Hold Out for Honeycomb: Five Android Tablets Born Too Soon

When you look at the Apple iPad's sales figures, it's not hard to see why every technology company on the planet is jumping on the tablet bandwagon. The thing is, even despite its wild popularity, not everyone can afford the $500 minimum required to get into the iPad game, and not everyone wants an Apple tablet.

With scores of hardware manufacturers aiming to snag a slice of the big, fat Apple pie, the Android tablet army is growing fast. Too fast, in fact: The truth is, a lot of these tablets just aren't very good.

In some of the tablets we've tested, we've encountered flimsy hardware, low-quality resistive touch screens, serious display resolution issues, and poorly skinned or old Android versions with limited or non-existent access to apps. None of this makes for a very enjoyable tablet experience.

That's not to say that every Android tablet is a disaster. Take the Samsung Galaxy Tab, for example, it's fast, well-designed, and comes with a decent Android implementation. Overall, the Tab is a solid tablet, but for the price ($250 to $550, depending on the carrier you choose), it should do more than an Android smartphone can. One of the reasons the iPad has been so successful is that it provides a rich tablet-specific experience that you just can't get on an iPhone.

Google, this week, unveiled Honeycomb, its tablet-specific Android OS, which is sure to usher in an era of higher-quality, more-capable Android devices and better apps to run on them. And from what we've experienced with the forthcoming Motorola Xoom, it's definitely worth waiting for. So unless you need an Android tablet today, you should pass on the models below, and hold out for the next round of Android tablets with Honeycomb.

Tablets in this Roundup:

Read the full reviews linked below, or compare these Android tablets side by side.

Cherrypal CherryPad

$188 direct

The Cherrypal CherryPad has flaws aplenty, including a finicky resistive touch screen. The rock-bottom $188 price is tough to beat, but there are definitely better ways to spend your money.


Coby Kyros MID7015 Internet Touchscreen Tablet

$199 list

The $200 Coby Kyros MID7015 Internet Touchscreen Tablet uses a limited version of Android, doesn't hook into the full Android Market, and lacks the grace and abilities of more advanced (and expensive) tablets.

Dell Streak 7

$199.99

The first Tegra 2 tablet shows the promise of Nvidia's speedy mobile processor, but the Dell Streak 7 still struggles on several fronts. And fundamental problems, like a low-quality, low-resolution display won't be helped by a future OS upgrade.

Samsung Galaxy Tab

$249.99 to $549.99 with contract (price depends on carrier)

With solid, well-designed hardware, the Samsung Galaxy Tab for Sprint is the first viable Android-based competitor to the iPad. Don't get us wrong, the Tab, in all five carrier iterations, is a perfectly fine tablet. But you're paying a hefty price for a device with a old version of Android, and it's unclear if the OS will be upgradeable.

Viewsonic Viewpad 7

$599 direct

On paper, the Viewsonic Viewpad 7 has a long and impressive feature list, but its flaws, including a sky-high price, outnumber its features.

Author: Wendy Sheehan Donnell
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379345,00.asp

It's a bad time to buy an Android tablet. Skip these five models, save your cash, and wait for tablets with Google's Honeycomb operating system.