2011 has been dubbed "The Year of the Tablet", and rightly so because so many of these ultra-compact computing devices have been launched this year. A tablet PC was considered unviable as a computing device a few years ago, but tablets today pack in a lot of firepower to be able to handle almost any normal computing task. Here is a list of the reasons why tablets can potentially replace netbooks in the near future.

1) Ultra-portability

While netbooks have been termed ultra-portable, tablets are even more so, thanks to their structure as a single slate, rather than a hinged design like a netbook. Tablets are usually much lighter than netbooks, and their size lets you take them anywhere. Even their chargers are more portable, making it easier to carry the whole thing anywhere.

2) Price

Tablets have come a long way from being too expensive to dirt-cheap, with high end exceptions such as the iPad 2 and the Galaxy Tab. Low end tablets start at around Rs 7000, and pack in a decent performance for daily computing tasks. Netbooks, on the other hand, rarely breach the Rs 12,000 mark, and most are priced above Rs 15,000.

3) Versatility

Most tablets come with Google Android operating system, which gives them access to a huge repository of apps from the Android Market, many of them being free. These apps allow the tablet to do just about anything, thanks to the creativity of the app developers. The above also applies for other tablet OSes such as iOS and BlackBerry OS. This versatility is not so easy to achieve for a netbook.

4) Battery Life

The battery life of a tablet is simply incomparableto that of the netbook. A tablet can easily last for more than half a day on a single charge, while a netbook struggles to make it past four or five hours of normal usage. The better battery life lets you take it anywhere without having to worry much about losing charge in the middle of your work.

5) Internet Connectivity Options
While Wi-Fi is the standard connectivity options on all tablets, they often come with 3G connectivity options using a mobile SIM card. Wi-Fi hotspots are hard to find in India, making 3G connectivity more feasible to stay connected no matter where you take the device. This is a major advantage of tablets over netbooks, which come with only Wi-Fi option.

6) User Interface
Being touch-screen devices, the user interface of tablets is usually refined, intuitive, and user friendly. Not only is the operating system designed to allow for efficient interaction with the user, but also the applications sport a user friendly interface. For those who miss a QWERTY keyboard of the netbook, there are inexpensive keyboards available, which can work with any tablet.

7) Virus-free
Ever heard of viruses attacking tablets? Tablets have so far remain insulated from such attacks. Although it cannot be said that it will remain so forever, it is considerably safe as of now to work on a tablet than on a netbook with Windows, which has always been a prime target of viruses.

That is not all. While this may not really be related to computing, the GPS unit built in many tablets helps use it as an inexpensive navigational tool when it is not being used as a tablet. Netbooks may have been in vogue a couple of years ago, but tablets seem to be set to rule the future.

Samsung and Apple aren't on good terms with each other as we all know. Both the companies are slamming lawsuits at each other left and right. Not much is spoken about the other aspect of the rivalry, the sales numbers. Apple has been leading the pack for quite a while now with its sales numbers surpassing Samsung's and Nokia's numbers fairly easily. Well, that is history now for Samsung has made its way to the top as the number one manufacturer in the world (in terms of sales) with 23.6 million shipments reported during Q3, with Apple coming in at second place with 17.3 million shipments. These numbers were calculated by IDC, which is a well known research firm. Therefore, Samsung now has 20% of the share of the global smartphone market while Apple is at 15%. Nokia's figures have dramatically dropped with the company losing half of its market share from the last quarter. The Finnish mobile manufacturer had 28% of the total smartphone market share during Q2 and now it has only 14%. RIM's market share also has taken a beating coming down to 10% from 15%. HTC, however, has crept up to the top five list with about 11% of the market share now. That's a growth of 4% from the last quarter. It is importantto bear in mind that shipments do not actually reflect into sales.

So what do these figures tell us? Well, Apple doesn't rule the smartphone segment anymore, though it is being said that the wait for the new iPhone might have been a contributing factor for the low sales. Q4's numbers will give us a better idea of where the companies stand, since by then, most brands will have a flagship of their own. Nokia will have the Lumia in the market, while the iPhone 4S is almost a month old and Samsung is looking at the launch of the Galaxy Nexus. We don't have the numbers on the profits that these companies made but we figure Apple would top that list since it only has a couple of smartphones in its inventory. Either way, Samsung is now sitting right on top and we expect the company to do well in the current quarter as well.

The tablet war is heating up like there is no tomorrow. This time it is the Taiwanese technology major- HTC, who has entered the lucarative Indian tablet market with the grand launch of “Flyer” . The tablet will be on sale starting with the price of Rs. 39,890/-

The tablet has a 7inch touch screen with a powerful 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It also comes equipped with 1GB of RAM for high memory hogging applications with a built-in memory of 16GigaBytes. The tablet also features a 5—megapixel camera.

Earlier Blackberry had launched its Playbook with a pricetag starting from Rs 27,990. The Apple iPad is selling currently at a starting price point of Rs 29,500 and the Samung Galaxy Tab for Rs 26,000.