iPad Rivals

Three years in and Apple's iPad still reigns supreme in the tablet world. However, its competitors are starting to make very worthy challenges to the iPad's crown. I'm John Rettinger and this episode of Tech Savvy, we'll see which of the Androids tablets are bringing strong challenges to the iPad empire. The new iPad ups the anteing with another solid upgrade of its text specs. But, from your camp site in front of the Apple store, you might start wondering are there any devices worth considering instead. The answer is an astounding yes. Android tablets are starting to attack the iPad from all angles, both the high end and the low end of the pricing spectrum. Of the many many factories making Android tablets, I consider the Asus Transformer Prime to be the best high end rival to the latest iPad. On the outside, its design is as beautiful as the iPad, but like my Mama always said, "What's on the inside that counts." Users have long waited for cameras on tablets that are good enough to consider leaving those point and shoot cameras at home. And for this, the Transformer Prime comes out swing it with an advance 8 megapixel auto-focus camera, it takes excellent photos and videos. Apple's newest iPad only has a five megapixel camera which is the same technology used in 2010's iPhone4. Come on Apple, keep up with the times. A tablet is only useful when its battery is juice. The transformer Prime promises to give users up to to 12 hours of web surfing, game playing, movie watching and music listening. And when pair with its optional keyboard dock, the Prime can get up to 18 hours, almost a full day of glorious tablet enjoyment, compared to the iPad's usually 10 hours of battery life, sounds pretty tempting. When it comes to device display, the Transformer Prime puts up a respectable 10.1 inch screen that packs a resolution of 1280 by 800. That's actually more pixels than most HD TVs. But, it does fall short of the trailblazing retina display on the latest iPad which packs a resolution of 2048 by 1536 into just 9.7 inches of screen. However, the Transformer Prime's right back on top with the one all-important spec, its broad processing power. The Transformer Prime was the first device to ever ship with NVIDIA;s Tegra 3 Quad-Core chip, the first Quad-Core ever in a tablet. The A5X processor in the iPad is fast, but it can't compare to the computing speed and ability to handle graphic intensive games like Quad-Core. The Transformer Primer provides a competitive high end tablet experience running a well-developed Android platform and access to rapidly expanding online library of apps and media from a Google's place store. Competitive pricing means the Prime truly gives the iPad a run for its money. But, speaking of money, let's not forget about the low end to the pricing spectrum; Android is established there, an Apple, they don't have a dog in the race. A slim down version of Android is packed into the Kindle's Fire and the Barnes and Nobles's Nook's tablet. These devices are far from being just a simple E-readers to predecessors actually were. Many people use only the most basic functions that a tablet has to offer: web surfing, emailing, reading, watching videos, simple gaming. And the Kindle Fire and the Nook tablet do the trick while coming in at $250 less than the cheapest iPad models. Whether you prefer the Kindle Fire which has the advantage of Amazon's enormous ecosystem or the Nook tablet which has expandable storage through Micro SD. They are both worthy alternatives to the iPad, basic functions are all you're looking for. Thanks for tuning in. There's much more to check with us right here on eHow Tech.