Who’d a thunk? Consumer Reports says that the iPad 2 is the best tablet out there right now, compared to models from Archos, Dell, Motorola, Samsung, and ViewSonic.
Of course, since Consumer Reports still stupidly clings to its insistence that they can’t recommend the iPhone 4, which is still the best and most in-demand smartphone on the market, you know their recommendation of the iPad 2 is going to come with some backhanded compliments.
“So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced,” said Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor at Consumer Reports. “However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.”
If CR is implying that other companies are going to undercut iPad on price, that’s not necessarily likely at all, at least soon. Apple controls a huge chunk of the tablet supply chain right now, and while that hold will loosen with time, right now it seems like Apple’s the only company out there who can really make a $500 tablet without selling it at a loss.
Either way, though, the iPad 2 did well in Consumer Reports’ estimation, and at the end of the day, they recommended the 32GB iPad 2 with 3G as the best value for the price. Hey, that’s the one I have!
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
