Personal computers and even handheld gaming devices (yes, the Nintendo 3DS), have been hit by the popularity of Apple's iPad. PC makers, smartphone vendors and others have put up new tablet devices hoping to take a piece of the pie in a new market created by the iPad.

Dell Inc. on Thursday launched the Dell Streak 10 Pro tablet, its first 10-inch Android Honeycomb 3.1 tablet.

Lenovo (the number one PC vendor in China), Amazon Inc. (yes, the online retailer), and Motorola (the maker of the Droid smartphones), among many others, have showcased new tablets running on Google's Android operating system. Using the Android is the most convenient choice for the tablet makers as they could take advantage of the ecosystem of apps available in the Android Market. Users of Apple's iPad, which has taken more than 80% of the tablet market, spend most of their tablet usage time on applications downloaded from the Apple App Store (and from anywhere in the Web for those jailbroken iPads). Among the non-iOS platforms, only the Android could fill up today's tablets with apps that could satisfy consumers.

What makes the Streak 10 Pro different from other tablets?

For one, the Streak 10 Pro is made by Dell, which used to be the number one personal computer manufacturer prior to HP's reign.
Another thing, the device is designed for people who want to "work" and "play" on one tablet. Dell explains that an application, "Dell Divide," assures that users' personal and professional information are kept safe, secure and separate from one another.
The Dell Divide will be offering the ultimate yin and yang: the software (1) offers separate, secure desktop with work apps, widgets, & shortcuts, (2) provides secure, managed connections to work whenever, wherever, and (3) provides communication & productivity tools to enhance work-life balance.

In Dell Divide's work mode, the tablet user has access to the corporate network, applications, without worrying that the IT department can see their family photos and personal e-mail. In personal mode, the user can stay connected with friends and family, store all your family photos on it and your entire music collection -- all without compromising access to any sensitive work data.

The Streak 10 Pro, is barely an inch think, has full Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, has a dual-core nVidia Tegra 2 mobile processor, an expansion storage slot, and a 16GB storage option. The device has up to 12 hours of battery life.

The 10-inch Android (Honeycomb 3.1) tablet is making its debut in China, and it will be available on Dell.com.cn and at Dell-authorized retail channels across the country in the next couple of weeks.

Here's a detailed comparison of key specifications of five non-iPad tablets today:

Screen. The HP TouchPad has a 9.7-inch XGA capacitive, multitouch screen; 18-bit color, 1024 × 768 display. The Cisco Cius has a 7-inch multi-touch tablet form factor, with backlit, WSVGA capacitive touchscreen LCD with 1024 x 600 effective resolution. RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook features a vivid 7-inch 1024 x 600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen. The iPad 2 features a 9.7-inch touch screen, with 1024 x 768 pixel (XGA) resolution. The Dell Streak 10 Pro has a Gorilla Glass, 10 point capacitive touch screen, and has 10.1" WXGA (1280 x 800) display.

Storage. The HP TouchPad has 16GB and 32GB variants. The Cisco Cius has 32GB of onboard storage space. The BlackBerry PlayBook has 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants. The iPad 2 has 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of storage. The Dell Streak 10 Pro has a 16 GB internal eMMC of storage plus up to 32 GB SDHC of external storage.

Rear Camera. The HP TouchPad has no rear camera. The Cisco Cius has a rear facing camera for capturing 5-megapixel still pictures or VGA-quality video. The PlayBook has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. The iPad 2 has 0.7-megapixel still camera at the back for 720p HD video. The Dell Streak 10 Pro has a 5-megapixel rear camera.

Front Camera. The HP TouchPad has a 1.3MP front facing camera. The Cisco Cius has a forward-facing camera for HD video communication and 720p 30-fps HD video encoding and decoding. The PlayBook has 3-megapixel front camera. The iPad 2 has a VGA video camera. The Dell Streak 10 Pro has a 2-megapixel front camera.
Processor. The HP TouchPad has a dual-core 1.2-GHz Snapdragon processor. The Cisco Cius has 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor.The PlayBook has a 1GHz dual-core processor. The iPad 2 has dual core Apple A5 processor (runs twice a fast as the original iPad).The Dell Streak 10 Pro has a NVIDDIA TEGRA T20 Duo processor.

Connectivity. The HP TouchPad has Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth but no news of 3G model yet.Cisco Cius has 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth and GPS. The PlayBook has Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity plus Bluetooth 2.1+EDR support. The iPad 2 has Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR plus 3G GSM support. The Dell Streak 10 Pro offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

OS. The HP TouchPad is the only tablet that runs on Palm's WebOS, which delivers Adobe Flash-enabled Web browsing. The Cisco Cius, like the Motorola Xoom, runs on Android's OS. The PlayBook runs on BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing, but currently doesn't have native email, calendar and contacts app. The iPad 2 runs on Apple's own iOS 4.3.3, which doesn't have Adobe Flash support. The Dell Streak 10 Pro runs on the Google Android Honeycomb 3.1.

App Store. The TouchPad has the second largest tablet app store with 400 tablet optimized applications already available in addition to the 6,000 apps for Pre phones that could also work. For the Cisco Cius and Dell Streak 10 Pro, apps are available at the Android marketplace, which is going head to head with Apple's App Store for apps available to users, although most of the Android apps are tailored for smartphones. In addition to apps available on the Android marketplace, the Cisco Cius has access to essential business applications that are offered by Cisco, which is known for its Internet protocol-based networking and other products. Cisco also has launched the Cisco AppHQ, an enterprise-class application ecosystem. For the PlayBook, the BlackBerry App World offers "apps for social networking, online shopping, personal productivity, gaming and so much more" for the PlayBook but early reviews for the device complain of the shortage of consumer apps. Apple has gained a head-start against other tablets as more than available 100,000 applications are already optimized for the iPad that can be downloaded from the App Store, in addition to the more than 200,000 iPhone apps that can also work for the Apple tablet. Plus Apple has the iTunes for movies and music.

Pricing. HP TouchPad sells at US$499 (16 GB) and US$599 for (32 GB) in the U.S. Cisco Cius is estimated to price at US$700 to US$750 per unit. For the PlayBook, a version with 16 gigabytes of storage costs US$499 in the U.S., a 32-gigabyte model retails for $599 and a version with 64 gigabytes is $699. iPad 2 - WiFi only 16 GB costs A$579, the 32 GB costs A$689 while the 64 GB costs A$799 in Australia. The Dell Streak 10 Pro is priced at US$461 (RMB 2,999) in China.

Release Date. The HP TouchPad and PlayBook were released in Australia in July. The Cisco Cius will be available exclusively to corporate U.S. customers starting July 31. The iPad 2 was released worldwide in March. The Dell Streak 10 Pro has been released in China and will be available in other regions "in the coming weeks."