The Attack of the Tablets

This week saw the launch of not one, but two tablets in the UK – the Dell Streak and the Apple iPad.

The Dell Streak is much more of a traditional mobile device, with built-in cellular connectivity and the ability to make phone calls. The iPad conversely is not only physically less mobile (being bigger), but only comes with cellular connectivity as an optional extra and even with this is unable to make phone calls.

Dell’s Streak runs Android on a five-inch touch screen and boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor, along with 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as GPS.

0range, Vodafone, O2 and 3 are now offering iPad specific tarrifs, with T-Mobile the only one not joining the party (http://www.telecoms.com/20529/3-pushing-tablets-to-uk-users/).

While these new devices might have slightly different dimensions and functions, making them suitable for different uses, what is clear is that neither quite fit in the traditional smartphone or laptop categories. We have had a couple of iPads in the office for a few weeks now and had a chance to play with them.

While the device has some interesting features, such as instant-on and ease of use, making it ideal for hassle-free couch-surfing, I question how much they are likely to get used outside the home. Anyway, it’s certainly a new and interesting market, but we will see over the next few months if there is a need and as such demand for this new category of device.