Lenovo 10.1-inch Ice Cream Sandwich tablet with 1.6GHz Tegra 3 by year's end

You wouldn't think a giant like Lenovo would stop at just three (or four) Android tablets now, would you? In fact, a little birdie has informed us that said Chinese company will release a new 10.1-inch tablet by the end of the year, and unsurprisingly, Ice Cream Sandwich along with NVIDIA's Tegra 3 T33 are on the menu. Other features include 2GB of speedy 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM, a standard USB host socket (covered by a not-so-elegant pop-out flap), a back-facing camera of unknown resolution, a "Special Fusion-Skin Body" and, most interestingly, a fingerprint scanner that apparently doubles as an optical joystick on the seemingly flat backside -- only time will tell whether this layout makes sense. Our source hasn't spilled any info on the dimensions and weight, but judging by the photos in our gallery, this 1.6GHz quad-core slate should be significantly thinner than the IdeaPad K1 or LePad sitting underneath. As always, you'll hear from us as soon as we find out more.

Tips to Buy the Best Tablet

It's difficult to remember a time before tablets, but it's been a mere 18 months since the first Apple iPad was released, and the current tablet market was born. Since then, we've seen scores of manufacturers trying to snag a slice of the tablet pie, which so far, has been dominated by Apple, who is now on its second iPad iteration. According to a study by Strategy Analytics, of the 7.5 million tablets that shipped during the second quarter, 80 percent were iPads, well ahead of those from rivals like Motorola, Samsung, RIM, Asus, and HTC.

That's not stopping others from trying. And the result so far has been a float of difficult-to-distinguish tablets at various price points, performance capabilities, and feature sets. There hasn't really been another standout. The latest big name to throw its hat in the already-crowded tablet ring: Amazon. The company's Android-based Kindle Fire won't be available until mid-November, but it comes at a very pleasing $199—a price low that no quality tablet has been able to yet manage. It will be interesting to see what Amazon's entry means for both the iPad and the non-Apple tablet market share.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus with 4G, available for $250

We were already expecting to see the WiFi-only version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus make its American debut on November 13th, but it may be worth waiting an extra three days if you'd like to have some good old-fashioned HSPA+ connectivity on T-Mobile.

Indeed, the carrier announced its 4G-ified iteration of the tablet will be ready for your purchase on November 16th for a $250 down payment after a mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract. Oh, and that's not the only fine print: you'll need to shell out twenty monthly interest-free payments of $10 in addition to your normal data plan.

To sum up the specs, the seven-inch tablet has Android 3.2 preinstalled, runs on a 1.2GHz Exynos CPU, has 16GB of internal storage and takes advantage of a 3MP rear-facing camera and 2MP front-facing cam for video chat. Still intrigued? Read on through the press release to learn more about your potential Tab life.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus will join the recently announced T-Mobile® SpringBoard™ with Google™ and Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1, as well as the T-Mobile G-Slate™ with Google, to offer an affordable and compelling portfolio of 7-, 9- and 10-inch 4G tablets with down payments ranging from $179.99 to $399.99***.

Beginning Nov. 16, customers can purchase the T-Mobile SpringBoard for a $179.99 down payment and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus for a $249.99 down payment at T-Mobile retail stores. Each require a $50 mail-in rebate, with a T-Mobile Value Mobile Broadband plan, two-year service agreement, and 20 interest free monthly payments of $10 on approved credit. Overage-free Mobile Broadband Value plans start at $29.99 per month, and T-Mobile postpaid voice customers enjoy $10 off their monthly mobile broadband service. For more information, visit http://mobile-broadband.t-mobile.com/tablets.