When Fusion Garage's JooJoo came out earlier this year, it suddenly seemed like anyone could make a functional, alluring tablet. But then we played with it.

If Apple's iPad represents the best in the tablet world so far, the JooJoo definitely represents the worst—its user interface is a disaster and it lacks storage. But it seems manufacturers took a look at the iPad and JooJoo and learned that the operating system for a tablet has to be able to compete with Apple's iOS. Rather than go the Fusion Garage route, tablet manufacturers with hopes of stealing some of the iPad's market seem to be adopting a similar approach: use Android.

The Android tablets are coming. We have already seen budget tablet devices from Archos, and on Wednesday, ViewSonic joined the tablet race with its new gTablet, a 10-inch iPad-esque device that runs Android 2.2 and features a video webcam. The gTablet uses NVIDIA's Tegra 2 1-GHz chip, and has expandable storage up to 32GB using the tablet's microSD slot. ViewSonic reps quoted the soon-to-be-shipping tablet at $599, so this isn't a budget alternative to the iPad, it's a similarly-priced contender. Is it worth the money? We should have a review unit in house soon to give you a better idea, but after a very brief hands-on, I can say this: it's way better than the JooJoo.

Samsung is poised to take on the iPad as well. The 7-inch Galaxy Tab, which also runs on Android, was announced earlier this month in Berlin, and a U.S. version of the tablet is looming, with rumors of multiple U.S. carriers for the device leaking in advance of a scheduled Thursday press event in New York. The Tab will run on Android 2.2, features full Web-browsing, video calling, and sports an HD screen for video.

Earlier in the week, Velocity Micro announced an e-book reader-tablet hybrid, the $199 Cruz Reader, which runs Android 2.0. For for more details, see PCMag's hands on.