9 inch wide angle IPS screen, streaming TV features and Android honeycomb support, making it one of the best Android options on the market today. The G-Slate also has a 3D camera and includes T-Mobile 4G network support.

Currently this tablet device is not available in the UK, and a release date for the device is yet to be announced, but we should all feel very confident that the new G-Slate tablet will do well when it does come along.

5.    Acer Iconia Tab A500 – This tablet has only just hit the UK market, which is the Acer Iconia Tab A500, which was unveiled at the mobile world conference 2011. The Android based tablet boasts a 10.1 inch screen, a dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and runs Android’s Honeycomb operating system.

Other features include front and rear cameras, Adobe Flash compatibility as well as a USB output and HDMI port, which has seen it greatly praised by industry experts. It now remains to be seen how big an impact this tablet will have on today’s market.

6.    HP TouchPad – Our final tablet was only unveiled to the world in February and is a new release from Hewlett Packard. The TouchPad possesses a 9.7 inch screen, with a 1024 x 768 resolution, a front facing 1.3 megapixel camera for video conferencing and a dual-core 1.2-GHz processor. Other features include stereo speakers, gyroscope and accelerometer sensors, Bluetooth compatibility and support for Adobe Flash.

Hewlett Packard have opted to use the webOS for the TouchPad, which they have used to power some of their previous smartphone models. The new tab is due to be released this summer.