By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

7-inch tablets have hit a high point this Summer with a lot of variety in features and price. Apple’s iPad mini still rules the roost but there are other  7-inch tablet options for a variety of users.

The iPad mini is one of the few devices that’s being offered in various capacities (16, 32 and 64GB) as well as with two colour variants (slate and silver) and both WiFi only and WiFi+4G-LTE data.

The iPad mini continues to sell strongly as users like the compact size, thin profile as well as the aluminum construction plus the vast choice in applications and accessories offered by Apple.

The new Nexus 7 from Google has started appearing at staples and at Google’s Play store and offers users the most advanced Android tablet in terms of display quality and power with a new quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.

The key feature, as with any Nexus device, is the ability to run the Pure Google version of Android which guarantees the Nexus 7 will get software updates for free before any other tablet in the market.

ASUS, who makes the Nexus 7, also has a cheaper alternative in the ASUS MeMO 7 HD, which is an affordable at $160.

The MeMO 7 HD features a 1.2 GHz quad core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard storage (with 16GB of free cloud storage from ASUS). It also has a 1.2MP front facing camera and a 5MP rear camera.  The ASUS MeMO 7 HD has microSD expansion (up to 32GB). The rear camera and the microSD expansion slot make the ASUS MeMO 7 HD more versatile than the 2012 Nexus 7.

ZTE which is one of the biggest names in mobile in emerging markets recently released their ZTE Lite tablet on Rogers. Costing $199 on select tablet plans, the ZTE Lite offers a decent dual-core 1.2GHz tablet with 1GB of RAM, 3G data connectivity and 4GB of storage (expandable via microSD to 32GB of additional storage making a total maximum capacityof 36GB).   So, while it isn’t the most powerful or slim and sexy, it makes the most sense for users on a budget that want a connected tablet.

Samsung doesn’t have any new 3G or 4G-enabled Android tablets (it does have similar sized products in its more expensive Galaxy Note line), but it does offer the most variety in terms of screen size.

Their new Galaxy Tab 3 series comes in 7, 8 and 10-inch variants with prices starting at $300 for the 7-inch version. Samsung’s tablets, however, have the most amount of bloatware running on top of the Android OS. While some of these apps are useful to certain users, they also hinder the speed and availability of future software updates.

Consumers looking to buy a 7-inch tablet really have the widest selection of price and features right now, making this segment the most competitive in consumer electronics.