CES: It is raining tablets this year

Bangalore: The romance with tablet PCs is reaching new heights this year. The first glimpse of it can be seen at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to be held at Las Vegas from January 6 to January 9, 2011. A prime technology trade show, the CES is a prominent platform to showcase new gadgets and products by companies hoping to grab the consumer eyeballs. This year, many tech companies are up with a tablet of theirs at the CES, hoping to give competition to the iPad, which has ruled the tablet roost since its launch. We round up some of the major companies that are set to display tablet PCs in the mega event. 1. Motorola will showcase the first Android Honeycomb run tablet called the Motorola Droid Xoom at the CES. Powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, the Droid Xoom tablet features a 5MP rear camera and a front facing 2MP camera. The tablet ships with 32GB of flash storage memory and is expected to have a seven or ten inch touchscreen display. 2. HP is mulling on showcasing the PalmPad tablet, which is touted to be slimmer and weighing less than the iPad. The tablet comes with two cameras with LED flashes and has a USB 3.0 port. Running on Palm's WebOS, the tablet is expected to be launched under three models. The tablet is expected to have a fourth version as well, focused on education that will not be displayed at the CES though. 3. Microsoft is also rumored to be debuting a Windows Phone 7 tablet at the CES that will have Samsung, Dell devices running on it. 4. Sources at LG have confirmed that a tablet from the LG house will be exhibited at the technology trade fair. The tablet will be based on the new Android Honeycomb and has an 8.9 inch display screen. It is also speculated that the company will present a 10 inch screen tablet. 5. Lenovo is unveiling two tablet devices at the CES. One of them could be the LePad that has been in news for quite sometime. In the last CES, the company had showed off the IdeaPad U1, which was a cross between a PC and a tablet. After its success with the ThinkPad laptops, sources say that Lenovo might well be in its way to launch a ThinkPad tablet for businesses. 6. Toshiba is also gearing up with a tablet that has a 10.1 inch 1280 X 800 capacitive touchscreen accompanied with two cameras. It will also run on the new generation Android Honeycomb, powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. Weighing 1.7 lbs, the tablet's connectivity options include HDMI, USB, mini-USB and a SD card reader. 7. Vizio, known for its flat-screen TVs, is coming up with a tablet and smartphone at the CES. Called the Via tablet, the device will feature an 8 inch display screen, camera, Wi-Fi, and will run on the Android operating system. Apart from the deluge of tablets expected at the CES, you can also look forward to a bevy of new smartphones, 3D TVs and laptops surfacing at the trade show this year.