HambliDesign

If the iPad seems a bit extravagant and the JooJoo's sordid past turns you off, the 7" iLet Mini HAL might be up your alley. It's no powerhouse, but at least you'll be able to say you own a tablet.

The 600MHz VIA CPU isn't blazing fast and the 7" touch screen isn't luxuriously wide. The 2GB of flash memory isn't great. The Android 1.6 OS isn't ideal.

But if you just want a tablet without all the bells and whistles for doing some surfing from the couch or reading some documents in bed, the HAL seems like a fine option, especially considering the $199 price tag.

And anyway, the storage is expandable via SD card and the OS is upgradable. It has Wi-Fi, 128MB of RAM, a USB port, and claims a 16 hour battery life. Best of all, Haleron says it's shipping the HAL on March 1st. So, if only for a few weeks, you can be the first of your friends to be officially on the tablet bandwagon.