Just in time for the holiday season

Design
At 10.5 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches, the G Tablet isn't the smallest slate on the block by any stretch. VGP-BPS9/S At 1.55 pounds, it weighs as much as the iPad. It's much bulkier than the iPad and the 7-inch Galaxy Tab, though. The glossy black plastic on the VGP-BPS9A/B front and the matte black on the back look and feel a bit cheap. We could hear the slate creaking in our hand when we picked it up.

Just in time for the holiday season, Viewsonic has introduced a 10-inch Android tablet to compete with the Galaxy Tab and iPad for VGP-BPS9/B your gadget dollars. The 10-inch G Tablet has strong specs: a bright 1024 x 600 display, a front-facing webcam, and a powerful dual-core Tegra 2 VGP-BPS9 CPU. It also features the unique Tap ‘n Tap UI layered on top of Android 2.2, which is designed to be consumer friendly. But do the unique features VGP-BPS8 and the reasonable $399 price tag add up to a compelling product?

Ports

The screen supports two-fingered multitouch gestures such as pinch to zoom with little noticeable lag. The built-in accelerometer VGP-BPS8A isn't as responsive as we liked; we sometimes had to shake the device to get it to detect its orientation and VGP-BPS2 readjust.

Long before anyone ever heard of an iPad, Archos was churning out media-centric touchscreen devices that,VGP-BPS2A while not hugely popular, were well designed. While the company's stab at a Windows 7 slate flopped, the company has developed a range of Android tablets, from VGP-BPS2B 2.8 inches (really, a tablet in name only) all the way up to 10 inches. The Archos 101 ($299) is the top-of-the-line model, and it's the thinnest and lightest VGP-BPS2C 10-inch tablet on the market with a capacitive display. It also offers HDMI output and a front-facing camera. Although the Archos 101 is far from perfect, it's a solid value-priced alternative to Apple's VGP-BPS13 device.

On the left side of the G Tablet, you'll find a headphone jack, a mini USB port for connecting to the VGP-BPS13A/Q PC, a full size USB port for attaching USB drives, and a microSD card reader. Unfortunately, you can't charge the G Tablet via USB. Instead,VGP-BPS13A/B you must a dedicated AC adpater that connnects to its own jack on the slate. A docking port on the bottom of the G Tablet is designed to support HDMI output, but there's no mention of an adapter on ViewSonic's VGP-BPS13/B site.

Screen and Touch Experience
The 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 screen on the G Tablet has sharp images but VGP-BPS13B/B colors seem muted. Viewing angles are solid at 90 degrees to the left or right when holding the device perpendicular to the ground or a table. However, VGP-BPS13B/Q when the slate is resting flat on its back, you must be right on top of it or images wash out completely. Unfortunately, there's no kickstand to prop up the device. We also noticed that the G Tablet picked up lots of fingerprint smudges, more VGP-BPS13A/S than the iPad.

Unlike the Archos 9, there are no physical buttons on the face of the Archos 101. All of the VGP-BPS13/Q 101's ports and buttons are on the left side; from the top, there's a volume rocker, power, headphones, USB, microUSB, microSD card slot, VGP-BPS21A/B and a mini HDMI port. At the bottom of all this is a port for the power plug, the only way you can charge the 101. We wish you could simply use a USB port instead. To the left of the screen is a VGA VGP-BPS21/S webcam.

On the back is an adjustable kickstand that makes it easy to prop up the 101 VGP-BPS21 on a desk; it's so convenient we wish all tablets had this feature.

Design
You could be forgiven if, at first glance, you mistook the VGP-BPS21A Archos 101 for its older Archos 9 PC Tablet. With the exception of a few buttons, the two devices are practically identical in looks. The chassis is made of a black plastic, but the screen is bordered by black brushed aluminum, as are two VGP-BPS21B panels on the back. Despite its slimness, the Archos 101 has a sturdier look and feel than the Viewsonic toshiba battery G Tablet.

With a footprint of 10.6 x 5.9 inches, the Archos 101 takes up nearly the same amount of counter space as the Archos 9 as saus battery well as the Viewsonic G Tablet. However, the Archos 101 is just 0.47 inches thick, compared to 0.7 inches for the Archos 9 and 0.5 inches for the G Tablet. sony battery The Archos 101 weighs just 1.1 pounds, a good deal lighter than the G Tablet's 1.55-pound heft, not to mention the Archos 9's 1.8-pound bulk. Plus, the apple battery 101's tapered sides make it look as light as it feels.

Heat
For the most part, the Archos 101 remained cool to the touch, with one exception. The rear of the device near the acer battery power port exceeded 90 degrees, even idling. Considering this is where you put your left hand, it became a bit fushitsu akku uncomfortable.

Unlike the G Tablet, the Archos 101 runs an unadorned Android 2.2 operating system, and that's mostly a good thing. hp akku As we've seen, having a skin can tax even powerful processors such as the G Tablet's Tegra 2 CPU. The 101 comes with all the Android live wallpapers; seeing the dell akku sky behind the moving grass change from day to night is a little touch that's even more appreciated on such a large screen. What you don't get are saus akku tablet-optimized apps with dual-pane views, which Samsung's Galaxy Tab offers.

Since there's no physical buttons on the 101, the typical Android buttons (Search, Home, Settings, and Back) are displayed sony battery as virtual buttons along the right side in landscape mode, and along the bottom in portrait mode. They remain there regardless of what app apple akku you open.

In landscape mode, the width of the 101 made it ibm akku difficult to use the slightly modified Android keyboard; we had to really stretch our thumbs to get to the center. A split keyboard, a la the G Tablet, would be welcome here. In portrait mode, though, we found it much easier to type on acer akku the 101

Display
The Archos 101 features a 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen display. Its size hp battery and resolution (1024 x 600) are the same as the G Tablet and Samsung Galaxy Tab. However, you can clearly see the diagonal sensor grid on top of the screen, which dell battery occasionally proved distracting. Colors were bright, but sadly the display is reflective, and viewing angles are limited to those sitting more or less directly in front; tilt the Archos 101 just a little vertically or horizontally, and the on-screen image toshiba battery begins to wash out.

The multitouch screen supports gestures such as pinch-to-zoom; we found it worked fairly saus battery smoothly and quickly in the browser as well as in games such as Angry Birds.