The 10 Best Android Tablets

When it comes to tablets, it's been an interesting year for Android. Since Google released its tablet-specific operating system, Honeycomb, we’ve seen a steady flow of high-quality Android tablets. (Pre-Honeycomb Android tablets were another story.) This is a good thing, since they provide viable alternatives to the Apple iPad, which has dominated the tablet market since its first release in early 2010. One of the major benefits of Android over the iPad, the dearly departed HP TouchPad, or the dead-on-arrival BlackBerry PlayBook, is that instead of a single hardware choice, you can access the OS on a number of different tablets.

Overall, the Android tablet experience is a very good one. But not all is perfect, even in the land of Honeycomb. The biggest problem with the platform continues to be the lack of third-party apps. We're coming up on a year after the OS release, and tablet-specific Android apps are still in the low hundreds, while apps designed specifically for the iPad continue to climb into the hundreds of thousands. Given its Google roots, though, Android is the most configurable tablet operating system you’ll find. It's a master multitasker with an excellent notification system, and top-notch integration with Google services like Gmail, Google Chat, and Google Maps. Plus, you get Flash video support.

Turns out that the most compelling Android tablet we've seen so far doesn't even run Honeycomb. Amazon's Kindle Fire uses a modified version of Android 2.3, or Gingerbread, which is meant for phones. It's not perfect, but the smaller 7-inch screen, and Amazon's OS tweaks, along with its own high-quality content ecosystem and on-board Appstore make for one of the best tablet entertainment experiences you can find. And its $200 price, in a market where most tablets cost around twice as much, means Amazon has a real chance to steal some market share from Apple. If the Kindle Fire doesn't do it for you, though, check out the slideshow for a look at our other top-rated Android tablets or compare these tablets side by side.