Top tablet flops

After a temporary hiatus, LG came back to the tablet game swinging, releasing the ultra-cool and compact G Pad 8.3.

Before this sleek slate, however, LG tried to capture the attention of shoppers with stereoscopic rear cameras. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, right?

The 3D cameras slapped on the G-Slate and Optimus tablets required glasses for optimal viewing, which didn't quite catch the eye -- or wallets -- of consumers.

What's a tech failure slideshow without the expected RIM candidate? The BlackBerry PlayBook was the perfect companion to the once popular mobile phone -- not.

The PlayBook tablet was plagued by a cramped design and limited app availability. Though there was speculation of a comeback, we have yet to see Blackberry make another good play at, well...any type of device, really.

A wise man once asked, why do people break up, then turn around and make up? Like many of us, Barnes & Noble learned this lesson the hard way. It dumped, then reconnected with its Nook color tablet line, but was it too little too late for shoppers?

Despite valiant efforts -- offering a few good bookworm-friendly slates -- then-new releases, like the Amazon Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7, burst onto the tablet scene with hot-to-trot specs and hard to beat price points. The bookseller called it quits on the Nook color line, giving the reins to third-party manufacturers. A few months later, however, an apparent change of heart was announced.

Though Barnes & Noble backtracked and said it would continue to design and make Nook color tablets, the "Will They or Won't They?" trope continues, since a new device has yet to be announced, and holiday shoppers didn't seem interested in the rekindling relationship between the color Nook tablets and Barnes & Noble. Will we see another color Nook tablet? Is it really over?

Remember the HP TouchPad tablet? It used Palm's unique WebOS interface and ran Adobe Flash? HP threw in the towel on this device and put it on sale for a paltry $99.

The HP TouchPad sold out all over the Internet, with savvy tech shoppers snagging up the good deal, and though HP has since released some pretty cool slates, they've learned from their previous mistakes and are making them affordable -- and desirable -- off of the bat.

The Motorola Xoom tablet came and went as fast as its silly name suggested. The over-hyped tablet was innovative for its time -- boasting Android 3.0, Adobe flash capabilities, and a higher-screen resolution, as well as more features, than the iPad -- but it was weighed down by its bulky design and expensive starting price.

Apple hypnotized the masses with the release of the iPad -- and scared its blossoming tablet competition stiff -- showing that great design and a streamlined experience helps shoppers justify spending $500 on a shiny and new portable device. The Xoom tablet missed the mark on cutting-edge design and foolproof performance, and we haven't seen Motorola try to take on the title of "best tablet" since.