Tablets Take Center Stage at 2011 Consumer Electronics Show

The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show features the tablet

As our first blog post on the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) stated, the 2011 CES saw a burst of tablets. With the emergence of all these new devices, many operating on the Android system, consumers will definitely have a lot to choose from when finding a tablet that suits their needs (and their budgets). Additionally, the CES had a variety of other exciting gadgets, including new smartphones, smart appliances, automobiles and 3D TVs.

During CES, the Motorola Xoom, operating on the new Honeycomb software from Google (basically Android 3), was given the award for Top Gadget. The new software was designed specifically for tablets and gives the Xoom a top competitor position next to Apple’s iPad. Motorola intends to ship upwards of 700,000 Xooms in the first quarter of the year.

One type of tablet that surfaced during CES is a slider, a hybrid tablet and laptop that allows the user to switch between using the tablet touch screen or a traditional keyboard that slides out from the bottom of the device. These include the Asus EeePad Slider, Samsung Sliding PC 7 and Lenovo’s LePad Slate.

While looking through the news and reviews on the various tablets, the only thing that puzzles me is that they almost all look exactly the same. They have various specifications, to be sure, but their appearances do little to help these tablets stand out in the crowd. Nevertheless, this year will surely be interesting to see how new technology will help put tablet devices in the hands of thousands.

Here's more:

Tablets at CES 2011: Honeycomb, Windows 7, and all the rest (Engadget)

CES Tablet Roundup (What Digital Camera)

Android at CES: strong growth as platform jumps to new devices (Ars Technica)

CES 2011: Xoom tablet, Android, 3D TVs highlights as show wraps up (The Washington Post)

Motorola Xoom tablet crowned best CES gadget (Physorg.com)

CES/ Technological Extravaganza (Contagious)

-compiled by Katie Ostrowka

Posted By: Digital Trends Team