Best Windows Phone 7 on CES 2011

The Consumer Electronics Show 2010 started the tablet saga, and come CES 2011 the story continues, this time with more and better characters. The CES 2011 in its initial few days has been full of tablets, Windows 7 tablets forming a chunk in that, confirmed with Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer’s announcement of various Windows 7 tablets. Gearing to battle it out with the best in the business – Apple and Google, former’s iPad and latter’s Android OS, Microsoft teamed up with some superefficient manufacturers to quench our tablet thirst, and to establish its own Windows 7 OS. Come let’s list out the prominent tablets based on the Windows operating system coming out of CES.

Dual-Screen Acer Iconia

Acer showed off a dual-screen laptop which ditches the physical keyboard to get laptops to compete with the tablets style-on. Called the Acer Iconia, the laptop-styled tablet has two 14-inch touchscreen displays attached by a hinge. Based on Window 7 OS, the tablet’s top screen functions as the primary screen, while the one below serves as a navigation panel, displaying things like the keyboard, touch wheel and on-screen controls etc, the display can also work as an extension for the primary display. Weighing in at about 6.1 pounds, the Iconia features an Intel Core i5 480 processor, 4GB of RAM, 640GB hard drive and Clear-fi, a device networking initiative for media sharing. In addition to an Acer’s interface overlay – Acer Ring, which makes accessing documents and web pages, resizing pictures and navigating through content library very easy, the tablet will have two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0, HDMI-out, a 1.3-megapixel Webcam and Bluetooth.

Samsung PC 7 Sliding Series

Samsung at CES revealed a keyboard enabled tablet dubbed the Sliding PC 7 Series. Weighing under a kg, the tablet comes with a compact 10.1-inch 1366×768 resolution touchscreen featuring a QWERTY keyboard and made to run the Window 7 Home Premium OS. Stuffed in with a 1.66 GHz Atom Z670 CPU with 2GB RAM, 32GB and 64GB SSD and Intel graphics, the tablet will further support a 6-cell battery, 4-in-1 card reader, webcam, Wi-Fi, 3G, WiMAX, HDMI and USB ports. The Samsung PC 7 Sliding Series will be available in March for $699.

Asus Eee Slate EP121

Announced at CES by Asus amid its wide range of tablet PCs is the Eee Slate EP121 that’s capable of running standard office software alongside other applications. Drawing power from an Intel Core i5 processor, the 12.1-inch 1280 x 800 resolution LED-backlit capacitive touchscreen display runs Windows 7 Home Premium. The cool thing about the Asus Eee Slate EP121 is that it uses a capacitive stylus for fine precision input and control, which could make the tablet a handy device for developers, provided the stylus gets a good response. The tablet has a on-screen keyboard and is also provided with support for an external Bluetooth keyboard. Besides this the tablet stuffs in 4GB RAM, 32GB or 64GB of SSD, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, two USB 2.0 ports, mini-HDMI port and a 2-megapixel camera.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slate

Lenovo unveiled an exciting Lenovo IdeaPad Slate an Intel Oak Trail Atom processor powered tablet that’s scheduled to run on Windows 7. The 10.1-inch high-def display will come with a docking unit that transforms the tablet into a laptop. The IdeaPad Slate is expected to start selling at $500.

Motion Computing CL900

There are less of these rugged tablets, yes Motion Computing Oak Trail-powered CL900 tablet meets MIL-STD-810G spec, and is rugged enough to survive a four foot drop. The 2.1-pound tablet besides the rugged casing also has a similarly touch Corning Gorilla Glass display that can take a fierce pen stab, in spite of being a 1366×768-resolution capacitive touchscreen. The CL900 to be priced at about $1,000, supports stylus input and comes with two cameras, a USB port, and microSD card and SIM card slot.

Viliv X70 Slate

Viliv has been active at the CES and here they’ve released the Windows 7 Home Premium running 7-inch 1,024-by-600 resolution widescreen Viliv X70 tablet that stuffs in a 2GB of RAM and has a choice of 32GB or 64GB SSD to choose from. Featuring 3MP rear and 1.3MP front facing camera, the 420g, 14.3mm thick tablet comes complete with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional HSPA, WiMAX, EVDO and GPS, HDMI port, microUSB and microSD. The Viliv X70 tablet features a 5,600 mAh battery that gives up to 6.5hrs of backup.

Fujitsu 10-inch tablet

Fujitsu has entered the Windows tablet market with the Windows 7-powered 10.1-inch tablet that has 2GB RAM and is powered by an Intel Atom Oak Trail Z670 processor. Weighing in at about 1.5 pounds, the tablet features a two or four cell removable battery and has front and rear-facing cameras. Pricing and other details on the tablet are as yet unknown.