Android tablets abound with the Fire, Slider and XOOM 2

Amazon adds Fire to tablet market
We've been hearing a lot about Amazon's own Android-based tablet. It seems Amazon is not content to simply sit in the wings and make apps for the two front-runner tablet operating systems... they'd rather take a crack themselves.
By the time this episode of Android Weekly hits the air, Amazon's September 28 press conference will have come and gone. The completely reasonable speculation is that this press event will be held to unveil the Amazon tablet to the world.
Expect to see a tablet that's heavily reliant on the cloud. Expect to see specs that for other tablets would seem underwhelming but at a price point that will make them fly. It'll be based on Android, but I'll wager Android will be almost unrecognizable under Amazon's thumb. You'll see Amazon's own app store, Kindle integration for ebooks, access to Amazon Instant Video and Amazon's cloud music service.
As for access to the Android Market on the device, I wouldn't be so sure.
We'll see what transpires and bring news of the newest tablet to hit the scene in an upcoming show. Or, we're hopelessly off base and Amazon's press conference is to announce that the Twilight series will continue forever more as a Kindle exclusive. God help us all.

ASUS releases their first Android tablet, a Slider
The first Android tablet with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard is finally upon us. Called, appropriately enough, the ASUS Eee Pad Slider, this Honeycomb tablet cuts itself off at the knee in aftermarket accessory sales by including a full netbook-style keyboard as part of the hardware.
The Slider was supposed to release alongside the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer. That's the tablet with the optional keyboard dock. We've looked at the Eee Pad Transformer in a previous episode of Android Weekly.
Adding a keyboard into the mix instead of making it an optional accessory does add to the bulk; we're looking at tablet that's about 1-inch thick when the keyboard is closed.
While Intel pushes its so-called ultrabook category of notebooks (they're basically, MacBook Air clones running Windows), the tablet as laptop category seems much more logical. A tablet when you want it and a keyboard at the ready when you need it. The Eee Pad Transformer does pretty well; the $400 tablet sold out just about everywhere within a couple days of release. We'll see how well the Slider does; at $480 for a 1.2GHz dual core Honeycomb tablet with 1GB of RAM and a 10.1-inch screen, ASUS might have something here.

Rounding out Android tab news with a XOOM 2 rumor round-up
We love a good rumor, and this is a good one. A wild Motorola XOOM 2 has appeared! And been caught. On camera.
Product rumors are usually accompanied by grainy camera phone shots of the device in question, combined with some blog's image watermarks and a lot of conjecture. Check, check and check.
It looks like Motorola is planning two new XOOM tablets. One, a 7-inch model that was accidentally leaked during a redesign of the Motorola site and this, what looks like a 10-incher, that Droid Life apparently secured exclusive pics of.
Gadget blog, This Is My Next, digs a little deeper and offers what could be the specs of the 10-inch XOOM 2: 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and the ability to record in full 1080p HD as well as play back Netflix HD streams. It's got an HDMI out to connect to your HDTV and will last up to 11 hours on a charge. Heady specs, but entirely within reason.
Here's hoping Motorola learned its lesson from the original XOOM launch. Make it price competitive and release a Wi-Fi only version ships before, or at least alongside the mobile network version.

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