If you’re not a nerd, you shouldn’t buy an Android tablet. This one is just like those, except it’s first the one to at least feel like a tablet for real people.
PLUSES
Thinner and lighter than an iPad 2, by a gram and a millimetre (or two). This is a Big Deal. It’s what makes the Galaxy Tab feel a generation ahead of any other Android tablet, even though it’s got basically the same guts and software and battery life, for the same reason that the iPad 2 felt like a genuinely new device, not a minor upgrade. It sets the bar for what every other Android tablet should feel like. The 1280×800 screen is pretty good—crispy and poppy and saturated, though you need to crank the brightness for the full effect.
MINUSES
Plastic. That’s Samsung’s shortcut to out-wisping the iPad 2. So it also feels cheaper, less well constructed. The 16:9 orientation makes it feel like you’re making a tiny mistake every time you hold it in portrait, like to read a book on Kindle. It’s too long and awkward; the centre of gravity’s off. The slow creep of bloatware, even on this mostly stock build of Android 3.0.1 – I just wanted Pulse and Weatherbug to go away, but there’s no easy way to get rid of them. (Pulse kept sending me notifications before the first time I even opened the app! I’m already afraid of the full TouchWiz experience coming to Tab people’ll actually be able to buy, even if it is based on the improved Honeycomb 3.1.) I want to cry every time I open the Android Market, looking for new tablet apps.
Samsung Galaxy Tab
Screen: 10.1-inch, 1280×800
Processor and RAM: Dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2, 1GB RAM
Storage: 32GB
Camera: 3MP, 720p video (rear); 2MP (front)
Battery: 7000 mAh
Price: Not for sale (limited edition version)
Video by Woody Jang
Steve
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 3:23 PMIt’s plastic to be light and easy on the hands with handling.
16:9 is standard aspect ratio. This utilises it well and is designed to be operated in landscape. Indeed, the iPad’s squarish screen works against it in many functions.
Android tablets have only now really just launched, you expect it to have an app stable like the iPad?
If Matt Buchanan stops enforcing iPad expectations on a device that’s obviously not an iPad, he might enjoy it more instead of bitching about minor differences.
derk
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 11:16 AMbut apple set the benchmark.. that’s why you have to compare to the ipad
moonflower1952
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 6:23 PMI want one just to do web stuff and emails. Read reports and work related stuff. Stuff is what tablets are for.
dagaz
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 7:54 PMI had my first play with a Galaxy Tab yesterday. I really wanted to like it, but found it severely lacking in comparison to the iPad. It just felt cheap and plasticky and I didn’t find the touch screen anywhere near as responsive as the iPad’s.
warcroft
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 9:28 PMIm never one to be a spelling Nazi. As a matter of fact I dont think too highly of people who take pleasure in being spelling Nazis, but I have to comment on this one. . .
“except it’s first the one to at least feel like a tablet for real people.”
This doesnt bother me, just an accidental word switch. Usually done when youre restructuring a sentence. You quickly re-read it and it seemed ok. Happens all the time.
“I’m already afraid of the full TouchWiz experience coming to Tab people’ll actually be able to buy,”
people’ll? You just making words up now?
choosk
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 2:37 PMget over yourself. it’s an accepted linguistic paradigm. of course, newspapers and high class magazines wouldn’t use it.
stuff like, people’ll (people will) and couldn’t've (couldn’t have) are starting to appear more commonly each day, and there’s nothing wrong with them if they’re not used in a serious context (like business journals)
it’s not like he made a mistake with confusing your and you’re.
warcroft
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 10:10 PMYou’re kidding, right?
Flux
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 11:12 PMWhat a stunningly simplistic appraisal from a clearly iPad obsessed reviewer. All of your minuses could be replaced with “it isn’t the iPad I’m used to”. I have had no trouble at all finding apps that present well on the tablet screen as Android allows devs to code for scalable screen dimensions (and lots are doing so), so the need for dedicated tablet versions of apps is drastically reduced. Also, the aspect ratio is vastly superior to the iPad’s for video playback, the reason that 16:9 was used in the first place – plus it’s quicker and easier to watch video in any format since drag ‘n’ drop replaces the cumbersome iTunes.
Do these differences make it automatically better than the iPad? No. But do they make Android tablets automatically worse? Of course not. So why not inform your audience of the different strengths and weaknesses of each product and let us make our own minds up, rather than argue from Apple’s corner and look like fanboys?
vijay
Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 3:16 PMr u sure it has 1 gb of ram ????
boc
Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 7:53 PMWas this supposed to be a review?
Jedimindless
Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 9:50 PMWait…is this what passes for a review these days?
zac
Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 11:51 PMis this meant be be a review or an article? because all I see is a piece of badly written flame bait
Jim Goral
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 8:53 AMThis is Gizmodo – Apple’s secrete PR front :)
klaw81
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 7:42 AMSo it has the “oooo” factor because it’s very slightly thinner and lighter than the iPad 2, but otherwise is actually WORSE than all of the other Android tablets because of manufacturer-added bloatware like Touchwiz?
Great….so I’ll avoid it. Is that what you meant? I’m going for the tablets with USB ports and other useful stuff. Thin-ness is insignificant.
Nodeity
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 8:47 AMI’m pretty sure the “Galaxy Tab” is the one I’m going for as a B’day pressy from my wife to me in July… Does anybody have a better choice,… it’s gonna be used for web cruising mostly, plus travel movie watching, but I’m thinking it might replace my e-reader too. Seems like the best choice so far but maybe there’s something coming up before July? Oh, if anybody has read my posts on “Applecrap” before you’ll know I’m not heading in that direction…:]
TSH
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 9:55 AMYou might want to consider the ASUS Transformer. Aside from having a cooler name, the docking feature gives it a bit more Netbook-like flexibility while still being a similar-specced tablet.
Nodeity
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 12:27 PMOh yeah, very nice, seems to have a bit more grunt than the Samsung too… I just need to track down some prices closer to July, but at the moment the Transformer seems to be a bit out side my budget… Hopefully the prices will even out a bit…. Thanks