Panasonic announces Android-based Toughpad tablets

Panasonic has officially announced a new line of rugged Android tablets today that will sell under the Toughpad moniker. Just like the company's Toughbook products, the 10-inch A1 and 7-inch B1 Toughpads are designed to withstand mountains of abuse, from extreme temperatures between 14 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit to 4-foot drops as well as dust and water spills. The new tablets are aimed at users operating in heavy-duty usage scenarios, such as utility crews on the road, military staff in combat situations, or engineers doing the rounds at a construction site.

The Toughpad A1 will arrive in spring 2012 for a hefty $1,299. That will get you a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, Android 3.2 Honeycomb, a daylight-readable LED-backlit display (1024x768), 1GB of DDR2 memory, Wi-Fi, options for WiMAX or LTE connectivity as well as 3G networking, a front-facing 2-megapixel camera and rear-facing 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash, 10-hour battery life, and ports for microUSB, microSDHC and HDMI.

In addition, the Toughpads will sport enterprise-class security features such as software and hardware encryption, dual-factor authentication and enhanced VPN. Panasonic says the tablets should meet security standards like FIPS 140-2 for government use and HIPAA for medical use. They also include custom device management controls, which should make them easy for IT administrators to deploy, and access to Business AppPortal for curated enterprise apps.

Clearly, this isn't the thinnest and prettiest tablet on the block -- the A1 weighs in at a hefty 2.13 pounds, compared to the iPad 2 and 10-inch Galaxy Tab, which weigh in at around 1.3 pounds. Then again, Panasonic is going for a niche market here where security, reliability and durability are key selling points.

Unfortunately, while the A1's specs look competitive by today's standards, by the time this tablet actually arrives on the market it might feel a bit dated next to tablets running Android 4.0 powered by quad-core chips. The 7-inch Toughpad B1 will launch even later in 2012, though no specifications or pricing details have been revealed so far.

Apple sues Samsung over Galaxy phones, tablets

Apple has sued Samsung over similarities between the companies' handset and tablet products. Filed April 15 in the Northern District of California, the suit alleges that Samsung has been riding Apple's coattails with devices such as the Galaxy S 4G, Epic 4G, Nexus S and Galaxy Tab by copying design elements from the iPhone and iPad.

"Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple's technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products," the suit said. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong," spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said in a statement.

The infringement supposedly spans both hardware and software. Apple seeks injunctions, damages, punitive damages and hopes to establish that the alleged infringement was willful. It's unclear how the case will affect business relations between the two companies, considering Samsung supplies Apple with flash memory chips for its various mobile devices.

There's no denying that certain Samsung products strongly resemble Apple's, but this isn't an uncommon occurrence. Both the original iPhone and iPad paved the way for their respective markets, leaving competitors to play catch-up. In such a case, it's to be expected that many companies borrowed from Apple's success instead of reinventing the wheel.

Seemingly all prominent tech companies are guilty of leeching off others -- Apple included. Cupertino is currently entangled in patent squabbles with other firms including HTC, Nokia and Motorola. Whether Samsung took things a little too far remains to be seen. Apple's filing shows photo comparisons between the products in question. What do you think?

In 2015: iOS still first for tablets, Android second, BlackBerry third

Last year, Apple began to dominate the tablet space with the iPad. In 2015, it will have a significantly smaller worldwide market share, but will still be in first place, despite mounting competition from other operating systems. Android will gain significant share, but will still be nipping at iOS' heels, and will have to settle for second place in the next four years, according to Gartner.

Where does that leave the rest of the market in 2015? Gartner believes Research In Motion's QNX, which powers the BlackBerry Playbook, will be in third. Meanwhile, webOS, which powers the HP TouchPad, will be in fourth. MeeGo will take fifth, but it will barely have any users. Gartner does not even mention Microsoft's Windows.

Last week, Gartner declared that for smartphones, Android would be first, Windows Phone be second, and iOS would be third in 2015. It appears the advisory firm is much more confident in Apple staving off competition to iOS in the tablet space than in the smartphone market.

These are predictions based on current data, but they will of course change as we learn more about the competition Apple is going to be facing. For example, Microsoft will likely push hard with Windows 8, and we already know the OS is expected to include a second, tile-based shell just for tablets.

"Seeing the response from both consumers and enterprises to the iPad, many vendors are trying to compete by first delivering on hardware and then trying to leverage the platform ecosystem," Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, said in a statement. "Many, however, are making the same mistake that was made in the first response wave to the iPhone, as they are prioritizing hardware features over applications, services and overall user experience. Tablets will be much more dependent on the latter than smartphones have been, and the sooner vendors realize that the better chance they have to compete head-to-head with Apple."

Tablets of 2011: What to Look For

Last year promised to be the year of the tablet, and at least for Apple, it was indeed. The nearly ubiquitous iPad managed not only to outsell every other tablet on the market by a wide margin, it also exceeded Mac sales in the last quarter with a record 7.33 million units moved. But even if Apple is not likely to lose its throne anytime soon, competition is finally making itself present. If Android's gains in the smartphone market serve any indication it should be an interesting year for tablets as well.

Rivals such as Motorola and LG are coming on strong with the first Android "Honeycomb" tablets, while Research In Motion is launching the PlayBook using a completely reworked operating system based on QNX Neutrino. HP will start to see the fruits of its Palm acquisition when it launches the TouchPad, the first webOS-based tablet, this summer.

We've compiled a comparative table with what we consider are the hottest tablets either currently available or announced so far. Note that we've only included those models that are expected to be released in the next few months and the reason for that is two-fold: their specs are official or at least somewhat reliable, and because we've seen a lot of teaser products that in the end don't even make it to market -- which happened a lot last year.

We'll update this guide as new tablets that catch our attention are announced and approaching their release, but if you are in the market for a tablet now this should definitely serve as a starting point for narrowing down your purchase.

	Apple iPad	Motorola XOOM	BlackBerry PlayBook	Dell Streak 7	LG G-Slate	Notion Ink Adam	Eee Slate EP121	HP TouchPad
Processor	1GHz Apple A4	1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2	1GHz ARM Cortex A9	1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2	1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2	1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2	Intel Core i5 470UM	1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8660
Display	9.7-inch	10.1-inch	7-inch	7-inch	8.9-inch	10.1-inch	12.1-inch	9.7-inch
Resolution	1024 x 768	1280 x 800	1024 x 600	800 x 480	1280 × 720	1024 x 600	1280 x 800	1024 x 768
RAM	256MB	1GB	1GB	1GB		1GB	2GB	1GB
Front camera	None	2MP	3MP	1.3MP	2MP	3.2MP	2MP	1.3MP
Rear camera	None	5MP	5MP	5MP	5MP	3.2MP	None	None
Storage	16GB, 32GB, 64GB	32GB	16GB, 32GB	16GB	32GB	8GB	32GB	16GB, 32GB
USB	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
HDMI	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Wireless Connectivity	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G
GPS	Yes (3G only)	Yes	None	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Operating System	iOS 4.2.1	Android 3.0 Honeycomb	BlackBerry Tablet OS	Android 2.2 Froyo	Android 3.0 Honeycomb	Android 2.3 Gingerbread	Windows 7 HP	webOS 3.0
Flash Support	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
App Marketplace	iTunes	Android Market	App World	Android Market	Android Market	Coming Soon	None	webOS App Store
Weight	680-730g	730g	400g	450g		730g	1,160g	740g
Price	$500-$830	$800	TBA	$450	TBA	$375-$550	$999	TBA
Availability	Now	February 24	Q1 (4G in Summer)	Now	Q1	Now	Now	Summer

Lastly, it will be interesting to see the BlackBerry PlayBook and HP's webOS-based TouchPad compete in the tablet market. From what we've seen so far both will bring fresh and beautiful UIs to the game, and webOS in particular is considered to have a very robust multitask implementation, but neither company has had much luck with third-party developers.

There will be quite a few more tablet releases down the road. Those who decide to wait and see how the market plays out can expect devices from HTC, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Toshiba, Vizio and many other lesser-known manufacturers. The HTC Flyer, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and Toshiba's unnamed tablet will probably garner significant attention, not to mention the potential arrival of a number of CES prototypes like the Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Slider, and Lenovo LePad.