The Computex, the world's second-largest consumer electronics trade fair, has kicked off Tuesday, unveiling over 50 new tablets from manufacturers of all sizes.

The Computex 2011 Taipei opened on May 31 and will last to June 4, 2011. Covering an area over 40,000 square meters, Computex features a total of 1808 exhibitors, with an estimate of over 36,000 international purchasers attending the event.

The tablet market since the launch of iPad in April 2010 seems to be ever-expanding. At Computex, more than 50 new tablet computers are on display.

ASUSTek Computer Inc., commonly known as ASUS, introduced its Padfone, a convergent Android device that adheres to a trend of smartphone-powered tablets. The Padfone is one symbiotic gadget that allows consumers to choose the screen size that best fits their activities while seamlessly sharing data and 3G internet access, according to ASUS. The Padfone will feature a larger display for the smartphone, a better listening experience, a longer battery life and a few extra features that ASUS is yet to announce. The Padfone is not expected to reach the market until 2011 winter.

ASUS also took the wraps off the Eee Pad MeMO 3D tablet, a device fitting into the lineup of Eee Pad Slider, Eee Pad Transformer and Eee Slate tablets. The new Android has a glasses-free 3D IPS display, capable of displaying 3D images without the silly specs, as well as the MeMIC companion headset for music and voice calls, and a capacitive touchscreen that can be used either with the finger or a special capacitive stylus.

Intel unveiled Ultrabook, a new category of laptops that will include the best features of tablets, seeking to revive notebook market with the Ultrabooks dominating 40% of the notebook market by the end of 2012. Ultrabooks will be at most 0.8 inches thick and targeted at under $1,000.

ViewSonic, a leading global provider of consumer electronics and communication solutions, officially announced its ViewPad 7x Android tablet, which runs Android 3.0.1 Honeycomb, powered by a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. It has HSPA+ connectivity, an HDMI-out port, rear and front facing cameras, and a 7-inch LED display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, allowing greater Internet browsing and a enhanced multimedia experience.

MSI is revealing a variety of tablet models, which it has been doing for over a year without clear deadlines.

MSI touted the WindPad Enjoy 10, a 10-inch Android Gingerbread tablet, comes with a 1,024x768 screen, 4GB of storage, and 512MB of RAM. Its 7-inch cousin, the WindPad Enjoy 7, is slightly different with a smaller battery and an 800x480 screen.

Even Microsoft is rumored to change its image of unfit player in the touchscreen world, by the debut of its tablet operating system. Microsoft is reportedly going to preview the platform in a set of demonstration this week, according to Bloomberg.

More PC manufacturers such as Lenovo Group Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. have their products displayed at the Computex.

A slower growth in PC sales is expected due to the surging consumer interest in tablets. It may take a couple of years before mobile device software from Google and Microsoft can catch up with iPads, which prides in its diverse applications for consumers to choose from.

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