Friday, October 29, 2010

Android takes on the iPad with Samsung Galaxy Tab

Finally we have a challenge for the Apple's "magical" iPad, guess what it is: Google's Android, duh! Its the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which runs Android 2.0, have a 7-inch TFT LCD with 1024x600 resolution, 1GHz Cortex A8 processor,16-32 gigs of internal storage with microSD expansion for up to 32GB additional storage, front-facing 1.3mp camera and rear 3mp camera with flash, a 4000mAh batter, 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth for phone calls. There's a 30-pin dock connector on the bottom that allows for HDMI, USB, and dockingaccessories (a car dock at least is planned). The standard back colour is white but carriers might offer various colours, and yeah it weighs 380 grams. Gyroscope sensor, geo-magnetic sensor, accelerometer and light sensor are also included. The RAM is only 512MB though. 


Lots of question marks. The tablet will be out in Europe first, possibly with Italy as the first to nab it, and the US will come later down the line. Also, while the version we played with is obviously GSM, we don't have any confirmation on a CDMA version, or which carriers might be scoring the device on either side of the pond. We're also completely in the dark on price.


There's hardly a surprise to be had when it comes to the hardware. It's good looking (though a tad on the "safe" side), solidly built (none of the seeming fragility of the Galaxy S here), lightweight (but not Kindle light), and glossy to the max (your iPad would be proud). The screen is great, though Samsung has managed to make this LCD look just as oversaturated as its AMOLEDs, and we're particularly enthused at the relative pixel density the screen gains over its iPad competition and the multitude of WVGA 7-inch Android tablets out there. Capacitive touch response is just as excellent as the iPad's, and the processor doesn't seem to have much trouble keeping up with the UI. There is a feeling of relative chubbiness due to the screen to thickness ratio, despite the fact that the Tab is just as thin or perhaps thinner than the iPad -- we suppose the new Kindle has terminally spoiled us on this front. Still, it's a device that's much better suited to supporting with a single hand than the iPad, and seems to squarely best that competitor when it comes to all things e-reading.

By all accounts Android isn't really "ready" for tablets. It's still a phone OS being asked to do a big screen job, but while we could see room for improvement, we'd say Samsung has shored up enough of Android's deficiencies with its own custom skin and apps to make the OS thoroughly palatable in this form factor. TouchWiz 3.0 still does have a bit of a "iPhone for kids" flavor to it, but props to Samsung for the depth and consistency of its UI layer.

What's more impressive are the apps Samsung built specifically to take advantage of the screen size and resolution, including a very attractive calendar app, an email app that has a dual pane view in landscape (of a style that seems unapologetically borrowed from the iPad), a similar messaging app, a Media Hub music store and player (not aimed at the US, most likely), an e-reading launcher app (that points to PressDisplay for newspapers, Kobo for e-books, and Zinio for magazines), and more. A custom dialer app includes fancy contact browsing and a video call button right up front. Samsung supports the UMTS video calling standard, but since that's not a thing in the US, we'll have to look to third party providers such as Qik to get our video calling on.

On the third party front, Samsung says that apps which were developed within Google's UI guidelines should scale up correctly, but others might need to be reworked. We'll have to see for ourselves how well Joe the Plumber's apps handle the new resolution, but we don't have much reason to fear it so far -- the few apps we saw that looked to be scaled up instead of 1024 x 600-specific looked and worked just fine.

We'll have to see if a non-Apple company can convince consumers to buy something once viewed so frivolous as a tablet, and the true usefulness of Android in this form factor will require more time with the Tab to really discern. A lot rests on the shoulders of developers, as usual, to make or break this quasi-new platform, but for Samsung's part we think the company has set the gold standard for Android tablets, and might have just enough differentiation, quality, and moxy to set its 7-inch contender up against Apple's 9.7-inch juggernaut.



The Tab versus the Pad

Now for the big question: iPad or Galaxy Tab? The short answer, in our opinion, is iPad. It's offered at a better range of pricing options--none of which requires any form of carrier contract. Apple's catalog of apps optimized for tablet-size screens number in the thousands, whereas the Tab has just a handful--and they're not terribly exciting. If you feel that a tablet computer should be more than just a supersize smartphone, the iPad is still the best game in town.
In fairness, what we enjoy most about the Galaxy Tab is that it's not trying to exactly copy the iPad's blueprint for success. Sure, Samsung's notepad, calendar, and photo apps look like pixel-for-pixel reproductions of the iPad's, but let's not overlook the fact that the Tab is half the size of the iPad. It's a different type of product that presents a different use case, one geared more for portability. That said, the Android smartphone market seems to cover a lot of this territory already.
The Tab is also reaching out to all of the people who winced at the iPad's lack of Adobe Flash support, video camera, memory expansion, and drag-and-drop file support. If these are the features that have been holding you back from purchasing a tablet, then the Tab should be a perfect match.
Samsung's 7-inch Android tablet is a serious contender to the Apple iPad, boasting two cameras, Flash compatibility, and a more convenient size, but the Tab behaves more like a supersize Android phone than a Netbook alternative. The Android OS and its apps aren't yet optimized for the larger screen. Buying a Tab demands a two-year contract and a commitment to monthly charges.
The Galaxy Tab is a beautiful product with features that will make iPad owners envious, but its in-between size and contract ties hold it back from broad appeal.

The technology site CNET has a greater coverage on the Samsung Galaxy Tab, check out the CNET page for Samsung Galaxy Tab here at http://goo.gl/g3u3 

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