Tablet fever at CES 2011 show in Las Vegas

If the buzz at the 2011 Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas over the last few days has been anything to go by, 2011 will be the year of the tablet.

A massive range of new devices were on display as manufacturers look set to flood the market, which has so far been dominated by the Apple iPad.

The much anticipated BlackBerry Playbook was on display, with BlackBerry makers RIM pitching the angle that they intend to make the tablet a device on which user will work as well as play. The new Blackberry Playbook has a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 7″ 1024×600 display and will be offered in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions.

Of course the release of the device will bring BlackBerry’s highly popular and highly rated email and messenger solutions to the tablet platform. The prototypes of the device from the CES show will be ‘optimised’ before release so consumers are awaiting details such as battery life and the availability of apps. The BlackBerry Playbook will go on sale in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2011 and a UK release should follow quickly.

Also pushing the play and productivity line are Samsung who are boosting their existing tablet offering on the back of the Galaxy Tab. In addition to their iPad competitor they are set to launch a range of ‘sliding’ hybrid tablets which feature a slide out QWERTY keyword, having revealed the Sliding PC 7 Series - which is expected to go on sale to the public in March.

The idea is to combine the portability of the tablet with the functionality of a laptop. Meanwhile, a similar product was displayed at CES by Asus, who showed off a sliding tablet PC product called the Eee Pad Slider hybrid tablet, which is to run the forthcoming Android version 3.0.

Regarding Android version 3.0 (nicknamed Honeycomb) one of the stars of the CES show was the Motorola Xoom tablet which has powerful backing from US tech giants Google and Verizon.

The new device will be upgradable from 3G to 4G, will feature a dual-core 2 Ghz processor, HD video capture, powerful front and back facing cameras and an HD 16:10 display. It aims to bring new products such as 3D Google Maps and Google Talk to life, will also boast Abode Flash Player 10.1 and could be released as soon as February.