Tablets are becoming increasingly popular for for busy real estate agents on-the-go.  They are easy to carry, have great battery life, and make it a cinch to deliver presentations or share information with clients for agents in the field.  While the iPad  tablet is leading the pack with 83% market share, the less expensive Android is quickly gaining popularity and will continue to do so as more options for both tablets and apps come on the market. In anticipation of the android tablet explosion, Trulia just released the new Trulia Android tablet app.

What type of tablet would be best for you?

Here are six factors you should look at when deciding what’s the right tablet for your business.

1) Apps

Having the right apps is essential to your productivity on a tablet according to Stephen Yarger, Trulia’s Mobile Product Manager. “The iPad has 100,000+ apps. The Android tablet has about 400 currently. We’re expecting to see an onslaught of Android tablet apps in the next 6 months. Trulia now has apps for both ipad and android.” Make sure the apps you need are available on the tablet you choose.

2) Price

Price is always a factor and it’s definitely fueled recent Android tablet growth. The base level iPad starts at $499 while the new Amazon Fire tablet is priced at $199. Other Android tablets fall somewhere in between and prices are dropping. Following other tablet makers like Playbook, Xoom and the Touchpad, the HTC Flyer is lowering the price on their 7 inch android tablet from $499 to $299.

3) Camera

Some tablets have cameras and some don’t. While most agents will use a mobile phone or a standalone camera to take photos, this feature could be important to you. Check for both the existence of the camera and the quality of the photos it can take. The Motorola Xoom has a 5 megapixel camera with a second front facing 2 megapixel camera for like video chats. In comparison, the ipad2 consistently ranks at the bottom of tablets for camera quality.

4) Memory Size

The ipad2 comes in three memory sizes 16GB/32GB/64GB as does the Blackberry Playbook, the Samsung Galaxy has 16GB/32GB and the Motorola Xoom has 32GB. How much do you need? Depends on your usage. If you plan to use your tablet to search the web, use email and a few apps, the smaller size is probably sufficient. If you plan to store a lot of multimedia such as video, songs and music, you may need more storage. Keep your budget in mind- your costs typically increase as the memory goes up. A base level iPad with 3G & 64GB will land you at $829.

5) Battery Length

If you are out in the field all day, you want your tablet’s battery to last as long as you do. Fortunately, many tablets offer a battery pack that will make you smile. The ipad2 (11.9 hours), T-Mobile G-Slate (9.7 hours), Toshiba Thrive (9.6 hours) come in tops for battery length according to CNET.

6) Screen Size/Weight of Tablet

All tablets are not sized equally. You’ll want to evaluate and weigh your needs. While a smaller tablet sounds easier to carry, it may not deliver the optimum experience if you are delivering buyer or seller presentations on it. While the big price variance between the iPad and Amazon Fire makes the Fire look super appealing, business users may not like the 7 inch screen. According to CNET, tablet screen sizes can be misleading. “On paper, the difference between a 7-inch and 10-inch screen may seem trivial, but in reality, a 7-inch design is around half the size of a 10-inch tablet.”

Regardless of what type you choose, tablet and agents are a match made in mobile office office heaven. Want more information about buying a tablet? CNET’s tablet buying guide is great resource.

Now’s your chance- We’re giving away a tablet!

To celebrate launching our dedicated rentals app for Android and the first Android Tablet app from a major real estate company, we’re giving away a Samsaung Galaxy Tablet for you to use them on! All you have to do is come to our Facebook page before October 8th and enter into our Android Tablet Giveaway Sweepstakes to win!