Experts have already announced that 2012 will be the year of Apple's newly launched iPad. That prediction, however, seems not to have dampened the spirit of Apple's biggest rival Samsung, which is all set to roll out its Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet.

Samsung's earlier experiment with Galaxy Note smartphone has paid off quite well. The hybrid of phone and tablet has sold more than 5 million units within a few months of its launch. While the hybrid generated humungous excitement among the smartphone lovers, the Note 10.1 slate is also expected to bring some fresh air in a market which is dominated by Apple and another power-packed tablet makers, Asus.

Asus, in the world of tablet, is quite a renowned name and its Transformer Prime is considered to be one of the best tablets available in today's market. This time the Taiwanese company has packed in a powerful quad core 1.3 GHz Tegra 3 processor and Ice Cream Sandwich operating system with its next iteration of the Transformer Prime, Transformer Prime TF700T. The tablet is slated for Q2 release.

While the market is still divided in two groups, lovers and haters of Apple New iPad, can Samsung and Asus make the most out of the situation? Also, how can we forget that representative of the Korean company himself admitted that Samsung is not doing great in the tablet market?

We would like to mention here that the Korean electronics giant, at a press event that took place on Wednesday, announced that the company had not released date to announce for the device. It also mentioned that the product, which was revealed in February at the Mobile World Congress, may not in fact match the final product.

Therefore, it would be again a caution from our end to read the features of the Galaxy Note 10.1 with a pinch of salt! As of now, we would be considering features that have been officially announced by the company and will compare them against the new iPad and transformer Prime TF700T.

Design

Apple was not very experimental this time with the design of the new iPad. In fact, the same design like its predecessor has been retained for the iPad 3 but added a little more thickness. The dimensions of the third generation iPad are 241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4 mm and it weights 662 grams maintaining the same form factor as iPad 2.

The Transformer Prime TF700T, on the other hand, comes with a dimension of 263 x 180.8 x 8.3 mm and weighs 586 grams.

But, the new Samsung tablet's design has been totally revamped. Galaxy Note 10.1 dimensions are 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.9 mm. It weights 583g - about 80g lighter than the new iPad and almost same as the Prime.

So, design and weight-wise, Samsung tab will get a little edge over the other two.

Display

This is perhaps a section where without any doubt the Apple device wins with its stunning resolution and bright screen.

The latest Apple tablet comes with a 9.7-inch LED Blacklit IPS TFT display with a revolutionary resolution of 2048 X 1536 pixels or 264 ppi pixel density. Although criticisms about a yellowish hue that appears on the screen of some new iPads have reached us, the Retina display still gives the new iPad a huge lead over any other rival tablets.

The 10.1-inch latest Transformer Prime comes with a screen of 1920×1200 resolution and 224 ppi pixel density. While the company has improved the display by adding 50 percent more ppi than original Prime, the tablet is still lagging behind the whooping 2048 X 1536 pixels of the new iPad. But the Super IPS+ display of the Asus tablet makes any image crisp and clear; colors rich and bright.

On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has 10.1-inch PLS TFT touchscreen display with a resolution of 800 X 1280 pixels or 149 ppi pixel density, which is nowhere near to what the new iPad packs.

Apple's new iPad is an easy winner as we already mentioned in the display section.

Processor and Memory

The new iPad packs in a dual-core 1 GHz processor A5X chip with PowerVR SGX543MP4 (quad-core graphics). It has 1GB of RAM and 16/32/64GB of internal storage. And this time also Apple has not packed the external memory card slot. Although the Cupertino giant has maintained the same dual-core processor, beefing up the graphics processor was necessary as the new iPad has to support the four times the pixels of the previous model.

Samsung Galaxy Note is powered by Dual-core 1.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset and 1GB of RAM. It comes with internal memory options of 16GB and 32GB only, but the memory is expandable with microSD support up to 32GB.

But Prime sports a Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A9 processor with Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset and 12 core ULP GeForce GPU. This tablet also has 1GB RAM.

Although the Prime is packing a quad-core processor, the Tegra 3 is expected to be slower than the Exynos and A5X but an update Tegra 3+ is on the cards.

A recent rumor, however, states that the Note 10.1 will be upgraded to a quad-core processor. According to mk News, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 would sport a 1.5GHz quad-core Exynos 4412 processor.

If rumors come true, then Samsung will get a major leap against its rivals.

Operating System

Apple with the launch of new iPad, also unveiled an updated version of iOS 5.0, dubbed as iOS v5.1. The new OS has deep iCloud integration, improved Twitter integration, and direct camera app shortcut at lock screen, refurbished camera app and voice dictation. Some new killer apps such as iPhoto, GarageBand, iMovie and Apple Care+ have also been integrated.

The latest Transformer Prime TF700T to have the latest android operating system Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 with a layer of ASUS Waveshare UI on it.

Galaxy Note 10.1 will run Android OS 4.x dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich. The new tablet is expected to pack some Stylus Pen-oriented apps. According to rumors, the tablet has the ability to run and work on two app simultaneously, which is a never-seen feature in tablet history.

Even we found it tough to pick put the best in this department.

Camera

Apple's cameras have been significantly improved in the new iPad. The latest Apple slate features 5-megapixel iSight camera that fares well in terms of quality. It also records 1080p videos at 30fps. The new iPad also has a secondary VGA camera for video chatting, which was expected to be improved from the iPad 2 but Apple disappointed its fans.

In comparison, Galaxy Note 10.1 features a 3.15 megapixel camera with LED flash support. It records 1080p videos at 30fps. The Samsung tablet also features a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.

Apple's new iPad has a primary camera with a better resolution. But Galaxy Note 10.1, despite having a relatively lower resolution camera, has LED flash support. Also, the front-facing camera is a better deal in the new Samsung tablet.

While both these tablets go head-on-head in the camera section, Transformer Prime is the one lagging behind.

The tablet sports a 8 MP rear camera. No more information on the features are out yet.

Connectivity

Apple's new iPad features 4G compatibility as well as HSUPA/HSDPA/Rev. A networks. Other connectivity features are Wi-Fi hotspot functionality and Bluetooth version 4.0. GPS feature, however, is available only in the 4G models of the new iPad.

Galaxy Note 10.1, however, falls flat in this department as it supports only GSM 2G and 3G networks. Other connectivity features are Bluetooth version 3.0, GPS and Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi Direct and hotspot functionality.

The Asus tablet comes with no support for GSM voice communication, SMS, and MMS as it is not a GSM

New iPad is a clean winner.

Battery

The new iPad is packed with Li-Po 11,560 mAh (42.5 Wh) standard battery that can keep the tablet alive for up to 9 hours on intense usage.

Samsung Galaxy Note is powered with Standard Li-Ion 7,000 mAh battery. However, Galaxy Note 10.1's battery performance is yet unknown just like the Prime tablet, which comes with Standard battery, Li-Po 25Wh.

Editor's Pick

Apple is still a head-turner for us. Though the S-Pen of the Galaxy Note tablet (best suitable for drawing, painting, note taking and precise image editing) adds a unique value to the tablet and the tablet comes with LED flash, a better front-facing camera and a faster processor, the true winner can only be picked up once Samsung decides to launch the device.

Same goes with the Asus tablet, it comes with a keyboard which erases the bug of typing on pad, but we still hope to see a little improvement in the camera, chipset and battery sections. However, the original Transformer Prime was a major hit among the tablet lovers we hope to see the same love for the latest Prime too.

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