Best 7 inch Tablet: Now We’re Starting To See More Options

Since the first slate tablet, the iPad was launched by Apple this niche has evolved into a large portion of the mobile market. We have to give the Cupertino company credit for it, even if we don’t want to. The competition is struggling to offer a viable alternative, even two years after the original launch.

Sure there are Android tablets that on paper are at least as good as the new iPad 3, but consumers are the ones deciding whether they validate the claim or not, and up until now there doesn’t seem to be a viable 10 inch alternative to the all mighty iPad.

The solution is, it seems, to offer something slightly different, a smaller 7 inch tablet form factor (see current top models here). Amazon did it first with the Kindle Fire, a very affordable (some could call it even cheap) seven inch tablet with a $199 price point. It wasn’t an iPad killer, but a different alternative, and a lot of consumers have chosen it last year.

This year Samsung is back with a vengeance, as the third generation Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) is set to kill Apple’s slate with a $250 price point, without losing any kind of specs in the process, as it was with the Kindle Fire.

The others are aiming too at the same price point, with ASUS reportedly working on a 7 inch MeMO quad core model that will retail for under $300. That’s huge for such a powerful and small device. Add the stylus and you see why Apple might soon have to change the strategy and focus on bringing to market a viable Mini iPad, as I’m sure a lot of consumers are aiming for that spot of mobility, price and performance.

Lastly, but not the last, Toshiba is working on the Excite 7.7, a slightly bigger tablet which has to offer a very thin aluminum body, but yet unknown price. As you can see the market is open to different table form factors, and the 7 inch tablet is here to stay, not just a temporary solution, as some might tend to believe.