Why Samsung decided to spec their bigger, better device with a lower end camera than the Galaxy S phones is an openly debatable question that I have no real answer to, but it doesn't support HD video recording. What else am I supposed to say?
Obviously neither HD video nor 5+ megapixels photos make any sense on devices with tiny lens.
Whether they upscale or produce "HD" noise is completely irrelevant, mentioning "lack of HD video" as a real disadvantage reiterates the myth and confuses the customers.
You're getting things wrong on the other comparison units as well. Droid X Nand is 8GB integrated and a 16 GB micro SD. This is a well publicized spec of the Droid X from launch. Fact checking and verification is an essential part of Journalism that seems to be slipping here at Anandtech of late.
I copied that part of the table out of the Fascinate review, so I'll look into it. But I'd like to point out that this is literally just a spec table, don't call our journalistic integrity into question based on that alone.
You have posted the dimensions and weight values for the iphone 4 (well those values match) all other areas of the Samsung galaxy tab hardware information appear to be correct.
The Tron Blu-ray was delayed by Disney due to fears that their target Tron Legacy audience would see it and laugh at the bad old CGI and then not want to see the new one.
The HD master of Tron used to create the Blu-ray has been aired on HDNet and other HD channels. So while it isn't technically a Blu-ray rip, it is most definitely HD. If you didn't have the luxury of seeing it broadcast, there are a couple torrents out there if you feel so inclined.
I was just thinking, as these tablets are often little more than bigger versions of what many of us have in our pockets already...
...How hard would it be for a company to make a large touch-screen device with a big battery that one could simply slip their smart-phone into and use that way? Probably requiring something in the phones OS to recognise that it is plugged into such a device, allow it to display at a higher resolution and maybe even change it's processor/GPU power/performance profile, as it could be plugged in somewhere, or at least know that it has a larger battery power supply at hand?
Damn good idea. I'd love to be able to pop my phone into a device to give it a larger screen, especially when just browsing on the couch. However the cost to build something like that probably isn't that much more than just making a whole new device.
The original Palm Foleo waves hello. I dunno if that type of thing would be any better now with the updated technologies, but the Foleo crashed and burned so badly that I think people are scared to even try.
To be honest, 6 month after the ipad launch, I still have a hard time figuring out what it is exactly that's pulling people to the tablet market. I honestly don't see much use for these tablets except as a very occasional gadget with a terribly high price tag. Or alternatively as a fashion statement, but being on a hardware site I don't think that should really apply to us.
There are a few things I can see people using an iPad (or equivalent device) for, but the general gist of it is that you take a smartphone's easy usability and portability, but use a larger screen to address some of the shortcomings or limitations of a smartphone. For example, browsing with touch controls can be pretty intuitive, but a smartphone's screen is small enough that it's a compromised experience. Give it a 10" screen, however, and you can get that same user experience with a device that can actually display a full website like a PC would. Or take the case of portable video playback. It's convenient to be able to watch a movie or TV shows on a smartphone, but a 3.5" screen is kind of tiny. But make it a 10" screen, and it's a completely different experience.
Most other use cases are similar. Take something that was intuitive on a smartphone but had the experience compromised by the small screen (or was missing features due to it), and a tablet can solve that. E-mail works nicely on a smartphone, but the small screen means there isn't room to get both the E-mail message and the inbox open at the same time; a tablet enables that.
So you sacrifice some portability (although tablets are still more portable than a netbook or notebook), and get a lot more usability. As for price, tablets have prices on par (or lower than) with smartphones; it's hard to argue that they're expensive or overpriced without saying the same of smartphones.
You can use a tablet to do much more than browse the web. Our law firm, and many, many others, are starting to move to the iPad instead of laptops because they are such much more friendly in the court room and on the move. I can actually write a brief and submit it, whereas, that is nearly impossible on a smart phone...certainly painful. I don't need a full computer most of the time, so the iPad, or another 10" tablet, is ideal. It's so useful that some large firms are starting to give every associate a new iPad.
Now we just need a great 10" android tablet to get away from all of Apple''s limitations/restrictions.
As a preface my phone has been 4 or 5 different Android devices and I have had an iPhone before.
I used to say the same thing and I still believe the iPad is a glorified iPhone. Let's face it, it is. It is an iPhone with a huge battery, huge screen, and way more built in storage. That's about it.
Having said that, I asked for one for Christmas and I got it early. I love it.
I have a hugely powerful desktop I use for gaming and I have a corporate issued laptop. The corporate issued laptop uses live encryption on a 5400RPM laptop drive and with all the other software running it is a disaster. Absolute disaster. Start up is 20 minutes, browsing the internet is a joke and it all around adds a great deal of frustration and stress to my day. It's sad.
So when I am at home at night or on the weekends and I am watching football or a movie and I want to play on the internet and I pull out the laptop it ruins my night. It really does.
Instead of whining like a little girl, I got an iPad. I didn't want a netbook because that's a full laptop which I didn't need and it's larger and bulkier. All I needed it for was couch browsing and simple tasks (email, youtube, etc). The iPad fit my needs very well and has been a pleasure to use. The CPu could be a bit faster and I'd like to revise the auto correct... but all in all it is much faster and better at the simple tasks I needed it to accomplish. Add to that I can play Angry Birds or Cut the Rope on the couch while watching the Texans figure out a new way to lose a game... it's money. It has a decent price tag if you stay at entry level but escalates to a pretty penny real fast.
The other thing I use it for a great deal is when I'm traveling. Just last week I was in Victoria, TX with nothing to do after work for a full week. I had to stay in a hotel that had a 20yr old curved glass tube TV and WiFi so slow I couldn't check my email. So what did I do? Busted out the 3G connection and streamed South Park and kept my sanity in check.
My Android smartphone is used while out and about but when I'm home and not gaming, I'm on my iPad.
netbooks have always been a step child to a functional instrument... the iPad and Galaxy tab present you with functionality and apps geared for the reduced power of the devices unlike netbooks which require using full windows software.
My wife's iPad lives on our dinner table. Whenever someone needs quick web access it is there, instantly. It has totally changed when and how she gets her business-related computing done (email, notes, looking up info on the web). It's small enough to be unobtrusive, but large enough to the clumsiness and cramped screen of a phone. No case to open, no wakeup time to speak of, nothing getting between user and the task at hand. Simply a joy to use! From a technical standpoint I love the fact that iOS and Android have done away with the notion of files and directories. Let the apps worry about that and focus on the task at hand. Tablets take this "new" OS concept back up the food chain to devices which can in many cases replace full fledged PCs.
It is safe to say to say that the Galaxy Tab failed miserably in comparison to Apple's iPad. Come on, WTH? Wait until Honeycomb comes out with hopefully some full tablet integration for tablets, then we'll start seeing some real competition! Correct me if I'm wrong, but 2011/2012 will spell out the years for tablets era. - BLUEBOY
I got the tab from tmobile(contract less thank god)
And it is simply an oversized phone with very little catering to the tablet form factor. Regardless of what benchmarks say, my ipad has the best UI performance I have seen and completely crushes the tab.
Potential tab owners, the flash performance of the tab is abysmal, seriously. If you are getting it for the flash built into the browser experience, you will be sorely disappointed!
froyo alone is just not ready for tablet prime time and I dont think gingerbread will be either. The best bet right now is to get an ipad1/2 or wait for honeycomb.
at the least you have 30 days to return the tab and get off contract, use that time to play with it.
How come there's no iPad performance comparisons? Seeing that's the Galaxy Tab's main competition it's important to know. Hopefully you'll also be able to update the iPad to iOS 4.2.1 along with your iPhone 4 results.
Yeah. This is the second time they've done these comparisons without the iPad.
Really guys, is it too much to ask? It's not like it hasn't been out since early April! The iPhone 4 is 20% slower, so it's not a good test when comparing tablets, and since the iPad is the gorilla in the room, it's required to have it on the charts.
This is irrespective of whether people love or hate Apple.
I still think tablets are a solution searching for a problem, an answer looking for a question.
I've used the iPad. While it is definitely an impressive piece of hardware, I do not see how it is better than a netbook. It's slightly lighter and significantly thinner, but it really isn't that much more portable. And trying to do any serious work on a tablet is very difficult... even worse than on my Galaxy S, because it's just too large to thumb type on.
tl;dr version: Tablets are too big to be smartphone replacements, too unwieldy to be netbook replacements.
What I'd rather see are smartbooks... netbooks with actual keyboards, touchpads, ARM processors, real netbook Linuxdistros like MeeGo or Aurora (NOT Android, mind you) with big batteries and 15+ hour runtime. Not just smartphones made bigger.
That market folded in on itself right as the tablets launched, sadly. I think people were just getting sick of the netbook form factor. The thing with MeeGo is that it will end up being paired with Intel processors a vast majority of the time.
Yeah, I knew that would happen once Intel got a hold of it. Though if Intel can deliver with Moorestown and its descendants, perhaps we will see a netbook like device with true instant on capability and very long battery life.
The Atoms already can get battery life in the range of extreme to ridiculous, but the instant on is sadly not in the cards right now... maybe with a shift away from Windows 7 Starter and more toward lightweight Linux distros with things like EFI and Boot Booster (my old eeePC booted into WinXP pretty quick from a cold shutdown...)
"What I'd rather see are smartbooks... netbooks with actual keyboards, touchpads, ARM processors, real netbook Linuxdistros like MeeGo or Aurora (NOT Android, mind you) with big batteries and 15+ hour runtime. Not just smartphones made bigger."
That's pretty much the macbook air; particularly the 11".
What the iPad is, is a conduit for media distribution. That's where the big money is and that's what Apple is trying to control. Seen in that light it's extremely successful.
Baba264, I agree with you. These devices are nothing more than a gadget that has limited use. I see them only being useful for web browsing. All the apps you can download is gimmicky. How often are you going to play games, dyno test your car, or use a tablet with a grocery store app?! Unless you have a specific use in mind, the high price tag puts these devices in a very niche market.
But I believe Barnes and Noble has a hot seller on their hands with their new Nook Color for $249. It's an Android-powered eReader that makes more sense in my opinion. The interface is fully customized so it doesn't seem like you're using a smart phone and it's built specifically for people who like to read a lot. 7" low glare screen, 8hrs of battery life, the ability to browse the web and a build quality that makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab look pretty pathetic. It doesn't have as much performance under the hood as the Samsung, but when I demo'd one in the store, it seemed fast enough for what it would mostly be used for. The price is much more reasonable for such a device.
Audi has been doing some funky stuff with their grilles since the 2004 A6 debuted, but this new A8 definitely takes the cake, no lie. I really don't know what their deal with that chrome schnoz is.
This is a minor pet peeve but when you( you != Specific author, you == general) write your reviews I think there was one more where you'd written '[Product] - The Anandtech review' instead of '[X] review' like before.
I'm coming to Anandtech, it would be fairly obvious to me that the reviews on this site would be AnandTech reviews and wouldn't be rip offs from other websites.
Ah, I see. From what I've seen people who haven't done any programming use =/= to denote "does not equal", whereas people who have programed like us use !=.
I would say that the reason for saying [Product - The Anandtech Review] instead of just calling it [Product Review] is that Anandtech reviews tend to includ more technical information than others, there is still subjectivity in the writing, but what I take away from Anandtech's reviews is a better objective view of the product.
So, although it is self serving, and a bit narcissistic to label it as [Product - The Anandtech Review], it does serve the purpose of making it clear what you are getting.
We know what we get from them which is exactly why we come here time and again. I found this to be a little immature for such an awesome set of people.
And why not let the review speak for itself instead.
Don't get me wrong, there's a reason why I wait for AT reviews before deciding on anything major but I felt that as a group of highly professional writers I believe that there should be no place for self-serving and narcissism. But then again as the subject title indicates clearly, it's a minor peeve.
I have two major complaints over how manufacturers are approaching android tablets:
First, it's very difficult if not impossible to get one not as part of a carrier plan. So currently Apple has zero competition for their iPads without 3G/4G. As much as some people will see this as an outdated market, here in Canada lots of people are avoiding our major carriers because they're a bunch of greedy a$$holes. There's very little point in having their data plans on tablets because you're still stuck rationing out MBs...Kind of takes the fun out of it.
Second, they're way overpriced. If as a result of the price being designed to encourage data plans, or if the manufacturers actually think they're worth that...The SOCs are dirt cheap as advertised by the people who make them and as part of the Android promise. The additional hardware used to make up the systems aren't nearly enough to reach $700 either. At the very least, we should be seeing sub $400 prices for non 3G/4G models.
I want Android tablets on the shelfs of local computer stores (big box or wholesale alike) and available without data plans.
I'd love to see Anandtech take on these details in future reviews. But I'm glad they're looking at Android the way they are already. Good show.
because tablet software is made for the tablet while the software that is run on netbooks is developed for machines that are much more powerful with bigger screens and keyboards.
That's a big reason why netbooks are a crappy user experience and the experience on the iPad is a great user experience.
Do they have those for testing? I'm defiantly interested in those, with Froyo and potentially Honeycomb plus jailbreaking those look like solid contenders for a much entry lower price.
Got a 101 for my parents for christmas...it's certainly not in the same league as the iPad and G-Tab, but at the price it doesn't have to be. And at least you get hdmi out and a usb host (with an extra adapter on the 70).
If Archos could spare 5p for some marketing, they'd be a major player.... Sadly, their finances are a bit strained....And they're French :-O
Also, I continuously fail to see why people pay laptop money for sub-netbook hardware, just because someone went and threw the keyboard away. It's pretty ridiculous....At their pricepoints the Archos tablets are sensible products - slightly more portable than a netbook, and direct interaction UIs (ie touchscreens), while priced in the same region. The expensive tabs don't do significantly more, but the extra cost is just astronomical. Even 50% more, so in the 450-500 euro/$ range would be expensive....
"So what then? It’s the software. Or, to be more specific, Froyo. It’s too similar to a smartphone right now, too much of the same experience repeated on a 200% scale."
...and the iPad is the same experience as the iPhone on a 400% scale. You can't place the Galaxy Tab second to the iPad just for having the same problem as the iPad.
That would be true of the first version of the software. It was a bit of a kludge. Now we know that the iPad was actually conceived first, so you could say the iPhone is a scaled down iPad.
But Apple did create a lot of new UI widgets specifically designed to take advantage of the larger screen real estate. Froyo doesn't have this. Apple released a new version of the SDK with an iPad emulator, Samsung had to put their own together without Google. I'm not holding out much hope for a good standard UI on Android either. Google is a great engineering company, but they miss out on the "soft" skills. Apple is good at both. I know Google has UI designers, but it doesn't appear that they listen to them very much. They seem to be more with Android over their other products, but that's not saying a whole lot. iOS looks clean and professional, Android does not.
I think in the end, people want a clean, polished product where the underlying technology isn't in your face, but is useful and makes it easy to get things done. MS is learning this lesson. Google needs to.
@rs2 - if you read my software section, I said exactly that - having a scaled up OS never held the iPad back, so it's not something I can hold against the Galaxy Tab. What I can hold against the Galaxy Tab is that there are basically no apps, first party or otherwise, that take advantage of the larger screen size, other than the three or four apps that Samsung put in afterwards (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, etc). Apple basically changed every core app on the iPad to use that screen real estate, and they had more than a few high profile 3rd party apps out for the iPad - ABC player, NYT, BBC, etc etc. I don't doubt that Google will get there, probably with Honeycomb, but until then, it's a legitimate problem.
Actually, there are both screen size and resolution variables that apps can read and adopt to, which only recently have been expanded to cover up to 10" (in 2.3) and 7" (in 2.2).
So the issue with the apps is just a matter of time. Also, tablets are much like TVs: consumption devices. You set the channel/insert your media and lean back. (Unless you belong to the group of idiots that mistake the devices for portable gaming systems...) In this scenarion UI scaling isn't as important as it may seem. Actually, even on my 5" 800x480 tablet, individual features are very small, and I prefer the easier reading on the big screen of the Samsung.
Dude, I have enough problems typing normally, without having to worry about drawing lines between the keys. I will admit, I got the hang of it quicker than I thought I would, but as a G2 user, I must say that nothing can beat a good HTC hardware keyboard (unless Dell can manage it with the Venue Pro).
I have an Android phone and my wife uses the iPhone. But we both use the iPad. For many years, I've compared my Android phone to the iPhone.
Google keeps improving the performance of Android but have done very little to make the OS more user friendly.
Apple has improved the performance of iOS and their UI. The implementation is much more mainstream with a minimalist approach vs the Android's muddy and convoluted way of stuffing the OS with tedius configs.
The iPad stands for all those Apple design cues, easy, accessible, and everything works philosophy.
The Galaxytab represents all the problems with Android. Lack of standardization, poorly executed and flawed ideas. The lack of standardization has hurt the ecosystem greatly. The Dev community can't find leadership or direction in this "Open" Android market. They don't know which direction Google wants Android to go.
Bottomline, Apple has won the Tablet market. The industry mainly film, print, media, have all signed on to embrace the iPad "format."
They own it except for those that don't want to be forced into Apple's ecosystem and those that want a tablet that actually fits in a pocket and doesn't belong mostly on a coffe table. The iPad hardly wins the tablet war on many fronts. "Stupid easy" doesn't make something better, it just means there are more stupid people parting with their money.
Those same arguments would apply to Macs vs. PCs, yet PC dominates. What actually happens is that Apple's user-friendly approach dominates the EARLY stages of a new market. Users don't know how to use a new device, so of course they gravitate to those that are most polished and easiest to use (Apple). Once everyone becomes familiar with how the device works, and once UI conventions become more or less standardized, then the general consumer population can see the more open PC/Android approach for what it is: Superior.
I mean you knock it for it's interface, but what should a tablet interface be like? I mean how much simpler can you get? You can set it up the way you want with icons to tap to open things. What's not "made for a tablet?" Just because it's the same/similar to arguably the best smartphones on the planet, why is that bad on tablet? Why does it HAVE to be different?
If you read my software section, I said exactly that - having a scaled up OS never held the iPad back, so it's not something I can hold against the Galaxy Tab. What I can hold against the Galaxy Tab is that there are basically no apps, first party or otherwise, that take advantage of the larger screen size, other than the three or four apps that Samsung put in afterwards (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, etc). Apple basically changed every core app on the iPad to use that screen real estate, and they had more than a few high profile 3rd party apps out for the iPad - ABC player, NYT, BBC, etc etc. I don't doubt that Google will get there, probably with Honeycomb, but until then, it's a legitimate problem.
If the OS is the same and the apps are the same, why would I get a Galaxy Tab instead of a Galaxy S or any other Android device? I'm a day-in, day-out Android user (T-Mo G2), and I love the platform, but it really isn't ready for tablets right now.
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In my shop we've been working on these for about a month and the guys agree totally with you. We joke around by holding the tabs up to our head and pretending they are huge phones. There's not much difference between the standard android phones and the Tab yet.
Apps? Something? Anything? It's supposed to be a completely new product segment, I'd like to see something more than Android + TouchWiz scaled to a 7" screen. I love Android, but there's really no point in a tablet that's almost the same as any given Android smartphone. Personally, I don't think Android tablets will hit the primetime until Honeycomb releases.
Why? I say our Android smartphones are excellent devices EXCEPT it can be annoying having to work with their small screens. In that it's a complete reversal, the Galaxy Tab is an excellent Android device and the smartphone versions are frustrating and "too small." I rarely use the smartphone ability of my Incredible now that I have the tablet. Why would I prefer to use a smartphone when I can do everything faster on a larger screen that is still extremely portable? I think you're kind of missing the larger point here, that is tablets can make you dump the need to try to do a lot of things on a small smartphone screen. The iPad CANNOT fulfill that role, but the Tab and others like it can perfectly. THAT's the tablet field.
Note to manufacturers - For non actual camera kit, 3.2MP is perfectly good for everyday snaps.
However, please can you do the following -
1. Give the 3.2MP sensor at least a $2 lens to work with rather than the $1 doillar one you give it.
2. Reduce the compression factor applied to the shots or at least let the user decide how much to use.
I see so many 'supposedly low quality low MP' cameras that would be great if the manufacturer hadnt squashed the jpegs down to 200Kb each. Compression means more to final image quality than MP.
Rather have a reasonable quality 3.2MP than a truly crappy corners cut 8MP.
When can we expect a review of something actually useful for business purposes and not just toys? The Slate has been available now since October and not a single word has been mentioned on AT. On paper the Slate dominates all the other tablets, but I would like to see a full AT review before I invest.
That's because it's just a netbook with a TN-panel and touchscreen functionality. Expensive Atom-device. Not the hyped product ones called Slate.
It's nothing like the talked about e-book reader format or Slate PC tablet. It simply wasn't turned into a consumer device, which is why iPad and Galaxy Tab is so popular. No 500 dollar consumer pricing. That's why it's not mentioned. It's not positioned in the same category and simply isn't a consumer device. Of course the others just being consumer devices is why they kind of fail too.
1) Netbooks are cheaper. The majority of them run between $200-$400. And after you spend all that money on accessories and upgrade options for the iPad, you'd be able to buy three netbooks for the same amount of money.
2) With a netbook, you can multitask, allowing you to run several apps at the same time.
3) Though it hasn't been confirmed that there is absolutely no Flash support in the iPad, we at least know netbooks have full Flash support.
4) Netbooks have USB ports, about two to three on average. The iPad has none.
5) Higher Resolutions. There are several 10-inch netbooks that offer 1,366-by-768 resolutions, namely the HP Mini 5102, Dell Mini 10, and Sony VAIO VGN W-Series. The iPad tops out at 1,024 by 768.
6) Netbooks have options for bigger screens. You can get one with an 11-inch or 12-inch widescreen.
7) Removable batteries. You can buy an additional battery for your netbook if you want, allowing it to last for multiple days.
8) Every single netbook comes with a webcam for video conferencing and chats.
9) They have physical keyboards, so you don't have to spend extra money to buy a physical one that docks.
10) Multiformat card readers are built into every netbook, so you can download photos and videos from your camera.
11) Netbooks have the potential to support handwriting recognition. Handwriting recognition is built into Windows and convertible netbook tablets already exist, so it's only a matter of time before Wacom bursts into action.
12) Netbooks have a clamshell design, so their screens are less likely to get scratched.
13) Netbooks use faster processors.
14) Yeah, spinning drives on netbooks are less durable than the solid-state drives (SSDs) found in the iPad, but they come in greater capacities; and at least you can upgrade a netbook up to a 128GB SSD.
15) Netbooks can easily be "modded" with more RAM, bigger hard drive capacity, or a different operating system.
16) The Dell Mini 10v can be "hackintoshed" with a full-blown version of Mac OS 10.
17) With a netbook, you can get apps through other means besides iTunes.
18) Netbooks have widescreens, which aren't necessarily better, but at least rotate, which gives you true portrait mode. The iPad screen can rotate, but it's square-ish in dimension.
19) Netbooks have an Ethernet port and some have a Gigabit Ethernet. Thus, if the Wi-Fi's throughput is not enough for streaming HD video, you can always plug in a network cable.
20) Some netbooks can play back 720p and 1080p HD videos, using the latest Nvidia Ion chips.
21) Netbooks have shown that they can last longer than 10 hours on a single battery charge.
22) There are countless netbook designs to choose from. So if, say, the Toshiba mini NB305-N410's plastics don't suit you, the metals in the HP Mini 5102 might.
23) Netbooks can run a full-blown Windows OS.
24) You're not tempted to spend hundreds of dollars on accessories for netbooks.
25) Some netbooks have both VGA-Out and HDMI-Out, without the need for a connector.
26) Gaming is more advanced on a netbook, albeit not by much.
27) Some netbooks, like the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 and S10, have ExpressCard slots, so you can add expansion cards for FireWire, TV tuner, legacy ports, or 3G/4G wireless.
28) You can choose different 3G wireless carriers with a netbook.
29) Netbooks purchased from Costco or ASUS come with two-year standard warranties. The iPad will likely give you one year standard.
30) You can print files from a netbook.
31) Netbooks have more networking capabilities, such as the ability to map to drives and printers.
32) We know Intel and AMD processor and chipset technology will scale each year. The iPad is using an unproven, homebrewed chipset, so we don't know how well it will scale.
33) With a netbook, you can connect an optical drive for all your Netflix and Blockbuster rentals.
34) You can buy turn-by-turn direction software for netbooks that have embedded GPS options.
35) Netbooks can support multiple OSes. Most netbooks have Linux pre-boot environments that will get you access to a browser and e-mail data within seconds.
36) Netbooks are more child-friendly. Disney and Nickelodeon have launched netbooks with a ton of child-friendly software. And netbooks like the Dell Latitude 2100 and HP Mini 5102 are being deployed in schools.
37) The Dell Mini 10 has an option for a built-in TV tuner, so you can watch and record live TV.
38) Your netbook can run multiple browsers, so you're not stuck with Safari only.
39) Netbooks can run Java.
40) Netbooks can run multiple Exchange Mail accounts.
41) You don't need another computer to sync your data.
42) Netbooks with Nvidia's Ion chipset can support external Blu-ray drives.
Next time just drop a link DAMN SON. That list misses the entire point though. You might as well make the same argument against a smartphone, why not just have a dumb fliphone and a netbook! The difference is convenience. Having had a netbook that was nice and portable, they are still not instant on and nowhere near as convenient as a tablet. You can't pull it out of your pocket, scan a barcode and read the product info or check your email and all that and then have it back in your pocket in 60 seconds. Netbooks are a separate market where need a highly portable laptop that plan on being on for awhile when you pull it out, there's no bridging the two markets.
You use your phone for convienence and hyper mobility. The netbook as a more mobile full internet platform, your laptop as a mobile workstation and the stationary PC as the powerful workstation, server or what have you that does not need to be mobile.
What you just described smartphones as works perfectly for tablets, with their small screens smartphones can actually take longer to quickly look up something or do some on the spot research. Netbooks and laptops are interchangeable in most cases, why you'd have both at the same time doesn't make a lot of sense. You either want to be very portable or you want a mobile desktop while "on the go." But neither can do what I used as an example in 60 seconds. And a smartphone can take longer than a tablet as well since you have to manipulate a smaller screen which adds time. A tablet is in a sense the sweet spot of "instant on, portability, and convenience." Unless you have the ipad, then you're carrying another bag. :)
i'm not sure if i have seen many of your articles on anandtech thus far.
from the review i would say overall, good effort!
i can see areas of improvement. i know you're going to continue to learn and get better.. and as you have experienced thus far, anandtech readers can be pretty critical given that they're used to a high standard of reviewing initiated by anand himself.
i think it would be very crucial that you have a chat with anand, seek his feedback and understand how you could have done this review better or from different perspectives/angles.
i think by anand giving you the opportunity to do this key product review (an ipad competitor) it shows he might be trying to develop stronger role redundancies (not sure if its also because of xmas season haha)
i think anand needs to develop more reviewers and mentor, influence them eventually to be able to write reviews with the anandtech standard and style.
then he will not need kill himself by having to personally write every single review to ensure this level of quality.
Thanks for your comments, I really appreciate them. This is the 30th post I've made on AT, and I think the 17th or 18th review, so I've been around, mostly in notebooks/netbooks but moving into tablets. I'm hoping to continually improve with each review I write, and Anand is definitely helping me out with these.
I'm not too worried about the comments on this review, a lot of them are stemming from the fact that the article got pushed live about 10 minutes before it should have been - I hadn't finished editing the table and things like that. This is the first of many tablet reviews to come, so I hope you keep reading and enjoying our articles and I hope that in future my articles can meet your expectations.
People seem to be struggling to find a good fit for the 7" factor, personally I cant wait to replace my 1Ghz Via C3 embedded pc setup in my car with something similar to a tab.
Whatever brand I buy, 7" is the ideal size for automotive fitments.
At this point iPad seem to fend off the most successful challenger, Samsung Galaxy Tab, when it comes to their respective customer satisfaction levels. Your readers may be interested in our ongoing analysis of Samsung Galaxy Tablet customer' reviews. We also compared their ratings to those of iPad http://blog.amplifiedanalytics.com/2010/11/851/. We specialize in automated aggregation and analysis of customer reviews posted online, mining their opinions and quantifying qualitative information found there.
just finished reading the review and honestly don't know what to make of it. I've been using the galaxy tab for about a month now and I don't think the article does it justice. what would help would be to put tablets into context to begin with.
I use my notebook at work and when out of office. gaming rig at home for gaming, ripping, editing etc. htpc for cinema. e-ink reader for my books (you will never convince me about backlit reading screens). smartphone for calling and keeping ontop of things.
then the tab entered my life. now I would write happily trade down my phone to a small flip our candy phone and rely on the tab for the on-the-road emails and info snacking. the form factor is sooooooooo much better for almost everything internet or work related. pdfs can be read in one hit. you can make out all the words on the ppt or website without zooming on every page. it just works better.
using as my link to exchange, I can quite happily go a day without needing to go back to my desk, and am not the worse off for it. the split screen email client really is nice, and using it you never have that feeling that sometimes you (i) get when relying on the smartphone: "i hope I haven't missed an important email in all of that information on that tiny screen..."
there are a couple of things that I think also need to be addressed:
# the preloaded browser is flash enabled. that's right folks, the internet sss it's supposed to be. # because it "is a phone" means it can sms and do calls - it had already saved my bacon on an important conference call when I was out of the office - and no I didn't hold it to my head like a taco, the bt pairing to my headset worked fine, first time # the self dimming (auto brightness) works really well, going from boosting in daylight to dimming indoors and aboard planes # with my usage profile i'm getting about 5days of usage between charges - but the lack of a simple "charge visa usb or mini/micro usb is a real pain # if samsung had of been able to include a usb port or mini/micro adapter to usb they would have brought a real category killer to market # I've just moved from android to ios on my smartphone. and after the move I must admit that (apart from the lack of swype) I think ios does a much better phone than android - but for me, android on the 7" device is much "better" than on the smartphone size - it seems more interactive and alive with more real estate. I was disappointed with 10" ios but find 7" android amazing.
overall I'm very impressed, and continue to find a use for it. could I live without it? yes. but am I better off for having it? definitely.
you must be a non usa user the galaxy tabs are crippled by their importers. i have a Tmobile, non contract, it has a Sim card but i can not make calls, all the USA carriers did this. It should be illegal for them to cripple open source, Also i have been reading that Verizon version of the Tab, you cannot Bluetooth link a keyboard or a mouse type device. You can only use Bluetooth to connect a headphone, all other blue tooth functions are crippled. Verizon is notorious for doing this to all the good phones. i left them, after 15 years due to this crap. The T mobile version you cannot use a regular Bluetooth ear piece, it has to be a certain spec something like a2dp. i think it is a stereo , i am not sure if it has talk/speaker capability\ The European white backed version will not work with t mobile since the freq' s are different.
Interesting. I was an iPhone user for two years before switching to Android, and I've had an iPad in one form or another almost since the day of launch when I bought a 32GB (ended up returning it, but picked up a 16GB a month later).
My experience is exactly opposite to yours - I prefer iOS at 10" and Android at smartphone-size, and true to form, those are the form factors the OS were designed for respectively....Especially since they've got the respective ecosystems built around them. That's the problem with the Galaxy Tab - unless you're reading or watching a movie, there's really nothing different than a normal Android smartphone. So why bother carrying it?
i have a t mobile galaxy tab, paid full price contract. it has wifi and broadband, that was the only version available at the time, bought from amazon about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I have not picked it up and used it in 2 weeks due to t mobile BS crippling. I probably spent a total of 2 hours messing with it and when i found out that i needed to spend $$broadband money in the form of a prepaid broadband card to use about all of its features, including registering my email accounts. i have started packing it away for the return to amazon. i cant say much about it, since i refused to activate the broadband sim card that came preinstalled, knowing i would probably get a restocking fee or some BS if i needed to return it. i could only use it on the only Wi-fi function that were not crippled, the proprietary browser, Which sucked. Last week i verified with T-mobile that this mandatory broadband service was the only way i could use the boradband/wi-fi no contract , full price , $700 with tax, Samsung Galaxy Tab. It took me quite a few calls before i finally got a department that verified i had to use broadband even when wi-fi was available. So back to Amazon it will go. i had used the ipad, which was great , fantastic response on the touch screen, easy and intuitive, and that was all on wi-fi. The only reason i still have the Galaxy Tab , i was hoping t mobile would realize that they made a mistake and either provide me with a free broadband card to register the device, or change their network to allow wi-fi full capability. This galaxy tab is set up like charging prepaid cellphone users minutes to call 611, and spend a hour and $$ while they send you around the t mobile departments. i am a t mobile pre paid user , with a wifi nokia , and i do not pay to dial 611 and i can use my wifi at any location. The only reason i didn't get an ipad was i liked the open source of android, i don't see how they are allowed to cripple android devices. They should not be allowed to use open source, yet cripple its features to make money. All the American carriers crippled the voice capacities of the samsung tab, in Europe they can all make voice calls with the Galaxy Tab. IMO this is a anti trust violation, however the FCC has been bought out by these corporations after the AT&T forced breakup in 1983. for those that don't know the AT&T breakup, which was the biggest monopoly in the USA was broken up due to a case where they would not let a customer use their own answering machine, in those days an answering machine was huge and cost around $900. AT&T forced the customer to rent all their telco equipment , no -one was allowed to hook up non Western electric manufactured equipment to the telephone lines. Western electric was the manufacturing and central office installation division of all telco equipment. I worked for AT&T long lines and was divested to new york tel.
Nice review, Vivek. Do you think the Tab is worth the price in its current configuration, with the proviso that I'm not really looking for anything more than a really portable MID? I have a 32GB 3G iPad and I like it very much, but it's a little too large to use comfortably while out and about. I'm looking for something larger than my iPhone, but perhaps not as large as the iPad. I hate carrier subs so I'd be looking at getting one off-contract. I don't really need to be able to put the number (or type) of apps that I've got installed on my iPad on it; just really looking for something with a decent web browser and email client that's easy to carry and use while on public transportation and such.
First, thanks for the review, I basically agree with the assessment overall.
I did find a Galaxy Tab on the display floor recently and spent a fair bit of time checking it out. Right around the corner was the iPad. My, obviously subjective, opinion is that the iPad is an order of magnitude better overall.
It really came down to responsiveness. The galaxy tab seemed very sluggish overall, video's chopped a bit here and there, and the screen transistions were delayed. Scrolling was not smooth and the overall experince was just better on the iPad (I own neither BTW).
Apple will likely dominate the tablet space for many more moons.
I purchased the nook color last month and rooted it. Now that Froyo is confirmed for it this month it will go from being a cool reader/hacked tablet to an actual tablet (hopefully with market support)
Still, it doesnt have bluetooth, vibe, camera, or microphone... but I already have that on my Incredible and I really dont want to duplicate my efforts.
7" screen Angry birds with pinch and zoom and multitouch? for $250 no contract? Heck yeah!!
USA models doesn't have it? This is the most stupid thing ever! Why would anyine buy any smaller tablets in the US is beyound me but when I tried G Tab on a huge store in Helsinki I just barely fitted into my suit pocket but was not too heavy To be able to browse using the display of 1024 pixels (sideways) is great! Combine this with a BT headset and also make calls (and receive them) Wonderfull! About the camera: very dissappointing compared especially to Nokia N8 which currently has the best camera
Now I'm waiting for dual-core LTE models (maybe also dual-SIM) ACER seems to have a nice 7" Tab coming. I hope it's not wide because I want it into my pocket My Tab is going to replace my Nokia 7110 (90-series) touch phone which is already about six years old
Just put in.simple words. Apple =limitation. Restrictions. Galaxy tab with android = unlimitation, open source , custom roms ! Freedom. So yeah i choose freedom over a 'famous mob recognized' brand name, coz following crowd mentality doesnt make me love what is true for me which i absolutely enjoy tab!! i chose it over ipad ;)
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sciwizam - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Wikipedia has:Dimensions 190.09 mm (7.484 in) (h)
120.45 mm (4.742 in) (w)
11.98 mm (0.472 in) (d)
Weight 380 g (0.84 lb)
These make a lot more sense.
VivekGowri - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Fixed, so sorry - it got pushed live before I had a chance to edit that part.medi01 - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
"HD video recording is sadly not supported"Having in mind how "huge and powerfull" are the lens "HD resolution" would make sense, wouldn't it?
I understand, when this BS comes from usual customers, but when it comes from a reviewer, sigh...
VivekGowri - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Why Samsung decided to spec their bigger, better device with a lower end camera than the Galaxy S phones is an openly debatable question that I have no real answer to, but it doesn't support HD video recording. What else am I supposed to say?medi01 - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Obviously neither HD video nor 5+ megapixels photos make any sense on devices with tiny lens.Whether they upscale or produce "HD" noise is completely irrelevant, mentioning "lack of HD video" as a real disadvantage reiterates the myth and confuses the customers.
NesuD - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
You're getting things wrong on the other comparison units as well. Droid X Nand is 8GB integrated and a 16 GB micro SD. This is a well publicized spec of the Droid X from launch. Fact checking and verification is an essential part of Journalism that seems to be slipping here at Anandtech of late.VivekGowri - Saturday, December 25, 2010 - link
I copied that part of the table out of the Fascinate review, so I'll look into it. But I'd like to point out that this is literally just a spec table, don't call our journalistic integrity into question based on that alone.aniallator - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
You have posted the dimensions and weight values for the iphone 4 (well those values match) all other areas of the Samsung galaxy tab hardware information appear to be correct.veri745 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
The posted dimensions have to be wrong.misterjohnnyt - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Listing Proper Dimensions FAILthartist - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
seriously? we're gonna bring all that FAIL thing to Anandtech? go elsewhere.JohnCarney - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Really? How did you do that?http://www.amazon.com/Tron-Blu-ray/dp/B001AQT15I/r...
therealnickdanger - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
The Tron Blu-ray was delayed by Disney due to fears that their target Tron Legacy audience would see it and laugh at the bad old CGI and then not want to see the new one.The HD master of Tron used to create the Blu-ray has been aired on HDNet and other HD channels. So while it isn't technically a Blu-ray rip, it is most definitely HD. If you didn't have the luxury of seeing it broadcast, there are a couple torrents out there if you feel so inclined.
MeanBruce - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
So Cool, I love Tron, thanks for giving us the info! 1982 Jeff Bridges. Are you the User?Aloonatic - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
I was just thinking, as these tablets are often little more than bigger versions of what many of us have in our pockets already......How hard would it be for a company to make a large touch-screen device with a big battery that one could simply slip their smart-phone into and use that way? Probably requiring something in the phones OS to recognise that it is plugged into such a device, allow it to display at a higher resolution and maybe even change it's processor/GPU power/performance profile, as it could be plugged in somewhere, or at least know that it has a larger battery power supply at hand?
Just a thought.
kmmatney - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Damn good idea. I'd love to be able to pop my phone into a device to give it a larger screen, especially when just browsing on the couch. However the cost to build something like that probably isn't that much more than just making a whole new device.VivekGowri - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
The original Palm Foleo waves hello. I dunno if that type of thing would be any better now with the updated technologies, but the Foleo crashed and burned so badly that I think people are scared to even try.baba264 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
To be honest, 6 month after the ipad launch, I still have a hard time figuring out what it is exactly that's pulling people to the tablet market.I honestly don't see much use for these tablets except as a very occasional gadget with a terribly high price tag. Or alternatively as a fashion statement, but being on a hardware site I don't think that should really apply to us.
Guspaz - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
There are a few things I can see people using an iPad (or equivalent device) for, but the general gist of it is that you take a smartphone's easy usability and portability, but use a larger screen to address some of the shortcomings or limitations of a smartphone. For example, browsing with touch controls can be pretty intuitive, but a smartphone's screen is small enough that it's a compromised experience. Give it a 10" screen, however, and you can get that same user experience with a device that can actually display a full website like a PC would. Or take the case of portable video playback. It's convenient to be able to watch a movie or TV shows on a smartphone, but a 3.5" screen is kind of tiny. But make it a 10" screen, and it's a completely different experience.Most other use cases are similar. Take something that was intuitive on a smartphone but had the experience compromised by the small screen (or was missing features due to it), and a tablet can solve that. E-mail works nicely on a smartphone, but the small screen means there isn't room to get both the E-mail message and the inbox open at the same time; a tablet enables that.
So you sacrifice some portability (although tablets are still more portable than a netbook or notebook), and get a lot more usability. As for price, tablets have prices on par (or lower than) with smartphones; it's hard to argue that they're expensive or overpriced without saying the same of smartphones.
mrd0 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
You can use a tablet to do much more than browse the web. Our law firm, and many, many others, are starting to move to the iPad instead of laptops because they are such much more friendly in the court room and on the move. I can actually write a brief and submit it, whereas, that is nearly impossible on a smart phone...certainly painful. I don't need a full computer most of the time, so the iPad, or another 10" tablet, is ideal. It's so useful that some large firms are starting to give every associate a new iPad.Now we just need a great 10" android tablet to get away from all of Apple''s limitations/restrictions.
SuperFly03 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
As a preface my phone has been 4 or 5 different Android devices and I have had an iPhone before.I used to say the same thing and I still believe the iPad is a glorified iPhone. Let's face it, it is. It is an iPhone with a huge battery, huge screen, and way more built in storage. That's about it.
Having said that, I asked for one for Christmas and I got it early. I love it.
I have a hugely powerful desktop I use for gaming and I have a corporate issued laptop. The corporate issued laptop uses live encryption on a 5400RPM laptop drive and with all the other software running it is a disaster. Absolute disaster. Start up is 20 minutes, browsing the internet is a joke and it all around adds a great deal of frustration and stress to my day. It's sad.
So when I am at home at night or on the weekends and I am watching football or a movie and I want to play on the internet and I pull out the laptop it ruins my night. It really does.
Instead of whining like a little girl, I got an iPad. I didn't want a netbook because that's a full laptop which I didn't need and it's larger and bulkier. All I needed it for was couch browsing and simple tasks (email, youtube, etc). The iPad fit my needs very well and has been a pleasure to use. The CPu could be a bit faster and I'd like to revise the auto correct... but all in all it is much faster and better at the simple tasks I needed it to accomplish. Add to that I can play Angry Birds or Cut the Rope on the couch while watching the Texans figure out a new way to lose a game... it's money. It has a decent price tag if you stay at entry level but escalates to a pretty penny real fast.
The other thing I use it for a great deal is when I'm traveling. Just last week I was in Victoria, TX with nothing to do after work for a full week. I had to stay in a hotel that had a 20yr old curved glass tube TV and WiFi so slow I couldn't check my email. So what did I do? Busted out the 3G connection and streamed South Park and kept my sanity in check.
My Android smartphone is used while out and about but when I'm home and not gaming, I'm on my iPad.
netbooks have always been a step child to a functional instrument... the iPad and Galaxy tab present you with functionality and apps geared for the reduced power of the devices unlike netbooks which require using full windows software.
cwebersd - Monday, December 27, 2010 - link
My wife's iPad lives on our dinner table. Whenever someone needs quick web access it is there, instantly. It has totally changed when and how she gets her business-related computing done (email, notes, looking up info on the web). It's small enough to be unobtrusive, but large enough to the clumsiness and cramped screen of a phone. No case to open, no wakeup time to speak of, nothing getting between user and the task at hand. Simply a joy to use!From a technical standpoint I love the fact that iOS and Android have done away with the notion of files and directories. Let the apps worry about that and focus on the task at hand. Tablets take this "new" OS concept back up the food chain to devices which can in many cases replace full fledged PCs.
blueboy_10 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
It is safe to say to say that the Galaxy Tab failed miserably in comparison to Apple's iPad. Come on, WTH? Wait until Honeycomb comes out with hopefully some full tablet integration for tablets, then we'll start seeing some real competition! Correct me if I'm wrong, but 2011/2012 will spell out the years for tablets era. - BLUEBOYtekzor - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
you are absolutely correctI got the tab from tmobile(contract less thank god)
And it is simply an oversized phone with very little catering to the tablet form factor.
Regardless of what benchmarks say, my ipad has the best UI performance I have seen and completely crushes the tab.
Potential tab owners, the flash performance of the tab is abysmal, seriously.
If you are getting it for the flash built into the browser experience, you will be sorely disappointed!
froyo alone is just not ready for tablet prime time and I dont think gingerbread will be either. The best bet right now is to get an ipad1/2 or wait for honeycomb.
at the least you have 30 days to return the tab and get off contract, use that time to play with it.
ltcommanderdata - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
How come there's no iPad performance comparisons? Seeing that's the Galaxy Tab's main competition it's important to know. Hopefully you'll also be able to update the iPad to iOS 4.2.1 along with your iPhone 4 results.melgross - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Yeah. This is the second time they've done these comparisons without the iPad.Really guys, is it too much to ask? It's not like it hasn't been out since early April! The iPhone 4 is 20% slower, so it's not a good test when comparing tablets, and since the iPad is the gorilla in the room, it's required to have it on the charts.
This is irrespective of whether people love or hate Apple.
tipoo - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Agreed, it should be in there. Vivek, pretty please?VivekGowri - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Done. The pretty please pushed me over the edge. :)As a bonus, the results also got updated in the Tegra 2 performance preview.
tipoo - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Muahaha, no one can resist my implied puppy face!synaesthetic - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
I still think tablets are a solution searching for a problem, an answer looking for a question.I've used the iPad. While it is definitely an impressive piece of hardware, I do not see how it is better than a netbook. It's slightly lighter and significantly thinner, but it really isn't that much more portable. And trying to do any serious work on a tablet is very difficult... even worse than on my Galaxy S, because it's just too large to thumb type on.
tl;dr version: Tablets are too big to be smartphone replacements, too unwieldy to be netbook replacements.
What I'd rather see are smartbooks... netbooks with actual keyboards, touchpads, ARM processors, real netbook Linuxdistros like MeeGo or Aurora (NOT Android, mind you) with big batteries and 15+ hour runtime. Not just smartphones made bigger.
VivekGowri - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
That market folded in on itself right as the tablets launched, sadly. I think people were just getting sick of the netbook form factor. The thing with MeeGo is that it will end up being paired with Intel processors a vast majority of the time.synaesthetic - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Yeah, I knew that would happen once Intel got a hold of it. Though if Intel can deliver with Moorestown and its descendants, perhaps we will see a netbook like device with true instant on capability and very long battery life.The Atoms already can get battery life in the range of extreme to ridiculous, but the instant on is sadly not in the cards right now... maybe with a shift away from Windows 7 Starter and more toward lightweight Linux distros with things like EFI and Boot Booster (my old eeePC booted into WinXP pretty quick from a cold shutdown...)
appliance5000 - Tuesday, January 4, 2011 - link
"What I'd rather see are smartbooks... netbooks with actual keyboards, touchpads, ARM processors, real netbook Linuxdistros like MeeGo or Aurora (NOT Android, mind you) with big batteries and 15+ hour runtime. Not just smartphones made bigger."That's pretty much the macbook air; particularly the 11".
What the iPad is, is a conduit for media distribution. That's where the big money is and that's what Apple is trying to control. Seen in that light it's extremely successful.
Hemi345 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Baba264, I agree with you. These devices are nothing more than a gadget that has limited use. I see them only being useful for web browsing. All the apps you can download is gimmicky. How often are you going to play games, dyno test your car, or use a tablet with a grocery store app?! Unless you have a specific use in mind, the high price tag puts these devices in a very niche market.But I believe Barnes and Noble has a hot seller on their hands with their new Nook Color for $249. It's an Android-powered eReader that makes more sense in my opinion. The interface is fully customized so it doesn't seem like you're using a smart phone and it's built specifically for people who like to read a lot. 7" low glare screen, 8hrs of battery life, the ability to browse the web and a build quality that makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab look pretty pathetic. It doesn't have as much performance under the hood as the Samsung, but when I demo'd one in the store, it seemed fast enough for what it would mostly be used for. The price is much more reasonable for such a device.
Chris Peredun - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
"Outdoor shot taken at 1:45pm in an Audi dealership parking lot. Note the brand new A8."Hard not to notice it with that snout. Are they looking to challenge the Ford-slash-Gilette Fusion for "Most Bladed Front End"?
VivekGowri - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Audi has been doing some funky stuff with their grilles since the 2004 A6 debuted, but this new A8 definitely takes the cake, no lie. I really don't know what their deal with that chrome schnoz is.tipoo - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Pretty sure it has 256MB, not 512, according to the iFixit teardown.VivekGowri - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Riiiiight, I'm a retard. Fixed, thanks for catching that!fabiolo - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Vivek, you are such a tard (f--k). You've been wrong so many time that your credibilty is gone. Please have your self a merry christmas!Sent from a GALAXY TAB
VivekGowri - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Chill, my friend. You have yourself a happy holiday season too. I promise, my new year's resolution is to not forget to update tables.tipoo - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
No problem.SimKill - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
This is a minor pet peeve but when you( you != Specific author, you == general) write your reviews I think there was one more where you'd written '[Product] - The Anandtech review' instead of '[X] review' like before.I'm coming to Anandtech, it would be fairly obvious to me that the reviews on this site would be AnandTech reviews and wouldn't be rip offs from other websites.
Oh, and good job.
tipoo - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
I love how you used !=. Do I detect a CS student/graduate?SimKill - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Nah, mech grad here with boatloads of programming. I find != the most unambiguous way to 'I don't mean X when I say Y'.tipoo - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Ah, I see. From what I've seen people who haven't done any programming use =/= to denote "does not equal", whereas people who have programed like us use !=.TheStu - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
I would say that the reason for saying [Product - The Anandtech Review] instead of just calling it [Product Review] is that Anandtech reviews tend to includ more technical information than others, there is still subjectivity in the writing, but what I take away from Anandtech's reviews is a better objective view of the product.So, although it is self serving, and a bit narcissistic to label it as [Product - The Anandtech Review], it does serve the purpose of making it clear what you are getting.
synaesthetic - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
I find it helpful because I read most of my tech blows in an RSS feed reader, and can't always immediately tell which blog posted the article!SimKill - Sunday, December 26, 2010 - link
This is a fair point. But I generally group my RSS by websites. So if I click on Anandtech I can see AT reviews and so on and so forth.SimKill - Sunday, December 26, 2010 - link
We know what we get from them which is exactly why we come here time and again. I found this to be a little immature for such an awesome set of people.And why not let the review speak for itself instead.
Don't get me wrong, there's a reason why I wait for AT reviews before deciding on anything major but I felt that as a group of highly professional writers I believe that there should be no place for self-serving and narcissism. But then again as the subject title indicates clearly, it's a minor peeve.
I still love AT reviews.
ATOmega - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
I have two major complaints over how manufacturers are approaching android tablets:First, it's very difficult if not impossible to get one not as part of a carrier plan. So currently Apple has zero competition for their iPads without 3G/4G. As much as some people will see this as an outdated market, here in Canada lots of people are avoiding our major carriers because they're a bunch of greedy a$$holes. There's very little point in having their data plans on tablets because you're still stuck rationing out MBs...Kind of takes the fun out of it.
Second, they're way overpriced. If as a result of the price being designed to encourage data plans, or if the manufacturers actually think they're worth that...The SOCs are dirt cheap as advertised by the people who make them and as part of the Android promise. The additional hardware used to make up the systems aren't nearly enough to reach $700 either. At the very least, we should be seeing sub $400 prices for non 3G/4G models.
I want Android tablets on the shelfs of local computer stores (big box or wholesale alike) and available without data plans.
I'd love to see Anandtech take on these details in future reviews. But I'm glad they're looking at Android the way they are already. Good show.
trip1ex - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
because tablet software is made for the tablet while the software that is run on netbooks is developed for machines that are much more powerful with bigger screens and keyboards.
That's a big reason why netbooks are a crappy user experience and the experience on the iPad is a great user experience.
vld - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
How about the Archos 70 or 101 internet tablets? Direct comparison is definitely possible with the Froyo2.2 update from their web page.tipoo - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Do they have those for testing? I'm defiantly interested in those, with Froyo and potentially Honeycomb plus jailbreaking those look like solid contenders for a much entry lower price.Rick83 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Got a 101 for my parents for christmas...it's certainly not in the same league as the iPad and G-Tab, but at the price it doesn't have to be. And at least you get hdmi out and a usb host (with an extra adapter on the 70).If Archos could spare 5p for some marketing, they'd be a major player.... Sadly, their finances are a bit strained....And they're French :-O
Also, I continuously fail to see why people pay laptop money for sub-netbook hardware, just because someone went and threw the keyboard away. It's pretty ridiculous....At their pricepoints the Archos tablets are sensible products - slightly more portable than a netbook, and direct interaction UIs (ie touchscreens), while priced in the same region. The expensive tabs don't do significantly more, but the extra cost is just astronomical. Even 50% more, so in the 450-500 euro/$ range would be expensive....
TareX - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
It was a nice attempt on Samsung's behalf, but I knew I would be waiting for the Honeycomb 8.9" Tegra 2 tablets instead, like the LG Optimus Pad...rs2 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
"So what then? It’s the software. Or, to be more specific, Froyo. It’s too similar to a smartphone right now, too much of the same experience repeated on a 200% scale."...and the iPad is the same experience as the iPhone on a 400% scale. You can't place the Galaxy Tab second to the iPad just for having the same problem as the iPad.
robco - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
That would be true of the first version of the software. It was a bit of a kludge. Now we know that the iPad was actually conceived first, so you could say the iPhone is a scaled down iPad.But Apple did create a lot of new UI widgets specifically designed to take advantage of the larger screen real estate. Froyo doesn't have this. Apple released a new version of the SDK with an iPad emulator, Samsung had to put their own together without Google. I'm not holding out much hope for a good standard UI on Android either. Google is a great engineering company, but they miss out on the "soft" skills. Apple is good at both. I know Google has UI designers, but it doesn't appear that they listen to them very much. They seem to be more with Android over their other products, but that's not saying a whole lot. iOS looks clean and professional, Android does not.
I think in the end, people want a clean, polished product where the underlying technology isn't in your face, but is useful and makes it easy to get things done. MS is learning this lesson. Google needs to.
VivekGowri - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
@rs2 - if you read my software section, I said exactly that - having a scaled up OS never held the iPad back, so it's not something I can hold against the Galaxy Tab. What I can hold against the Galaxy Tab is that there are basically no apps, first party or otherwise, that take advantage of the larger screen size, other than the three or four apps that Samsung put in afterwards (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, etc). Apple basically changed every core app on the iPad to use that screen real estate, and they had more than a few high profile 3rd party apps out for the iPad - ABC player, NYT, BBC, etc etc. I don't doubt that Google will get there, probably with Honeycomb, but until then, it's a legitimate problem.Rick83 - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Actually, there are both screen size and resolution variables that apps can read and adopt to, which only recently have been expanded to cover up to 10" (in 2.3) and 7" (in 2.2).So the issue with the apps is just a matter of time.
Also, tablets are much like TVs: consumption devices. You set the channel/insert your media and lean back. (Unless you belong to the group of idiots that mistake the devices for portable gaming systems...) In this scenarion UI scaling isn't as important as it may seem. Actually, even on my 5" 800x480 tablet, individual features are very small, and I prefer the easier reading on the big screen of the Samsung.
Voldenuit - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
>I’m not much of a Swype guyHeretic!!!~ :P
VivekGowri - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Dude, I have enough problems typing normally, without having to worry about drawing lines between the keys. I will admit, I got the hang of it quicker than I thought I would, but as a G2 user, I must say that nothing can beat a good HTC hardware keyboard (unless Dell can manage it with the Venue Pro).vision33r - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
I have an Android phone and my wife uses the iPhone. But we both use the iPad. For many years, I've compared my Android phone to the iPhone.Google keeps improving the performance of Android but have done very little to make the OS more user friendly.
Apple has improved the performance of iOS and their UI. The implementation is much more mainstream with a minimalist approach vs the Android's muddy and convoluted way of stuffing the OS with tedius configs.
The iPad stands for all those Apple design cues, easy, accessible, and everything works philosophy.
The Galaxytab represents all the problems with Android. Lack of standardization, poorly executed and flawed ideas. The lack of standardization has hurt the ecosystem greatly. The Dev community can't find leadership or direction in this "Open" Android market. They don't know which direction Google wants Android to go.
Bottomline, Apple has won the Tablet market. The industry mainly film, print, media, have all signed on to embrace the iPad "format."
OldPueblo - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
They own it except for those that don't want to be forced into Apple's ecosystem and those that want a tablet that actually fits in a pocket and doesn't belong mostly on a coffe table. The iPad hardly wins the tablet war on many fronts. "Stupid easy" doesn't make something better, it just means there are more stupid people parting with their money.medi01 - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Mentioning "lack of standardization" in "Apple vs Anything" as a pro-Apple argument is one of the most idiotic statements I've ever seen.Paladin1650 - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
Those same arguments would apply to Macs vs. PCs, yet PC dominates. What actually happens is that Apple's user-friendly approach dominates the EARLY stages of a new market. Users don't know how to use a new device, so of course they gravitate to those that are most polished and easiest to use (Apple). Once everyone becomes familiar with how the device works, and once UI conventions become more or less standardized, then the general consumer population can see the more open PC/Android approach for what it is: Superior.OldPueblo - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
I mean you knock it for it's interface, but what should a tablet interface be like? I mean how much simpler can you get? You can set it up the way you want with icons to tap to open things. What's not "made for a tablet?" Just because it's the same/similar to arguably the best smartphones on the planet, why is that bad on tablet? Why does it HAVE to be different?medi01 - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
I guess if they don't invent such "problems" with Galaxy Tab it would have been much harder to come "iPad is still better" conclusion.VivekGowri - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Direct quote from another comment I posted:If you read my software section, I said exactly that - having a scaled up OS never held the iPad back, so it's not something I can hold against the Galaxy Tab. What I can hold against the Galaxy Tab is that there are basically no apps, first party or otherwise, that take advantage of the larger screen size, other than the three or four apps that Samsung put in afterwards (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, etc). Apple basically changed every core app on the iPad to use that screen real estate, and they had more than a few high profile 3rd party apps out for the iPad - ABC player, NYT, BBC, etc etc. I don't doubt that Google will get there, probably with Honeycomb, but until then, it's a legitimate problem.
If the OS is the same and the apps are the same, why would I get a Galaxy Tab instead of a Galaxy S or any other Android device? I'm a day-in, day-out Android user (T-Mo G2), and I love the platform, but it really isn't ready for tablets right now.
Hrel - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Didn't you guys already review this? I'm pretty sure I already read about this on anandtech...kadaj - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
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boden - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
In my shop we've been working on these for about a month and the guys agree totally with you. We joke around by holding the tabs up to our head and pretending they are huge phones. There's not much difference between the standard android phones and the Tab yet.medi01 - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
What kind of "difference" do you expect please?VivekGowri - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Apps? Something? Anything? It's supposed to be a completely new product segment, I'd like to see something more than Android + TouchWiz scaled to a 7" screen. I love Android, but there's really no point in a tablet that's almost the same as any given Android smartphone. Personally, I don't think Android tablets will hit the primetime until Honeycomb releases.OldPueblo - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Why? I say our Android smartphones are excellent devices EXCEPT it can be annoying having to work with their small screens. In that it's a complete reversal, the Galaxy Tab is an excellent Android device and the smartphone versions are frustrating and "too small." I rarely use the smartphone ability of my Incredible now that I have the tablet. Why would I prefer to use a smartphone when I can do everything faster on a larger screen that is still extremely portable? I think you're kind of missing the larger point here, that is tablets can make you dump the need to try to do a lot of things on a small smartphone screen. The iPad CANNOT fulfill that role, but the Tab and others like it can perfectly. THAT's the tablet field.lordmetroid - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
I do not want android, can I install another distribution on this device?jabber - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Note to manufacturers - For non actual camera kit, 3.2MP is perfectly good for everyday snaps.However, please can you do the following -
1. Give the 3.2MP sensor at least a $2 lens to work with rather than the $1 doillar one you give it.
2. Reduce the compression factor applied to the shots or at least let the user decide how much to use.
I see so many 'supposedly low quality low MP' cameras that would be great if the manufacturer hadnt squashed the jpegs down to 200Kb each. Compression means more to final image quality than MP.
Rather have a reasonable quality 3.2MP than a truly crappy corners cut 8MP.
Jacerie - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
When can we expect a review of something actually useful for business purposes and not just toys? The Slate has been available now since October and not a single word has been mentioned on AT. On paper the Slate dominates all the other tablets, but I would like to see a full AT review before I invest.Penti - Sunday, December 26, 2010 - link
That's because it's just a netbook with a TN-panel and touchscreen functionality. Expensive Atom-device. Not the hyped product ones called Slate.It's nothing like the talked about e-book reader format or Slate PC tablet. It simply wasn't turned into a consumer device, which is why iPad and Galaxy Tab is so popular. No 500 dollar consumer pricing. That's why it's not mentioned. It's not positioned in the same category and simply isn't a consumer device. Of course the others just being consumer devices is why they kind of fail too.
simpleboi - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Just found this over the net1)
Netbooks are cheaper. The majority of them run between $200-$400. And after you spend all that money on accessories and upgrade options for the iPad, you'd be able to buy three netbooks for the same amount of money.
2)
With a netbook, you can multitask, allowing you to run several apps at the same time.
3)
Though it hasn't been confirmed that there is absolutely no Flash support in the iPad, we at least know netbooks have full Flash support.
4)
Netbooks have USB ports, about two to three on average. The iPad has none.
5)
Higher Resolutions. There are several 10-inch netbooks that offer 1,366-by-768 resolutions, namely the HP Mini 5102, Dell Mini 10, and Sony VAIO VGN W-Series. The iPad tops out at 1,024 by 768.
6)
Netbooks have options for bigger screens. You can get one with an 11-inch or 12-inch widescreen.
7)
Removable batteries. You can buy an additional battery for your netbook if you want, allowing it to last for multiple days.
8)
Every single netbook comes with a webcam for video conferencing and chats.
9)
They have physical keyboards, so you don't have to spend extra money to buy a physical one that docks.
10)
Multiformat card readers are built into every netbook, so you can download photos and videos from your camera.
11)
Netbooks have the potential to support handwriting recognition. Handwriting recognition is built into Windows and convertible netbook tablets already exist, so it's only a matter of time before Wacom bursts into action.
12)
Netbooks have a clamshell design, so their screens are less likely to get scratched.
13)
Netbooks use faster processors.
14)
Yeah, spinning drives on netbooks are less durable than the solid-state drives (SSDs) found in the iPad, but they come in greater capacities; and at least you can upgrade a netbook up to a 128GB SSD.
15)
Netbooks can easily be "modded" with more RAM, bigger hard drive capacity, or a different operating system.
16)
The Dell Mini 10v can be "hackintoshed" with a full-blown version of Mac OS 10.
17)
With a netbook, you can get apps through other means besides iTunes.
18)
Netbooks have widescreens, which aren't necessarily better, but at least rotate, which gives you true portrait mode. The iPad screen can rotate, but it's square-ish in dimension.
19)
Netbooks have an Ethernet port and some have a Gigabit Ethernet. Thus, if the Wi-Fi's throughput is not enough for streaming HD video, you can always plug in a network cable.
20)
Some netbooks can play back 720p and 1080p HD videos, using the latest Nvidia Ion chips.
21)
Netbooks have shown that they can last longer than 10 hours on a single battery charge.
22)
There are countless netbook designs to choose from. So if, say, the Toshiba mini NB305-N410's plastics don't suit you, the metals in the HP Mini 5102 might.
23)
Netbooks can run a full-blown Windows OS.
24)
You're not tempted to spend hundreds of dollars on accessories for netbooks.
25)
Some netbooks have both VGA-Out and HDMI-Out, without the need for a connector.
26)
Gaming is more advanced on a netbook, albeit not by much.
27)
Some netbooks, like the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 and S10, have ExpressCard slots, so you can add expansion cards for FireWire, TV tuner, legacy ports, or 3G/4G wireless.
28)
You can choose different 3G wireless carriers with a netbook.
29)
Netbooks purchased from Costco or ASUS come with two-year standard warranties. The iPad will likely give you one year standard.
30)
You can print files from a netbook.
31)
Netbooks have more networking capabilities, such as the ability to map to drives and printers.
32)
We know Intel and AMD processor and chipset technology will scale each year. The iPad is using an unproven, homebrewed chipset, so we don't know how well it will scale.
33)
With a netbook, you can connect an optical drive for all your Netflix and Blockbuster rentals.
34)
You can buy turn-by-turn direction software for netbooks that have embedded GPS options.
35)
Netbooks can support multiple OSes. Most netbooks have Linux pre-boot environments that will get you access to a browser and e-mail data within seconds.
36)
Netbooks are more child-friendly. Disney and Nickelodeon have launched netbooks with a ton of child-friendly software. And netbooks like the Dell Latitude 2100 and HP Mini 5102 are being deployed in schools.
37)
The Dell Mini 10 has an option for a built-in TV tuner, so you can watch and record live TV.
38)
Your netbook can run multiple browsers, so you're not stuck with Safari only.
39)
Netbooks can run Java.
40)
Netbooks can run multiple Exchange Mail accounts.
41)
You don't need another computer to sync your data.
42)
Netbooks with Nvidia's Ion chipset can support external Blu-ray drives.
OldPueblo - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
Next time just drop a link DAMN SON. That list misses the entire point though. You might as well make the same argument against a smartphone, why not just have a dumb fliphone and a netbook! The difference is convenience. Having had a netbook that was nice and portable, they are still not instant on and nowhere near as convenient as a tablet. You can't pull it out of your pocket, scan a barcode and read the product info or check your email and all that and then have it back in your pocket in 60 seconds. Netbooks are a separate market where need a highly portable laptop that plan on being on for awhile when you pull it out, there's no bridging the two markets.lordmetroid - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
You use your phone for convienence and hyper mobility. The netbook as a more mobile full internet platform, your laptop as a mobile workstation and the stationary PC as the powerful workstation, server or what have you that does not need to be mobile.So what does the slate provide?
OldPueblo - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
What you just described smartphones as works perfectly for tablets, with their small screens smartphones can actually take longer to quickly look up something or do some on the spot research. Netbooks and laptops are interchangeable in most cases, why you'd have both at the same time doesn't make a lot of sense. You either want to be very portable or you want a mobile desktop while "on the go." But neither can do what I used as an example in 60 seconds. And a smartphone can take longer than a tablet as well since you have to manipulate a smaller screen which adds time. A tablet is in a sense the sweet spot of "instant on, portability, and convenience." Unless you have the ipad, then you're carrying another bag. :)plainsman11 - Friday, December 24, 2010 - link
hi vivek,i'm not sure if i have seen many of your articles on anandtech thus far.
from the review i would say overall, good effort!
i can see areas of improvement. i know you're going to continue to learn and get better.. and as you have experienced thus far, anandtech readers can be pretty critical given that they're used to a high standard of reviewing initiated by anand himself.
i think it would be very crucial that you have a chat with anand, seek his feedback and understand how you could have done this review better or from different perspectives/angles.
i think by anand giving you the opportunity to do this key product review (an ipad competitor) it shows he might be trying to develop stronger role redundancies (not sure if its also because of xmas season haha)
i think anand needs to develop more reviewers and mentor, influence them eventually to be able to write reviews with the anandtech standard and style.
then he will not need kill himself by having to personally write every single review to ensure this level of quality.
cheers and happy holidays!
alfe
anandtech reader since 1998
VivekGowri - Saturday, December 25, 2010 - link
Hi Alfe,Thanks for your comments, I really appreciate them. This is the 30th post I've made on AT, and I think the 17th or 18th review, so I've been around, mostly in notebooks/netbooks but moving into tablets. I'm hoping to continually improve with each review I write, and Anand is definitely helping me out with these.
I'm not too worried about the comments on this review, a lot of them are stemming from the fact that the article got pushed live about 10 minutes before it should have been - I hadn't finished editing the table and things like that. This is the first of many tablet reviews to come, so I hope you keep reading and enjoying our articles and I hope that in future my articles can meet your expectations.
Regards,
Vivek
MadAd - Sunday, December 26, 2010 - link
People seem to be struggling to find a good fit for the 7" factor, personally I cant wait to replace my 1Ghz Via C3 embedded pc setup in my car with something similar to a tab.Whatever brand I buy, 7" is the ideal size for automotive fitments.
Piplzchoice - Sunday, December 26, 2010 - link
At this point iPad seem to fend off the most successful challenger, Samsung Galaxy Tab, when it comes to their respective customer satisfaction levels. Your readers may be interested in our ongoing analysis of Samsung Galaxy Tablet customer' reviews. We also compared their ratings to those of iPad http://blog.amplifiedanalytics.com/2010/11/851/.We specialize in automated aggregation and analysis of customer reviews posted online, mining their opinions and quantifying qualitative information found there.
zero2espect - Monday, December 27, 2010 - link
just finished reading the review and honestly don't know what to make of it. I've been using the galaxy tab for about a month now and I don't think the article does it justice. what would help would be to put tablets into context to begin with.I use my notebook at work and when out of office. gaming rig at home for gaming, ripping, editing etc. htpc for cinema. e-ink reader for my books (you will never convince me about backlit reading screens). smartphone for calling and keeping ontop of things.
then the tab entered my life. now I would write happily trade down my phone to a small flip our candy phone and rely on the tab for the on-the-road emails and info snacking. the form factor is sooooooooo much better for almost everything internet or work related. pdfs can be read in one hit. you can make out all the words on the ppt or website without zooming on every page. it just works better.
using as my link to exchange, I can quite happily go a day without needing to go back to my desk, and am not the worse off for it. the split screen email client really is nice, and using it you never have that feeling that sometimes you (i) get when relying on the smartphone: "i hope I haven't missed an important email in all of that information on that tiny screen..."
there are a couple of things that I think also need to be addressed:
# the preloaded browser is flash enabled. that's right folks, the internet sss it's supposed to be.
# because it "is a phone" means it can sms and do calls - it had already saved my bacon on an important conference call when I was out of the office - and no I didn't hold it to my head like a taco, the bt pairing to my headset worked fine, first time
# the self dimming (auto brightness) works really well, going from boosting in daylight to dimming indoors and aboard planes
# with my usage profile i'm getting about 5days of usage between charges - but the lack of a simple "charge visa usb or mini/micro usb is a real pain
# if samsung had of been able to include a usb port or mini/micro adapter to usb they would have brought a real category killer to market
# I've just moved from android to ios on my smartphone. and after the move I must admit that (apart from the lack of swype) I think ios does a much better phone than android - but for me, android on the 7" device is much "better" than on the smartphone size - it seems more interactive and alive with more real estate. I was disappointed with 10" ios but find 7" android amazing.
overall I'm very impressed, and continue to find a use for it. could I live without it? yes. but am I better off for having it? definitely.
nycmetroconsumer - Monday, December 27, 2010 - link
you must be a non usa user the galaxy tabs are crippled by their importers. i have a Tmobile, non contract, it has a Sim card but i can not make calls, all the USA carriers did this. It should be illegal for them to cripple open source, Also i have been reading that Verizon version of the Tab, you cannot Bluetooth link a keyboard or a mouse type device. You can only use Bluetooth to connect a headphone, all other blue tooth functions are crippled. Verizon is notorious for doing this to all the good phones. i left them, after 15 years due to this crap.The T mobile version you cannot use a regular Bluetooth ear piece, it has to be a certain spec something like a2dp. i think it is a stereo , i am not sure if it has talk/speaker capability\
The European white backed version will not work with t mobile since the freq' s are different.
zero2espect - Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - link
yes. non usa. sorry to hear about u.s. crippling. :-(VivekGowri - Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - link
Interesting. I was an iPhone user for two years before switching to Android, and I've had an iPad in one form or another almost since the day of launch when I bought a 32GB (ended up returning it, but picked up a 16GB a month later).My experience is exactly opposite to yours - I prefer iOS at 10" and Android at smartphone-size, and true to form, those are the form factors the OS were designed for respectively....Especially since they've got the respective ecosystems built around them. That's the problem with the Galaxy Tab - unless you're reading or watching a movie, there's really nothing different than a normal Android smartphone. So why bother carrying it?
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, December 27, 2010 - link
I dont get what is wrong with these people. This is even worse than apple. How is this any better than an iPod touch, which costs less anyway?nycmetroconsumer - Monday, December 27, 2010 - link
i have a t mobile galaxy tab, paid full price contract. it has wifi and broadband, that was the only version available at the time, bought from amazon about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I have not picked it up and used it in 2 weeks due to t mobile BS crippling. I probably spent a total of 2 hours messing with it and when i found out that i needed to spend $$broadband money in the form of a prepaid broadband card to use about all of its features, including registering my email accounts. i have started packing it away for the return to amazon. i cant say much about it, since i refused to activate the broadband sim card that came preinstalled, knowing i would probably get a restocking fee or some BS if i needed to return it. i could only use it on the only Wi-fi function that were not crippled, the proprietary browser, Which sucked. Last week i verified with T-mobile that this mandatory broadband service was the only way i could use the boradband/wi-fi no contract , full price , $700 with tax, Samsung Galaxy Tab. It took me quite a few calls before i finally got a department that verified i had to use broadband even when wi-fi was available. So back to Amazon it will go.i had used the ipad, which was great , fantastic response on the touch screen, easy and intuitive, and that was all on wi-fi. The only reason i still have the Galaxy Tab , i was hoping t mobile would realize that they made a mistake and either provide me with a free broadband card to register the device, or change their network to allow wi-fi full capability. This galaxy tab is set up like charging prepaid cellphone users minutes to call 611, and spend a hour and $$ while they send you around the t mobile departments. i am a t mobile pre paid user , with a wifi nokia , and i do not pay to dial 611 and i can use my wifi at any location. The only reason i didn't get an ipad was i liked the open source of android, i don't see how they are allowed to cripple android devices. They should not be allowed to use open source, yet cripple its features to make money.
All the American carriers crippled the voice capacities of the samsung tab, in Europe they can all make voice calls with the Galaxy Tab. IMO this is a anti trust violation, however the FCC has been bought out by these corporations after the AT&T forced breakup in 1983. for those that don't know the AT&T breakup, which was the biggest monopoly in the USA was broken up due to a case where they would not let a customer use their own answering machine, in those days an answering machine was huge and cost around $900. AT&T forced the customer to rent all their telco equipment , no -one was allowed to hook up non Western electric manufactured equipment to the telephone lines. Western electric was the manufacturing and central office installation division of all telco equipment. I worked for AT&T long lines and was divested to new york tel.
dmjazzijeff - Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - link
Nice review, Vivek. Do you think the Tab is worth the price in its current configuration, with the proviso that I'm not really looking for anything more than a really portable MID? I have a 32GB 3G iPad and I like it very much, but it's a little too large to use comfortably while out and about. I'm looking for something larger than my iPhone, but perhaps not as large as the iPad. I hate carrier subs so I'd be looking at getting one off-contract. I don't really need to be able to put the number (or type) of apps that I've got installed on my iPad on it; just really looking for something with a decent web browser and email client that's easy to carry and use while on public transportation and such.JumpingJack - Friday, December 31, 2010 - link
First, thanks for the review, I basically agree with the assessment overall.I did find a Galaxy Tab on the display floor recently and spent a fair bit of time checking it out. Right around the corner was the iPad. My, obviously subjective, opinion is that the iPad is an order of magnitude better overall.
It really came down to responsiveness. The galaxy tab seemed very sluggish overall, video's chopped a bit here and there, and the screen transistions were delayed. Scrolling was not smooth and the overall experince was just better on the iPad (I own neither BTW).
Apple will likely dominate the tablet space for many more moons.
digitalicecream - Sunday, January 2, 2011 - link
I purchased the nook color last month and rooted it. Now that Froyo is confirmed for it this month it will go from being a cool reader/hacked tablet to an actual tablet (hopefully with market support)Still, it doesnt have bluetooth, vibe, camera, or microphone... but I already have that on my Incredible and I really dont want to duplicate my efforts.
7" screen Angry birds with pinch and zoom and multitouch? for $250 no contract? Heck yeah!!
CyberAngel - Tuesday, January 4, 2011 - link
USA models doesn't have it?This is the most stupid thing ever!
Why would anyine buy any smaller tablets in the US is beyound me
but when I tried G Tab on a huge store in Helsinki
I just barely fitted into my suit pocket but was not too heavy
To be able to browse using the display of 1024 pixels (sideways) is great!
Combine this with a BT headset and also make calls (and receive them)
Wonderfull!
About the camera: very dissappointing compared especially to Nokia N8
which currently has the best camera
Now I'm waiting for dual-core LTE models (maybe also dual-SIM)
ACER seems to have a nice 7" Tab coming.
I hope it's not wide because I want it into my pocket
My Tab is going to replace my Nokia 7110 (90-series) touch phone
which is already about six years old
Deepthi - Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - link
Just put in.simple words. Apple =limitation. Restrictions. Galaxy tab with android = unlimitation, open source , custom roms ! Freedom. So yeah i choose freedom over a 'famous mob recognized' brand name, coz following crowd mentality doesnt make me love what is true for me which i absolutely enjoy tab!! i chose it over ipad ;)