I've been testing the Samsung Galaxy Tab — the first of the big-league Android tablets, in terms of both screen size and pedigree — for a few days now, and while it proves that a 7-inch tablet isn't an automatic flop (as Apple chief Steve Jobs smugly predicted a few weeks ago), it's still something of a mixed bag.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab went on sale Wednesday on T-Mobile, with Verizon and Sprint slated to launch their own versions in the coming days. (AT&T will pick up its own Tab eventually, too.)
Tab users will also be on the hook for 3G data, of course. Sprint will charge $30 a month for 2GB of data, or $60 for 5GB of data, plus an extra $30 a month to use the Tab as a mobile hotspot. T-Mobile's Tab data plans range from $25 a month for 200MB of data to $40 for 5GB, and it'll throw in mobile hotspot use for free. Finally, Verizon's data offerings will start at $20 a month with a 1GB cap.
So no — the Galaxy Tab ain't cheap, no question about it, although it's worth noting that the $600 Tab (which comes with a 16GB microSD memory card) is $30 less than than the 16GB, 3G-enabled iPad. Then again, as Jobs mentioned during his recent anti-Android tirade, the 7-inch Tab is only about half as large as the 9.7-inch iPad.
Smaller though it is, the Tab is undeniably fun to hold. (I tested the Sprint version, by the way.) A half-pound lighter than the 1.5-pound iPad, the Kindle-size Tab is easier to grip than the sometimes slippery Apple tablet, and its sharp, TFT-LCD display (not Super AMOLED, like Samsung's Galaxy S Android smartphones) is a pleasure to behold. Like all LCD displays, though, the Tab's screen wilts in direct sunlight.
Swiping through the three home pages is a smooth, fluid experience (made even more fun if you choose one of the animated "live" wallpapers, although you may see a slight performance hit if you do so), with the applications jumping quickly to life thanks to the 1GHz Hummingbird processor.
One benefit of the Tab's smaller, 7-inch display is that apps not built specifically for a tablet-size display still look pretty good, even when they're magnified to fill up the screen. The Amazon Kindle app, for example, looked great, as did the Slacker streaming-music app.
Even games look impressive; Angry Birds, for example, looked so good and played so well that I thought it might have been tweaked specifically for the Tab. (Turns out it hasn't.) I also tried the lite version of Labyrinth, the puzzle game where you guide a pinball through a maze with the help of the Tab's accelerometer — and again, the game looked sharp and played smoothly. Nice.
One of the Tab's big selling points — actually, make that two big selling points — are the dual cameras: a 3-megapixel camera (with both auto-focus and an LED flash) in back, and a 1.3MP lens in front for video chat using apps such as Qik and Fring. I haven't had the chance to try video chat yet, but I did snap some photos and shoot a little video, and image quality is pretty much what you'd expect from a midrange smartphone — good, not great. (The top range for video capture on the Tab is 720 by 480, by the way, well short of 720p.)
So far, so good, but I do have my share of complaints.
The Tab's browser comes with Flash Player 10.1, as advertised, meaning (unlike the iPad) you'll be able to play any Flash-based videos you find on the Web. And yes — Flash videos, banner ads, and other interactive elements render and function as they're supposed to. Remember the smooth performance I was cooing about earlier? Kiss it goodbye.
Also, tapping out messages on the Tab longer than a few words or so can be a bit tricky. Don't get me wrong — typing out a lengthy email on the iPad is no picnic, either, but at least its larger screen makes for a roomier keypad that you can actually touch-type on. Typing on the Tab, though, is a two-finger or two-thumb affair, and the on-screen keys are small enough to make XT9 error-correction a must. Luckily, the handy Swype app (which lets you quickly trace the word you want to type) comes preinstalled.
Yes, the Tab seems to run perfectly fine on Android 2.2, but given that most wireless watchers believe we'll see a tablet-specific version of Android — 3.0 "Honeycomb," to be precise — in the next few months, my preference would be to wait a little longer for the expected flood of built-for-Honeycomb tablets.
But won't the Tab get an update for the expected Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" and 3.0 "Honeycomb" versions? Probably, but as owners of Android smartphones know, you may have to wait weeks or even months for an update tailored to your particular device.
Overall, the Tab definitely got me excited about the potential for Android tablets in general, but is it the right Android tablet at the right time? Well, given that Android 2.2 hasn't even been optimized for tablets yet, going for the Tab right now seems a little premature — unless, I supposed, you absolutely must have an Android tablet this second. If you're feeling more prudent — and patient — I'd advise waiting just a few more months, until Android's tablet-compatibility situation clears up.
Anyone here thinking of picking up the Tab? Got any questions about the device you'd like answered? Let me know.
— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.
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