Top 10 tablets that could topple the iPad 2

Is it just us, or has Apple's world-domineering iPad been king of the tablets for far too long? As far as we're concerned it's about time some plucky upstart came along and give the wunder gadget some serious competition.

In the first year of its life nothing came close to ending the iPad's reign. And the only thing that came within spitting distance - the slick and sexy HP TouchPad - was declared dead after a pitiful 48 days or so on store shelves.

But as we move into 2012, the iPad 2 is starting to see some true contenders to the throne. Android slates here and fiery Kindles over there. In fact, we can think of - oh, say - ten tablets either on store shelves or hitting tech shops soon that have the opportunity to put a dent in Apple's crown.

Kindle Fire, announced this month in New York, is a sleek seven-inch tablet with a teensy price tag: just $199. While it will remain US-only for the time being, if it ever does breach our shores it's sure to make quite a splash.

The budget-priced 1GHz tablet might run the creaky old Android 2.3, but Amazon will have free rein to fiddle with the way it runs. So it will hook up with Amazon's wealth of services like Kindle books, movie rentals and, of course, its own game-filled Android store.

Brand names are big, and the BlackBerry in BlackBerry PlayBook is no small feature. That iconic name is a magnet for business people who expect to see high-performance apps and a major boost in productivity.

The 7-inch Playbook was hit hard at launch. O2 ditched the tablet for its shoddy "customer experience", which certainly put a dampener on its snarky "we have Flash" ad campaign.

But with a little longer in the oven and a few more updates, the PlayBook could be an iPad competitor in real life, and not just in the warped minds of ad execs.

In our hardware review, we called Samsung's super-sized Galaxy Tab "the best Android tablet yet". About three times, in fact, so you know we're not kidding around. With its top looks and cutting-edge tech, it really is a threat to the iPad.

This thing is rocking a 1.0GHz, Nvidia Tegra 250 processor under the bonnet which is perfect for games, a great user interface, and a handful of bundled apps that makes it feel like a real tablet and not some awkwardly-sized Android phone.

Sony's pair of funny-shaped tablets certainly stand out in a sea of iPad copycats. The S, which has a hefty dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2, is designed for comfy typing as it stands proud on a flat surface.

The P, on the other hand, is the most radical tablet shape of them all. Like a big curvy 3DS it's a pair of 5-inch screens in a clam-shell case that can slip in your pocket. Right into that hole where £479 used to be.

Both are out before 2012, and both Android devices should satisfy would-be tablet owners who want something other than a flat slab of glass. Something different. Something with a curvy bit of plastic on the back.

The iPad and its ilk all share a common element: the missing keyboard. So when you want to drop some data it means breaking out a Bluetooth keyboard or resigning yourself to the fact that lengthy documents will be riddled with typos.

Asus's Transformer comes with a full-sized keyboard dock to turn the tablet into an impromptu keyboard when literary inspiration hits you. When the keyboard comes off, it's just another Honeycomb tablet with Tegra innards. It's not exactly Optimus Prime, but it's still quite cool.

There's a reason that Google paid a few billion bucks for tech firm Motorola. Those guys know their way around a gadget and, as the Xoom shows, they're quite capable of plopping Android onto a big, 10-inch screen with considerable success.

While Google and Motorola are probably cooking up a new tablet as we write this, the Xoom is no first-gen flop. This worthy device packs a Nvidia Tegra 250 processor and the Honeycomb OS, and even has a barometer to sense your estimated altitude when pinning down your location. Can't get that on iOS!

The Thrive has been netting itself some seriously impressive review scores. No big shock: this thing packs a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 250 processor, a sleek 10-inch screen, and Android Honeycomb right out of the box.

But it also has another killer feature: you could literally use it to kill a person. The Thrive is a massive thick brick that's well over half an inch thick and is heavier than the original iPad. The rubberised grip would also make it easy to hold on to when you're swinging it at your victim's head.

If you're not a murderer, the Thrive is still impressive for its removable battery and legion of ports and holes. It's a tinkerer's dream tablet. If you're a tinkering murder? Well boy howdy...

Lenovo IdeaPad K1

The Lenova IdeaPad could well fall between the cracks as "just another tablet". The sort of no-name, vaguely rectangular piece of plastic that someone might use to fluff out a top ten list about iPad competitors.

It really is an unremarkable tablet - it's got Honeycomb, a 10-inch display, a dual-core Tegra brain, and all that. The only thing we can think of that might register as an innovation (or a gimmick) is that the home button is touch-sensitive.

This gives you handy time-saving gestures, like swipe up to open the context menu and swipe down to jump back a step. Swipe left to regret your purchase and swipe right to trade the thing in for a proper tablet.

Someone obviously didn't get the memo when the late Steve Jobs stressed, "no one wants a stylus". The Galaxy Note - a 5.3-inch gadget that blurs the line between phone and tablet - comes with its own plastic pen.

To be fair, Sammy calls it an advanced smart pen. Not sure what that means, but that's the official name for the pointy prodder around the company campus. Whatever the case, it should let you take handwritten notes - something that no other tablet can do particularly well.

And here's our inevitable snarky sign-off message. When it comes down to business the only tablet that will have a hope in hell of outselling and outshining the iPad 2 is Apple's own successor. The iPad 3 should rear its head in spring of 2012, if you're booking time off work.

What are we hoping for? The rumoured Retina display wouldn't go astray, and nor would a slightly more beefy camera. We wouldn't mind getting the iPhone 4S's robot assistant Siri on our tablet, too, and the usual under-the-bonnet upgrades and buffs would be nice.

Sound good? Okay, so where do we put our credit card details?