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Get ready, 'cause it's coming.

By "it," I'm of course referring to the deluge of tablets ready to flood the market. Make no mistake, in the next two to three months, consumers will have more tablet options than they know what to do with.

This week sees the launch of RIM's long-awaited BlackBerry PlayBook. This tablet is targeted at an arguably esoteric market, and includes the expected features aimed at that business demographic, but it also includes features that average shoppers are looking for.

Check out the full review for more details, but before you do that, read the PlayBook's speed results in their entirety.… Read more

A couple of weeks back we put the original iPad up against the Xoom in a site-loading speed battle. While most of the feedback was positive, a few commenters expressed their disappointment that we used the original iPad instead of the iPad 2. Well, now that the iPad 2 has been released, we can in fact post the story you've been waiting for. One that will no doubt completely satisfy everyone.

So, let's get right to it.

Testing Site-loading speed is one of the simplest things to test, and it's a test many users can immediately relate … Read more

I like to highlight content from smaller sites, and have linked in the past to theunlockr.com, which is run by David Cogen. The site has several videos related to "rooting" or hacking the Nook Color with custom firmware that allows you to turn Barnes & Noble's color e-reader into a full-on Android tablet.

Cogen recently put together a video comparing a Nook Color rooted with a Froyo (Android 2.2) hack with a Samsung Galaxy Tab that has very similar specs but includes front-and-back facing cameras and a 3G data option for those who want to pay the added service fees. The Galaxy Tab has a smaller footprint, whereas the Nook Color is slightly thinner. … Read more

Update: This post was updated on March 1, 2011 to reflect graphical options we previously overlooked in the Dungeon Defenders game. We'd previously stated that the iPad version of the game had more aliasing than the Xoom, but overlooked an option in the game to smooth out the graphics and have since updated the 3D graphics section. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Thank you.

The tablet wars will be in full swing in the next couple of weeks. Last week, we witnessed the opening salvo with the release of Motorola's Xoom. The Xoom is … Read more

On Thursday, Motorola's long awaited--and CNET's Best of CES 2011 winner--Xoom tablet will be released. At the time of this writing, only a handful of tablets already released are fit to compete with the Xoom in terms of features, usability, and specs.

Those include the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Apple iPad. I've gathered them here with what I feel are their most important specs, which we'll now take a deeper look at. … Read more

It's certainly been a long time coming, but Capcom is finally ready to release Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. There's no doubt fans of the series will instantly identify with the update, but is there enough new elements to keep their attention as well as newcomers to the franchise?

Jeff: There's no doubt fans of the Marvel vs. Capcom series are going to be thrilled to have a gorgeous new title in the franchise to continually play until their thumbs bleed. It's a blast to casually jump right in and painstakingly difficult to master, but its over-the-top fighting action is worth the price of admission alone.

Sure, the die-hard fans here are well serviced, but we really enjoyed the addition of the "simple" mode that makes it a lot easier for novices to perform combos and special attacks. Though this certainly makes for a much more accessible game on paper, there's no denying the attractive button-mashing techniques that most players will adopt from the get-go. The training section of the game will teach players a thing or two about basic strategy, so we can't advise against checking it out.

That said, with 30 characters available right away (and more to come with DLC) all with their own fight styles and special moves, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 offers an unbelievable amount of replay value. It's the ultimate party game that can turn any living room into a smoky arcade from the early 1990s.

Finally, we'd be hard-pressed not to touch on the game's tongue-in-cheek sense of comedy. While this sort of aesthetic might fly over the heads of younger gamers, those who grew up playing Capcom games or reading Marvel comics will appreciate the loyalty each brand is able to convey in-game, from the various satisfying sound effects and canned text to the amazing level backdrops and little character quips muttered at the end of a fight.

Forgive us, but we're instantly transported to a more innocent time when we're greeted by Deadpool's calling out of Capcom to be on the cover of the next Street Fighter game, or the way Haggar's pipe spins wildly just like it did in the original Final Fight beat-em-up game.… Read more

By now we've come to terms with the fact that the Sony Ericson Xperia Play is not the PSP Phone that we were all wishing for, but we still think it's worth comparing it against the game-centric Sony NGP, announced just a few short weeks ago.

The Xperia Play is the first PlayStation-certified smartphone on the market, which means it will be capable of downloading content from the PlayStation Store. Its 1Ghz Snapdragon processor promises 60-frames-per-second performance without wiping out the battery.

We're not sure if the Xperia Play can satisfy the gamer who wants the latest and greatest from the portable gaming scene, but the Xperia Play will probably offer the closest approximation to it of any smartphone around. The real question is whether consumers will find the need to own an Xperia Play in addition to a portable system like the NGP or 3DS.

For a head-to-head look at the Xperia Play and NGP, consult our spreadsheet below.

… Read more

iPhone is a cult as much as it is a product. Then along come the Android phones, giving you a lot of reasons to wonder if you really should stay in line for another swig of Kool-Aid.

If this video got you thinking about switching, here's the list of the best Android phones according to CNET.

LAS VEGAS--Verizon has just announced the LG Revolution (VS910), LG's first smartphone to work on Verizon's burgeoning LTE network. We initially thought it was a CDMA cousin of the LG Optimus 2X, but it isn't. It doesn't have the Optimus 2X's dual core Tegra 2 processor, or its 8-megapixel rear camera; it has a 5-megapixel lens instead.

It does have a 4.3-inch TFT touch screen, a 1GHz processor, Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G/LTE mobile hot spot capabilities, DLNA, HDMI, and DVIX compatibility, Bluetooth 2.1, a microSD card slot that can take up to … Read more