A buyer's guide to the 10-inch tablet

We now have a marketplace for 10inch tablets other than Apple's iPad.

Most of the new models have bet the farm on Google's Android OS and are hoping that they will succeed as wildly and as quickly on the tablet space as they did in smartphones.

Samsung, Motorola and Toshiba are among the players in this space.

Like Apple, HP is pushing their own hardware and software platforms hoping that customers who want 'something different', might subscribe to their approach and ecosystem.

Here's our quick guide to navigating this new and competitive space.

HP's TouchPad

On sale right now at $399 for the 16GB version, HP's hoping its webOS tablet catches on. Sporting a 1.2GHz dual core processor, a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and more importantly an improved webOS touch experience in a tablet. The TouchPad also features powerful Beats Audio speakers and a robust feature set. Going forward, it should interface wirelessly with compatible webOS phones.

Acer Iconia Tab

The most affordable Android Honeycomb tablet right now is probably the Acer Iconia Tab ($399 for 16GB) that presents a wellrounded feature set at an acceptable size. Acer has loaded this with a bright 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 TFT LCD, mini HDMI port and a decent seven-hour battery life. Not the thinnest or the lightest, the Iconia Tab has proven to be one of the more powerful of the current batch of Androids.

Toshiba Thrive

An Android Honeycomb powered tablet (starting at $429) that brings a lot of PC-focused features into the market. Nothing beats the Thrive in terms of ports and connectivity since it comes with a full sized SD Card Slot (SD, SDHC, MMC) Full Size USB 2.0, Mini USB, Full-Size HDMI, 3.5mm Standard Headphone Jack, Docking Connector, DC Input. This is the working man's tablet with great connectivity options.

Motorola XOOM

Now selling at $499 for the 32GB version, Motorola's XOOM WiFI tablet offers a powerful dual core processor, premium aluminum body and is one of the fastest Honeycomb tablets we've tested. Premium look and feel as well as a stunning screen are the XOOM's most stunning features.

Cutting Edge Tablets ($500 and up)

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G

Samsung has produced the thinnest and lightest 10.1 tablet on any platform. With 4G data built in (price still unannounced), this is the most mobile 10.1 inch Honeycomb device around.

Aside from the basic Android tablet OS, Samsung has outfitted the Tab 10.1 with a file manager, unique and useful widgets and some curated apps and multimedia content.

This is definitely the most competitive Android tablet around and in terms of features.

Apple iPad 2 Wi-Fi +3G 64GB

The top-of-the-line iPad 2 ($849) comes with Wi-Fi and 3G data access and 64GB of storage.

Thinner and lighter than the previous model, the iPad 2 is also at least twice as speedy and with better video and graphics performance.

Dual cameras for Face-Time video chats plus the new iMessage service will endow all iOS devices with BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) type device-to-device messaging for free come September.