Best 5 Black Friday 2011 tablet and e-reader finds

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Summary: You won’t regret buying an Asus Transformer, BlackBerry PlayBook, Toshiba Thrive, HP TouchPad or Barnes & Noble’s Nook Simple Touch Limited Edition this Black Friday.

Let’s face it: you’re shopping for an e-reader or a tablet on Black Friday because you want to get the best bang for your buck and are willing to forgo the latest specs and OS for the savings. You’re simply not going to find something as recently released as the Amazon Kindle Fire on sale on November 25 — at the most you may get a gift card to lessen the sting of paying regular price for the device, but that’s hardly worth fighting Black Friday crowds for. Thankfully, there are better deals out there than mere gift cards, which is why these five e-reader and tablet deals deserve your time and money this Black Friday.

10.1? Asus Eee Pad Transformer 16GB $249.99; $349.98 with Keyboard Dock

With the next-gen quad-core Asus Transformer Prime tablet due in stores any time soon, the current Transformer (TF101) is suddenly quite the steal this Black Friday. Best Buy is pricing the Transformer at just $249.99 or $349.99 with the optional dock, which is basically the same price as the Toshiba Thrive (see below) but with the added functionality of a laptop. As a stand-alone tablet, the 10.1-inch Transformer has a textured back that is less prone to slipping and fingerprints, a micro-SD slot and micro-HDMI port on-board, and runs Android Honeycomb with Flash support. When combined with the keyboard dock, the device gains about 6-7 hours of battery life, 2 USB ports, 1 SD slot and of course physical keys for extensive typing.

7? BlackBerry PlayBook 16GB for $199

Considering the Amazon Kindle Fire only offers 8GB of on-board storage, 512 MB RAM, lacks Bluetooth and cameras, the 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook makes up for all the Fire’s hardware shortcomings without adding to the pricetag (at least for the 16GB version). For $199, you get 16GB of storage, a great looking and multitasking OS in QNX, a micro-HDMI-out, video chats with a 3-megapixel camera, and can pair your BlackBerry phone to a larger 7? screen. Native BBM email support is coming in the February 2012 update so critics’ last gripe with the tablet should finally be put to rest. Both Best Buy and Staples are marking down their PlayBooks this Black Friday so keep an eye out for it (Staples has the 32GB and 64GB variants for $249 and $399 respectively.)

10.1? Toshiba Thrive Tablet for $349.98

Speaking of Staples, it is also shaving $50 off the 10.1-inch Toshiba Thrive (pictured above), a sleeper hit of a tablet for those looking for more native ports and connectors on their slates that will fit right in with their current tech set-up. Although this model only has 16GB of internal storage, it comes with a  full-size SD slot, USB and HDMI ports and has a removable battery so you can swap in a fresh one when you can’t plug into a socket. The Thrive also runs Honeycomb, which means it has a robust app store out-of-box. While it’s not the cheapest Black Friday tablet out there, it also means you’re not buying into a dead/dying system or an outdated model. (Toshiba’s most recent launch was a 7-incher.)

9.7? HP TouchPad 32GB for $229.99 with accessories $149 with HP Computer Purchase

Updated @ 11:14PM PST: Tipped by @Peter Perry, CompUSA is selling just the 32GB TouchPad (no need to buy a HP computer) but comes with accessories for $229.99. Not only will you be able to bring home one of the few remaining TouchPads around, you’ll also get a Belkin Tablet Desktop Stand, Belkin Tablet Sleeve and a pair of Creative Labs Wireless Bluetooth Speakers. This sale starts at 5:00AM PST in stores only so you want to start lining up now.

HP may be out of all TouchPads, but a couple of retailers like Staples and hhgregg are enticing shoppers this Black Friday with their remaining 32GB units for $149.99 — but only if you buy a HP computer as well. This may make sense if you’re shopping for a laptop or desktop this year and want to gift the TouchPad or vice versa. I personally find all the derision directed at webOS and the increasingly rare TouchPad unwarranted because the device works just fine for basic consumption needs (email, web surfing, music). It sure beats a similarly priced Pandigital or generic-brand me-too tablets that seem to fill Black Friday circulars.

Barnes & Noble’s 6? Nook Simple Touch Limited Edition e-Reader for $79

For one day only this Black Friday, Barnes & Noble will be cutting the price of its 6-inch Nook Simple Touch e-reader by $20 to just $79. The only caveat is that you must drop by your local B&N to get this limited edition device with a white edge (pictured right). Unlike the $99 Amazon Kindle Touch (or the $79 Kindle Wi-Fi for that matter), this Nook Simple Touch has no “annoying ads,” is compatible with ePUB format for library books, plus you can walk into any B&N store to get help on your e-reader and purchases. So if after-market service is important to you, then this the e-reader to get on Friday.

Keep us up to date on the availability of these mobile devices by commenting below.

[Source: CompUSA}

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Gloria Sin is a freelance journalist based in New York City.

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Karuma's PlayBase is a capable and durable tablet for kids

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Summary: Tired of sharing your iPad with your kids? Karuma may have your solution.

As the iPad has become more popular, parents have become a lot more interested in alternatives for Apple’s tablet that are made especially for kids.

The PlayBase is one of those tablets. Designed by Singapore-based company Karuma, the PlayBase is an Android-powered 7-inch tablet built to withstand even the most sizable beatings. Its durability comes from PlayCover, a silicone wrap that protects the tablet from water, scratches, and damage from falls.

Featuring a 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of flash memory, and an upgradable SD card slot, the PlayBase is pretty capable for a tablet aimed at kids. The device also features a front-facing camera and a 5-hour battery life. Though its still running a skinned version of Gingerbread, Karuma gave the PlayBase’s 1GB RAM with the intention of offering upgrades to later versions of Android, including Ice Cream Sandwich.

But the PlayBase is not especially cheap. Karuma is asking $270 (£169) for the thing, and while thats roughly the range that 7-inch tablets sell for, its hard not to shake the feeling that the tablet could had been a tad bit cheaper. Available December 1st.

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications.

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uDraw tablet comes to Xbox 360 and PS3 with new design, motion controls

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Summary: The latest iteration of THQ’s uDraw tablet promises to bring the device’s unique design to new audiences.

The uDraw tablet, which launched on the Wii last year, is making its way to the Xbox 360 and PS3 with a new design and a bunch of new features.

Motion controls, touch input, HD output, and over two-hundred points of pressure sensitivity are all making an appearance with the device’s second iteration, which has gone from a Wii shade of white to a darker, plausibly more conventional, black.

The tablet comes bundled with uDraw Studio: Instant Artist, software that offers a variety of lessons and activities as well as the ability to upload artwork to the uDraw website. The title joins a number of other uDraw-enabled games, including Pictionary: Ultimate Edition and Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat. uDraw games range from $30 for Wii versions to $40 for Xbox and PS3.

The uDraw tablet’s $80 price tag ($70 for the Wii version) makes the device a pretty compelling buy for parents looking to initiate their kids into the tablet world without breaking the bank in the process. And you have to give developer THQ credit: the device is pretty unique.

[uDraw]

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications.

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HP Slate 2 is a Win 7 tablet for road warriors, $699 (video)

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Summary: HP’s new tablet trades webOS for Windows 7, and consumers for businesses/professionals — meet the Slate 2 Tablet PC.

HP may not be making any more TouchPads with webOS for consumers, but it certainly isn’t willing to be left out of the tablet party.

With a new Slate 2 Tablet PC running the full version Windows 7 due out later this month, HP believes it has the device that businesses and professionals will need to get things done. Is HP onto something or simply delusional that any tablet can challenge the best-selling iPad 2?

The Slate 2 will look familiar to HP fans as its predecessor, the Slate 500, made quite a splash at CES 2010. If you don’t remember, well that’s because it didn’t really take off post-launch, which is why it’s perplexing for HP to try again with the Slate 2.

Essentially, the Slate 2 has the guts of a netbook but in the form factor of a tablet, complete with a 8.9-inch capacitive multi-touch screen that also works with a stylus (included) as well as a virtual Swype keyboard. The Slate 2’s Intel Atom “Oak Trail” Z670 processor clocks at approximately 1.5 GHz according to NotebookCheck, has a 64GB mSATA drive as well as a SD Card slot for extra storage. Unfortunately, its rear camera is still the same 3-megapixel one as in the Slate 500 but comes with a front-facing one for video conferencing. Most importantly, the Slate 2’s battery is now good for 6 hours of use, and its dock provides two USB 2.0 ports and an HDMI connector.

HP has also come up with some business-friendly accessories for the Slate 2:

Bluetooth keyboard and stand integrated into a carrying case so you won’t have to carry multiple accessories when you hit the road (see video).
HP Retail Point of Sale case (pictured below) with integrated slot for swiping credit cards without directing your customer to the cashier line

HP is positioning the Slate 2 as the mobile solution for non-cubicle work environments: as electronic charts for doctors and nurses in hospitals, servers in restaurants to take orders/seat guests and allow them to pay at the tablet, and any other professionals who are tied to the Windows ecosystem who need a full computer in a tablet wherever they work. I’ve only used Windows 7 by touch controls very briefly on an all-in-one so I know it works, but I do wonder how well the Atom chip on the Slate 2 handles Windows 7 because even Win 7 Starter can be laggy on a netbook.

Considering the Slate 2’s rather high price tag of $699.99 — you can get a pretty powerful i5 laptop at this price these days — I’m not sure the tablet’s combination of (software) power and portability is worth the cost. But your line of work may well require something like this and the relative lack competing tablets for professionals (Sean mentions the Dell Latitude ST as the closest competitor to the Slate 2) could bring HP some business after all. What do you think?

[Source: HP's Blog, HP, NotebookCheck, The Verge; Photo: SlashGear; Video: HP's YouTube Channel]

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Gloria Sin is a freelance journalist based in New York City.

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