The Galaxy Tab 10.1, which uses the latest version of Google's Android operating system, weighs 599 grams (1 pound, five ounces) and is just 10.9 millimetres (0.43 inches) thick.
Photograph by: Sean Gallup, Getty Images
I’ve been testing out the Samsung Galaxy Tablet for the past couple of weeks and, even though I’m a huge fan of the iPad, I have to say that the Galaxy is a nice little tablet.
In terms of sales figures for 2010, the Galaxy Tab, although a distant second, was nonetheless the second best selling tablet on the market. Already 2011 has shown that tablets will be the device of the year with many vendors either announcing immediate availability or availability soon of their version of the tablet. Many are and will be Android powered, so the market will be fragmented quite a bit. Samsung was one of the first major competitors to the iPad out of the gate, and that has served them well with their fourth quarter sales figures from 2011 estimated in the two million range.
The Galaxy runs on the Android 2.2 operating system, which means that users will have access to the Apps on the Android Market. It’s not the Apple App Store to be sure, but as Android tablets become more popular there will undoubtedly be thousands of new Apps made available for users. Most of the Apps appear to be developed for Android powered smartphones, but again, as the Android powered tablets become more popular you’ll begin to see a larger number of Apps available. Apple has such a huge head start and that, coupled with the recent announcement of the iPad 2, will make this year a very interesting one for consumers who are looking to get into a tablet. There’ll be lots of choices in both devices and operating systems, and I think you’ll see some fall by the wayside.
The Galaxy has dual cameras – one front and one back facing, a 1 GHz processor, full Adobe Flash support and both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. The front facing 1.3 megapixel camera is perfect for video chats, and the rear facing camera with an integrated flash shoots stills at 3 megapixels and video at 720 x 480 dpi and 30 frames per second.
The Galaxy Tab weighs in at 360 grams, and is 190.09mm T x 120.45mm W x 11.98mm D and has a 7” display. The display is a touch screen TFT, with 1024 x 600 display resolution.
It’s Bluetooth capable, has an onboard USB port and the basic version has 16MB of memory which can be expanded up to 32GB by a Micro SD card. Battery length is rated by Samsung at up to 1660 minutes or 1530 if you’re using 3G.
The Flash support allows the user to view more websites than the HTML 5 supporting iPad, although the smaller screen is a bit of a disadvantage when viewing websites. It’s a great size for reading books and the Kobo App makes it very convenient to get and read books, magazines and periodicals. The 1024 x 600 screen resolution offers a very nice-sized, saturated and colourful option for watching movies and videos while on the go, and it’ll play most of the common video and audio formats on the market.
The controls for the Galaxy Tab are familiar to Android users, so the learning curve is very flat for anyone who has experience with Android phones. I’m used to the iPhone and iPad, so I found them quite different, but as a whole the Galaxy was very intuitive and I didn’t have too much trouble working my way around the device.
The Galaxy Tab is offered on the Bell network for $349.95 on a three-year term and $399.99 on a three-year term on the Rogers network, with a cost of $624.99 with no term.
You can check out a number of very helpful video on the Samsung Canada website that provide “How To” information for new users at: http://support-cacyber.samsung.com/caspstv/howto.jsp?channelId=1020.
Consumers seem to be falling into two camps – those that want to use nothing other then Apple device operating the Apple iOS, and those that want to use Google’s Android operating system. Windows Phone is in the market but not a big player yet, so it’s really between the two technologies. Research in Motion’s PlayBook will be on the market soon, and will be favoured by that huge segment of users who use BlackBerry devices. Whether the Galaxy tab will be the main opposition to the iPad remains to be seen, but for consumers who want a tablet, are familiar with the Android operating system and like the smaller, more convenient size, the Galaxy Tab is a device that definitely warrants looking at.
PROS: Compact size and the ability to play Adobe Flash are advantages; Android Market has thousands of Apps available.
CONS: Compact size can be an issue for some users, not as many apps available as iPad. Not as feature rich as iPad.
In terms of sales figures for 2010, the Galaxy Tab, although a distant second, was nonetheless the second best selling tablet on the market. Already 2011 has shown that tablets will be the device of the year with many vendors either announcing immediate availability or availability soon of their version of the tablet. Many are and will be Android powered, so the market will be fragmented quite a bit. Samsung was one of the first major competitors to the iPad out of the gate, and that has served them well with their fourth quarter sales figures from 2011 estimated in the two million range.
The Galaxy runs on the Android 2.2 operating system, which means that users will have access to the Apps on the Android Market. It’s not the Apple App Store to be sure, but as Android tablets become more popular there will undoubtedly be thousands of new Apps made available for users. Most of the Apps appear to be developed for Android powered smartphones, but again, as the Android powered tablets become more popular you’ll begin to see a larger number of Apps available. Apple has such a huge head start and that, coupled with the recent announcement of the iPad 2, will make this year a very interesting one for consumers who are looking to get into a tablet. There’ll be lots of choices in both devices and operating systems, and I think you’ll see some fall by the wayside.
The Galaxy has dual cameras – one front and one back facing, a 1 GHz processor, full Adobe Flash support and both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. The front facing 1.3 megapixel camera is perfect for video chats, and the rear facing camera with an integrated flash shoots stills at 3 megapixels and video at 720 x 480 dpi and 30 frames per second.
The Galaxy Tab weighs in at 360 grams, and is 190.09mm T x 120.45mm W x 11.98mm D and has a 7” display. The display is a touch screen TFT, with 1024 x 600 display resolution.
It’s Bluetooth capable, has an onboard USB port and the basic version has 16MB of memory which can be expanded up to 32GB by a Micro SD card. Battery length is rated by Samsung at up to 1660 minutes or 1530 if you’re using 3G.
The Flash support allows the user to view more websites than the HTML 5 supporting iPad, although the smaller screen is a bit of a disadvantage when viewing websites. It’s a great size for reading books and the Kobo App makes it very convenient to get and read books, magazines and periodicals. The 1024 x 600 screen resolution offers a very nice-sized, saturated and colourful option for watching movies and videos while on the go, and it’ll play most of the common video and audio formats on the market.
The controls for the Galaxy Tab are familiar to Android users, so the learning curve is very flat for anyone who has experience with Android phones. I’m used to the iPhone and iPad, so I found them quite different, but as a whole the Galaxy was very intuitive and I didn’t have too much trouble working my way around the device.
The Galaxy Tab is offered on the Bell network for $349.95 on a three-year term and $399.99 on a three-year term on the Rogers network, with a cost of $624.99 with no term.
You can check out a number of very helpful video on the Samsung Canada website that provide “How To” information for new users at: http://support-cacyber.samsung.com/caspstv/howto.jsp?channelId=1020.
Consumers seem to be falling into two camps – those that want to use nothing other then Apple device operating the Apple iOS, and those that want to use Google’s Android operating system. Windows Phone is in the market but not a big player yet, so it’s really between the two technologies. Research in Motion’s PlayBook will be on the market soon, and will be favoured by that huge segment of users who use BlackBerry devices. Whether the Galaxy tab will be the main opposition to the iPad remains to be seen, but for consumers who want a tablet, are familiar with the Android operating system and like the smaller, more convenient size, the Galaxy Tab is a device that definitely warrants looking at.
PROS: Compact size and the ability to play Adobe Flash are advantages; Android Market has thousands of Apps available.
CONS: Compact size can be an issue for some users, not as many apps available as iPad. Not as feature rich as iPad.
Read more: http://www.canada.com/technology/Review+Samsung+Galaxy+tablet/4402691/story.html#ixzz1G7K7QJnI
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