The iPad's finally got some competition; in the past few weeks, the HP Slate made a brief appearance, the Samsung Galaxy Tab debuted, and just BlackBerry unveiled its business-minded PlayBook today. Here's how they all measure up:

Admittedly, we're more keen on HP's webOS tablet, or even the ditched Android tablet (basically, anything other than Windows 7!), but this leaked Slate video does suggest that maybe it will wind up in the hands of consumers after all.

One's big, one's small and the other's a wristwatch? That's what Phil McKinney, CTO of HP's Personal Systems Group, seems to be holding in his hand. Could it be a legit webOS tablet? Pre 2? Or a *gasp* webOSwatch?

Some interesting news from Fortune's Brainstorm conference: HP VP Todd Bradley says that the company's Windows 7-running tablet, the one Steve Ballmer showed off at CES, will not be a consumer-focused product. But webOS 2.0 is arriving later this year.

In the wake of reports that HP is bagging its Android tablet comes word that the company has filed to trademark the name "Palmpad." Which to me sounds like a great that rumored webOS tablet, no?

HP's original vision: tablets of every OS flavor, led by the (since deceased) Windows 7 Slate but complemented by Android and webOS devices. Today it turns out there can only be one. And it's not named after dessert.

As expected and wished for, HP won't use Windows 7 in their incoming HP Slate, but their newly acquired Palm WebOS. At least, that's what Monty Wong—vice-president of personal computing systems at HP Taiwan—said to Digitimes.

HP is killing its Windows 7 "slate" tablet project, says TechCrunch, citing a source "briefed on the matter."

A Mexican site called Conecti.ca got some hands-on time with the HP Slate, and walked away decidedly unimpressed. The verdict: that the device is basically a keyboardless netbook. Well... yeah.

This leaked HP internal memo at Engadget shows the HP Slate's got a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor and five-plus hours of battery life. That's in-line with what we'd heard already, but the memo's also a great tale-of-the-tape iPad comparison.

HP's rolled out another promotional video for their Slate, again—not surprisingly—highlighting its advantages over the iPad. Like a camera! A built-in USB port and SD slot! And... iTunes. Well, we'll call that last one a wash.

Just because most of us bought iPads doesn't mean that any of you should. There are plenty of devices, out now or coming soon, that can do some things as well—or better. Here's a roundup of the best:

Well, they've succeeded in coming in at under $630, but even so the €400 ($542) price rumored for the Slate is still too much when it's coming up against the $499 iPad.

Adobe's got a video out that proves the HP Slate can run Flash and AIR just fine, thankyouverymuch. To which we say: no kidding! It's a Windows 7 device. What's of some concern might be HP's own marketing clip:

Even if you hate Apple, you can't deny they set the tone. The WSJ reports that while HP announced their Slate first, they waited for the iPad unveil to make changes, like the price—which they plan to undercut.

Tablets today are thought to be made in one of two ways: Upsizing a smartphone or downsizing a laptop. Many of these new tablets are decent, but both methods render something less than the perfect tablet.

Everybody's talking about tablets, especially those single-pane capacitive touchscreen ones more specifically known as "slates." The iPad is the biggest newsmaker, but there are lots headed our way (most with built-in webcams). Here's how they measure up, spec-wise:

HP just popped a video of CTO Phil McKinney demonstrating the "slate" we showed you first at CES 2010. McKinney affirms that this is not just some will-o-the-wisp, but in doing so, might've taken away some of its allure.