Tablet Computers ara Deemed to be the Nearest Future

The coming 2010 year in the tech world will be the year of the Tablet -- or so it seems. A bevy of tech companies have teased, talked, and have not denied rumors that they are working on a fabled tablet computer.

Photo: Tablet Computers ara Deemed to be the Nearest Future

Asustek is rumored to be working on an Eee Pad, according to Digitimes. Rumors of a Dell tablet won't go away. Earlier this year, rumors of a Microsoft two-panel tablet appeared after Gizmodo got its hands on one of Redmond's concept videos. And starting Friday, the JooJoo Web tablet is supposed to go on sale for $499 at thejoojoo.com. And of course there is the ever-present Apple rumor that "soon" it will introduce a tablet.

The are some hottest tablets that may, or may not, be hitting store shelves next year, fof example, the JooJoo.

Many of the tablets being discussed online are highly fictional at the moment, but the JooJoo is one tablet that's already here. This device has a 12-inch touchscreen with 1366-by-768 resolution capable of displaying 720p high-definition videos. The processor is rumored to be a 1.6GHz Intel Atom chip, other specs include 1 GB RAM, 4GB solid-state drive for caching Web content, one USB 2.0 port, Webcam, microphone, headphone jack, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity (no 3G).

The device was supposed to go on sale online as of Friday, December 11 for $499. But at the time  the Website has not yet accepted preorders, and that functionality may not come online today.

Dell Android Tablet

In June, rumors of an iPod Touch-like device from Dell started surfacing, and now there are reports that Dell is set to reveal this 'tablet' at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Details are scarce, but according to the latest rumors, the Dell device would run Google's Android operating system and have a 5-inch touchscreen.

Of course, it's a bit of a stretch to call this device a tablet in the Apple sense, in fact, this device sounds more like a mobile Internet device (MID). MIDs are nothing new and have been around for some time. Samsung made a splash at this year's CTIA trade show in Las Vegas when it introduced the Mondi: a 4.3-inch LCD touch display device, with 4GB of onboard memory running Windows Mobile, hardware QWERTY keyboard, and WiMax support.

Dell's device could also be a multimedia player designed to compete directly with the iPod Touch and Zune HD. The Dell device will supposedly be available first in the U.K. on an unspecified date, with a U.S. launch to follow.

PC World  has contributed to the report.