Just arrived in the Samsung Apps market today is Need For Speed Shift Full version – Free. This is the second racing game to appear in the last week. Previously we had Asphalt 5 HD, again, full and free. If you’ve got a Galaxy Tab these apps might not be appearing in your Samsung Apps catalogue due to country restrictions. My Tab was bought and is operating in Germany although it is set to English language. Need For Speed Shift does not appear in the standard Android Market here so I’m not sure if there’s an alternative route for it. Let me know if it’s available where you are (and if it’s also free indicating that the Samsung App catalogue is largely a marketing channel!) Oh, and before you ask, no, I’m not putting up the .apk , Sorry!
I am putting up a video though. You can see Need For Speed Shift demonstrated in the video below. Watch in HQ/480p for best version.
It works well! Smooth, responsive, enjoyable! If you’ve got a Tab, look for it in the Samsung Apps application.
Just arrived in the Samsung Apps market today is Need For Speed Shift – Full version – Free. This is the second racing game to appear in the last week. Previously we had Asphalt 5 HD, again, full and free. If you’ve got a Galaxy Tab these apps might not be appearing in your Samsung Apps catalogue due to country restrictions. My Tab was bought and is operating in Germany although it is set to English language. Need For Speed Shift does not appear in the standard Android Market here so I’m not sure if there’s an alternative route for it. Let me know if it’s available where you are (and if it’s also free – indicating that the Samsung App catalogue is largely a marketing channel!) Oh, and before you ask, no, I’m not putting up the .apk , Sorry!
I am putting up a video though. You can see Need For Speed Shift demonstrated in the video below. Watch in HQ/480p for best version.
It works well! Smooth, responsive, enjoyable! If you’ve got a Tab, look for it in the Samsung Apps application.
My mobile reporting kit will change dramatically for CES 2011. I’ve just heard that ill be able to borrow an N8 to partner with my Galaxy Tab which, considering I’m doing a lot of mobile blogging on the Tab now, gives me the opportunity to try something very different indeed. How about a no-bag challenge? The would mean leaving the Netbook and main camera in the hotel during the day and doing everything on the N8 and Tab. Of course its possible but the question is, what is the quality going to be like and will it be efficient to try and write posts on the Tab.
Considering I just wrote this one in under 5 minutes using the wordpress app. on the Tab, while sitting on a sofa keeping an eye on my baby, I think it will be surprisingly good. Watch out for a detailed post on Carrypad soon.
I didn’t expect this to happen but I’ve reached the point where an on-screen keyboards is better than hardware keyboards on my mobile devices. The soft keyboard on the Galaxy Tab is now my fastest mobile text-input device.
Can you remember the on-screen keyboard delivered that was delivered with XP? Oh….my…God!
It was meant for accessibility and emergency use and it was basic, to say the least. The XP Tablet Edition keyboard wasn’t much better so it’s no wonder many of us went for hardware keyboards on our mobile devices. I went for quite a few of them.
The appeal of a weightless on-screen keyboard was always there but in practice, the execution was terrible. Either the devices were too heavy or the keyboards just weren’t responsive enough. Resistive touchscreens, screen sizes, lack of haptics and dumb software didn’t help. Sure, the hardware keyboards were often poor too, Using long-throw keys for thumb-typing isn’t optimal but there were some good ones out there.
With the introduction of capacitive screens and intelligent on-screen keyboards, things started to change. The iPhone led and my own experience hit a peak with the HTC Desire. Still, portrait mode isn’t easy on these single-hand devices and landscape mode was blocking most of the screen so I still longed for something that slides-out but when I got the Galaxy Tab, the crossover point was reached. I am now faster on the Tab than on any other hard or soft mobile keyboard. With concentration, I can reach 80% of the speed I have on a full size keyboard and without, an easy 70% and I still have over 50% of my screen free when I’m using it.
How am I using it?
See this article with video demo. I’m using the device in portrait mode and thumbing on the Samsung keyboard with about 30% haptic feedback strength. Since that video was made, I’m even faster.
The low weight means that device doesn’t get top heavy. The width means the thumbs can cross-over across the keyboard.
The capacitive screen and haptics work quickly and give the feeling of real physics although the OSK can get held back occasionally meaning you have to type ahead and hope it buffers. It usually does but that problem definitely needs sorting out.
The intelligence in the Samsung Keyboard is great. I have to assume they are using variable hit-patches. (e.g. the hit area of the U increases if you type a Q and so on) and XT9 predictive text is more value than hindrance once you get used to it. I don’t use word completion but you’ll see the settings I do use below…
That combination of virtual physics, size/weight and intelligence has me using the Tab for far more than I thought possible. I’ve written 5 reasonable sized blog posts and a ton of emails, Tweets, IM’s, comments and annotations. I’ll be taking it to CES and I bet I use it a lot. Thank goodness the battery life is good!
Landscape mode is a problem for the on-screen keyboard but I rarely use the device in that mode. Video playback usually forces it along with the occasional rotate needed for photos.
Could it be improved? Yes. I mentioned the occasional pause above and I think there’s scope for a wider screen with 800 pixels width. I’d also like to see an option for a dedicated number row. Haptics can always be improved too but right now I’m very happy and importantly, no longer lusting after hardware keyboards on my mobile devices.
Anyone else experienced this cross-over point with a mobile on-screen keyboard?
While I wait for my (6 hour) delayed flight here in Frankfurt it’s probably worth putting some text down about how the Tab has performed today, a day of snow, cold and cancellations.
Unplugged at about 10am today the Tab was fully charged and performed its first duty by giving me the time of the next bus the the main station. From that point onvit’s been non-stop tabbing. My day has been turned upside down and the Tab has been the hub of my communications. Emails to family and customers to keep them up to date. Sms’ and tweet all the way, looking up my hotel details, phone numbers for the hotel, more train times and status updates, flight information and of course, keeping up with news and RSS feeds. It’s coming up to 2000hrs and that’s ten hours of work with wifi on, Bluetooth in use, 3g on and a bunch of apps (Facebook, email, twitter, wordpress, contacts) updating regularly in the background.
The experience has been great.
But I also had a phone with me! The old N82 was critical for calls to travel agents, hotels, family and customers. It was also my camera for the day.
The Tab is good but not 100% converged. I just couldn’t be bothered to plug in a headset and the camera, in comparison with the N82, just sucks.
So as I hot the last 10% of battery I’m pleased that I can send you all this little blog. Written on the Galaxy Tab portrait mode woth the on screen keyboard and the WordPress application!
Typing error left in so you can see how good/bad it is!
Customer satisfaction during product purchase and ownership is a complex science and I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that I know a lot about it. Personally I can get very upset if a product fails to deliver on marketing promises and wildly passionate if a product does more than expected. That’s something I keep out of my reviews though and I always aim to project my thoughts from various target customer scenarios. On a personal note though, the Galaxy Tab experience has been extremely positive for me and I’ve spoken to many others that are happy too. If you go to the UMPCPortal sub-forum for the Galaxy Tab it doesn’t take too much effort to find a happy customer. I plan to keep using the Galaxy Tab and expect to be using it well into 2011 but as always, there are people out there for which the Tab will be a total misfit and a total disappointment.
In this article and video I want to highlight the limitations and issues of the Galaxy Tab and bring in a few people that have already bought and sold their Tab. Why weren’t they happy?
In the video below you’ll see me talk about a number of issues. I’ve listed them here:
Camera and Video
DLNA
Video output
Reading newspapers and magazines
Printing
Web
Multitasking
User interface
The last three in that list have something in common wild users and wild operating systems creating an unstable and unpredictable experience.
By wild users, I mean almost everyone because we have a natural tendency to try things we find exciting and to push the limits of a device. This means, just like on the PC, you end up with too much running at the same time. Android makes it easy to try software and does very little to control the use of the system resources. What you end up with is an experience that can vary from excellent (when you first use the device) to flakey (I’m just 6 weeks into ownership and I’m seeing this problem.)
One of the problems is the size of the Galaxy Tab. Because it’s bigger than a smartphone, you expect more but in reality, it’s just a smartphone. Memory size, speed, storage speed, CPU and GPU performance are not ‘PC-class’ and if you treat the Tab like a PC, it won’t return any favors. This problem is going to catch out a lot of people in the coming weeks.
Aside from technical limitations there are the inherent limitations of the Galaxy Tab. The size and weight of the device mean it’s not pocketable. The performance won’t be anything more than what you get on some smartphones that do fit in the pocket. It doesn’t have a big enough screen to be able to run two applications in two windows. The performance isn’t anything like what you get on a PC. Printing is limited. There’s no USB port, no multi-user support and so-on and so-on. People looking to replace a laptop will have a problem, even when the keyboard dock ships!
I’ve been in contact with a couple of people recently that have ditched their Galaxy Tab and gone back to planning for the next device. There isn’t a huge number of people in this boat but it’s important to know why didn’t it work for them? Fabrizio, an ex Galaxy Tab owner has this to say…
…basically I think the Galaxy Tab is a good device. While being it a powerful and feature rich device, it’s somehow an oversized smartphone and does not really offer more. Yes, it has a bigger screen and higher resolution, but Android does not take advantage of that. You can read information easier since the screen is bigger, but while I love Android, it is NOT a desktop OS replacement, thus, you won’t be able to do really more than on a smartphone. With more I mean, serious productivity (writing, encoding etc.), not entertainment (listen music, watch videos). In short, the Galaxy Tab is a great device to “consume” content and not to create. But even when consuming, it is limited by the OS which is – in my opinion – not a desktop replacement OS and so it does not offer more than a smartphone –
‘EC’ another ex-Galaxy Tab user said this…
“…it was among the hardest decisions I’ve ever done on a gadget any time recently.”
But he had problems with the browser…
“The native browser, that is not a native Android browser but another Samsung custom job, will render most websites in the mobile format (when there is such a version) and while in some cases you can click on the normal website option on that website it not only doesn’t stay that way for the next time it also won’t affect any other websites you might visit in the same browsing”
EC also told us that he couldn’t get to grips with the on-screen keyboard and summarises as follows…
I was ready to accept a few lacks here and there like most of us did with the first generation of netbooks, but with the HW really lacking next to nothing I think my expectations for the OS were even higher. Yes the $600 does make a difference. If it was $200 even without any 3G I would still have it, but right now it doesn’t live up to it’s price tag for me personally. I am convinced that anyone perfectly content with Android but wanting a tablet that’s portable will love this device, for anyone coming from an iOS environment I would say get more familiar with Android before you get the Tab or you might not be too pleased.
There’s a huge huge problem here with overlap. Early adopters of the Tab invariably have a selection of other devices available to them. High-end smartphones and netbooks mean that there’s a huge overlap which removes some of the reasons you’d use to justify buying the tab in the first place. Others simply don’t like the quality of the UI or software stack. This UI issue is probably the most important issue facing Android devices right now and if people want to compete with the iPad in this respect, it seems like a hard problem to solve on Android. Stability and ‘self-control’ from a device perspective is also an issue. The wild operating system lets you do some wild things but don’t expect everything else to remain constant while you push the limits.
Have you got a Galaxy Tab? Are you happy? We’d love to hear your thoughts below.
Is there an answer to the problems of the leading Android tablet? Either Android implements a ‘restricted’ mode which preserves the user experience (limiting the number of concurrently running apps, memory usage, cpu usage etc. or it waits for much more powerful platforms. CPU, memory and storage speed need to increase at least two-fold and that means waiting for the next-generation of ARM-based platforms. Dual-core is coming and that will help but it’s not the only solution needed. With Android version 2.3 on its way we might see some of these issues solved if the Galaxy Tab gets an upgrade but by that time, the bar might have been raised even higher by iPad 2 or other tablet device.
In the meantime, Android tablet users will need to limit their expectations.
In Part 1 of the Galaxy Tab Review we looked around the hardware. In Part 2 we looked at the software. In Part 3 we want to highlight a few features, give you some idea of performance, give some thoughts on accessories, highlight the ‘bad’ and round up with a summary.
There’s something psychological that makes big-screen devices seem faster than comparable small-screen devices and the Tab benefits from that. Web-pages fill at an impressive rate, applications start up without reaching that ‘has it crashed’ thought and video playback starts and jumps without any delay at all. If there’s one thing negative that we noticed though it was the very typical ‘locking’ of a multi-tasking device. You’ll notice it the first time it happens and it will grate on you every time it happens again. The more apps you load, the more it’s likely to happen. It’s multitasking life! Android has a noticeable touch lag too it and needs to be reduced to match the class-leading touch ‘physics’ of the iPad. Electronic musicians will probably want to stick with the iPad for the time begin. Overall we’re happy that we’ve got a device that performs to its class-leading price although it won’t be long before multi-core platforms make this seem out of date. Our initial tests on Tegra 2 devices show a big step-change in CPU and graphics performance but for the first half of 2011, the Galaxy Tab should remain competitive.
Quadrant
One of the most-used all-round tests for Android devices is the Quadrant application.
The Galaxy Tab scores 1050 in this result (we saw results range from 900 to 1100) and there’s a good CPU score from the stock firmware. 3D performance also seems good although I/O performance is on the low side. We’re hearing that there are some hacks that improve this.
Linpack
Linpack measures floating point performance in Mega-FLOPS (Millions of FLoating point OPerations per Second.) The Galaxy Tab measured 14.1. For comparison, our Toshiba AC100,a dual-core Cortex A9 device (Tegra 2) scored only 11.27 but we suspect it was running only a single thread (one core used.)
Sunspider
The Sunspider test is a browser-based Javascript test. It gives a good indication of CPU performance and browser optimisations and is useful to see how quickly AJAX / Web-based applications will be processed. Remember, this is not an indication of browser speed, just the processing of Javascript within web pages. The score of 8455 here is respectable for an ARM-based device. We have seen 9000ms on an iPad, 2000ms on a netbook and 4800 on a Tegra-2-based AC100
Benchmark Pi
The commonly used Pi test was completed in 1387ms which is a good score for a Cortex A8 implementation at 1Ghz
3D Performance (NeoCore)
The Neocore result of 53.5 FPS is very good and highlights that the PowerVR SGX540 in the platform is one of the most powerful out there at the moment. We tried to run the Neocore test on the AC100, Tegra2 platform, but the test is clearly not supporting the Tegra2 graphics.
3G Performance
We’ve had no issues with 3G connectivity since we got the Tab over 3 weeks ago. Reception is always strong and our data throughput rates always good. In a cellar-based test of three phones, the Galaxy Tab was able to train to the HSDPA (3.5G) standard. A Nokia N82 got UMTS (3G) but our Sony Ericsson X10 could only train to the GSM standard. Our cellar-based studio is a tough test for any 3G radio and we rarely see any devices getting 3G. In a second test we saw the Galaxy Tab drop to the GSM standard while the Nokia N82 retained 3G so clearly the Tab is not class-leading but in general, it gives respectable results.
3G video calling (European UMTS standard) worked well with the front cam providing a fair experience. We haven’t extensively tested GSM voice performance but we certainly haven’t had any problems either with loudspeaker use or headset use. We tested the Tab as a primary phone for a week. Note that the Galaxy Tab can’t be used against the ear because there is no low-volume earpiece. Speaker at low volume can be used with the device rotated through 180 degrees.
Note that the SIM card (GSM/UMTS versions) can be live-swapped but removing a SIM sends the device into a (graceful) reboot. Inserting a SIM does the same.
Storage/SD card performance
We tried a few SD card read/write tests from the market but results varied from a minimum of 2MB/s write speed to 6MB/s write speed on the internal memory. In a large file transfer we measures 4.5MB/s write speed to the internal storage and a 7.4MB/s rate to the SD card (Class 6 Transcend 8GB card.) Buying a fast SD card might be worthwhile for storing applications and data.
Speaker/Mic/Headphones
We don’t have the facilities to properly test the speakers or headphone output quality so we’ll have to give you our ear-test results. We can’t find anything to worry about! The built-in speakers are top quality for a device of this size and beat many laptops and netbooks we’ve tested. Our Viliv S7 is the only device we have that sounds better. As for headphones, again, the quality is good and free of any background noise.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab supports wireless printing but we haven’t been able to test this yet. If/when we do, this section of the review will be updated.
Battery life.
We’ve been testing the Galaxy Tab for over 3 weeks now and we’re confident to say that you’ll have trouble running this device flat in anything under 6 hours. Our most extreme test was in-car using 3G with the screen on running Google Navigation. The projected battery life in this scenario was 6 hours. Maybe turning on the 3G router and playing music could have brought the battery life down further but it would be an unlikely scenario.
Expect 12-18hours of usage if you’re using the device for up to about 6 hours per day with Wifi or 3G connectivity for general activities. With the occasional 10-20 minutes usage for 5/6 times per day, you can expect over 2 days use before charging. With the screen off, the device will run, connected to Wifi, for many days (Samsung quote a 3G standby time of 1500 hours) and if you’re just playing back MP3s with the screen off, we see again, multiple days usage.
Talk time is quoted as 16.5 hours which is a good indication of battery life streaming audio over 3G (screen off.)
Video playback time is estimated at 7 hours (medium brightness)
When the screen is off, the Galaxy Tab is a Galaxy S smartphone with three times the battery capacity. With the screen on you can expect significant drain. We estimated that an idle device with screen on full would drain flat in under 15 hours.
3G Router performance.
In a test of battery life we set the device up as a 3G hotspot, turned the backlight off and used it via our laptop’s wifi connection about 30cm away. After 30 mins, the battery life had dropped 4%. After 2hours with 2 external WiFi devices, radio streaming, web usage and the Tab also using the connection, the battery life dropped by 15%. We’re confident that you’ll get 10hrs out of the device in this ‘hotspot’ mode; Probably a lot more.
A bandwidth test indicated 2.5Mbps down and 1.2mbps up (indoors) which is more than acceptable. There’s no heat build-up.
In-car usage
We found a generic netbook/umpc car mount solution (see here for details) and tested the Galaxy Tab in the car. While you’ll have to be careful of reflections (mount high and angle towards driver usually solves the issue) you won’t have to worry too much about speaker volume, GPS quality and usability. We found the Tab an excellent solution with 3G and Google Navigation and made a demo video which is included below. More images in the gallery. Information about the official Samsung car mount below. We’re hoping that Samsung introduces an in-car application for the docking station but we haven’t seen any evidence of it yet.
Heat and noise.
During all of our tests we haven’t detected any significant heat on the device and as the device is free of any moving parts, it’s silent.
WiFi performance
We know the lay of the land round here in terms of WiFi so it’s always easy to see how good any WiFi antenna is. We’re seeing very good results from the Galaxy Tab in terms of reception. In a walk-away outdoor test from our hotspot we got very cold before the Wifi dropped out. (It’s very good)
Wifi connections were fast to establish.
Throughput speeds over our Wifi-N hotspot have been excellent with a speedtest clocking in at over 10Mbps. Note though that application transfer speeds depend a lot on the processing performed by the client. For example, with an FTP transfer from another continent ran well at 4mbps, the SFTP transfer of the same file from the same server was less than one tenth as fast. Encrypted IP connections (E.g. SCP, HTTPS, VPN, RDP) will be affected.
Bluetooth support.
The Galaxy Tab includes a Bluetooth 3.0 module but as this is the only device we have with BT 3.0, we can’t test the new features that include the negotiation of a Wifi data transfer. We tested A2DP, headset profile, file transfer (to the Galaxy Tab from a Nokia N82), file transfer (from the Galaxy Tab to a laptop) and saw that DUN, Object Push, OBEX File Transfer and a headset gateway service were available on the Tab. We tried DUN from our laptop but couldn’t get it to work. We’re happy using the 3G router function on the Tab to connect via Wifi though so didn’t spend much time trying to get it to work.
Stability.
Over the last three weeks we’ve seen a few lock-ups that have lasted more than 10 seconds. Most of these resulted in an error message and an offer to close the offending application. We saw one lock-up which needed a reboot. This occurred after some testing of the haptics and sound settings for notifications. Reset requires a long, 10-second, press of the power button. In comparison to other phones and computers, we don’t see the Galaxy Tab as having any major stability problems. As we mentioned before, the more applications you load, the more change you will have of bugs, lock-ups and other issues.
Memory and process management.
The Galaxy Tab has 512MB of RAM with 440MB available for use. We’ve never knowingly had any sort of memory problem on the Galaxy Tab and the RAM manager always seems to show 100MB free at any time. Note that Android aims to keep as much in memory as possible so don’t be alarmed at the 340MB usage rate. Samsung’s application manager application permits the user to free up memory in two stages. We tested it but haven’t had an cause to use it yet.
More critical is CPU availability, especially when running multiple applications. Again, the Samsung application manager gives you a good indication of usage with the widget turning red when it detects what could be runaway CPU usage. Viewing and killing foreground applications is a simple process.
Boot-up speeds.
You’ll rarely have to boot-up the device although a SIM swap does require two of them. We powered up to the homescreen on a 3-week old build in 40 seconds.
Firmware upgrade
We’re not quite sure how firmware will be updated on the Galaxy Tab. There doesn’t appear to be an over-the-air configuration so we can only imagine it will be done using PC-based software.
Accessories
At the time of writing, none of the official Samsung accessories are available but pricing and images are.
We suspect that many people will be looking at the docking station which provides HDMI and analogue audio out, charging and a USB connection for connectivity with a PC. We don’t see any USB OTG support but we’ve ordered a docking station just to be sure! Street price: 37 Euro.
The keyboard dock will solve the problem of adding a Bluetooth or USB keyboard but at a price of about 90 Euros, doesn’t come cheap. The dock can charge the Tab, provide 3.5mm audio output and has a USB port for PC connectivity.
For the car, you’ll be looking for a mount and a 12V adaptor. The mount, at a street price of 52 Euros, includes everything you need including a 12v adaptor. There’s also an audio out port. Considering how good our experience was with Google Navigation (above) we’d certainly recommend this for people in countries with Google Navigation coverage and a suitable data connection. (Note: Google Navigation can be used offline, without a data connection, as long as the route is planned and started before leaving a Wifi hotspot connection. No re-routing is possible when offline.)
The leather case, at 35 Euro street price, looks good too.
During the final stages of writing this review a silicon case turned up from Handy Heaven (via Amazon Germany here) at €5.99 including delivery, we think it’s a must-have. It fits well, has cut-outs for ports, protects the vulnerable back-side and provides a huge improvement in grip. Quite how long it will last before it gets dusty, dirty and stretches we don’t know but at this price, order a few of them! There are plenty of other 3rd-party solutions coming into the market though so have a look around.
Before we summarise the Galaxy Tab and draw a line on this three-part review, let’s talk briefly about the things we think that aren’t so good about the Galaxy Tab.
Slippery finish The plastics and finish on the Galaxy Tab are top-class and there’s a useful fingerprint-rejecting layer on the device too. You’ll still need to wipe it down occasionally but thanks to the coating, it’s easy. The downside of this super-smooth surface is that if it’s cold and dry, the Tab is very slippery. The silicon case mentioned above solves the problem.
USB OTG Bluetooth keyboards and mice are good but when the battery runs out on these accessories, it would be nice to be able to plug in a standard keyboard and mouse using USB On-The-Go support. Plugging in USB or powered hard drives for extra storage would have also been nice.
Micro USB charging The 30-pin connector keeps the port count low but considering that mobile phones, in Europe at least, are moving towards the micro-usb standard, we would have liked to have seen it on the Galaxy Tab. Buying a second charging cable is almost a must although we like the idea of using the docking station as a charging point.
USB charging from PCs is slow With a battery that is 3X the size of a smartphone battery you have to expect it to take longer over the restricted current available on a USB port. 8 to 9 hours is to be expected and if you’re using the device heavily, you’ll run the battery down faster than a USB port can charge it. The supplied adaptor provides well over 1000ma of current. We tested charging on a few battery packs with USB but neither of them managed to trigger the fast-loading that the supplied chargers is capable of. The supplied charger completes charing in about 3.5hrs
Camera quality From the screen to the CPU, everything on the Galaxy Tab feels leading-edge, apart from the camera. The 3.2MP auto-focus implementation isn’t bad but it’s behind the quality we’ve seen on Samsung phones over the last year. 5.0MP with 720p recording would have brought it up to standard. We do like the camera software, speed and huge, huge ‘viewfinder’ though.
App styling While the Samsung applications are functional and worth using, they’re not exactly pretty.
AC3 support We’re surprised to see that the Galaxy Tab can’t decode and down-mix an AC3audio track. Maybe the audio appears as raw AC3 on the HDMI port but if you’re using the speakers or headphones, you’ll hear nothing. We hope that Samsung pays attention to this because if you’re looking at the Galaxy Tab as a serious PMP, you’ll get tripped up time and time again with AC3 and AAC multi-channel soundtracks. MP3 and AAC 2-channel stereo works fine.
Incompatible applications Samsung said from day one that they expect 90% of applications to work without a problem. We’ve seen a number of applications that work in a windowed WVGA mode and some that don’t work at all. We expect slightly more than 90% of applications to work but if there’s an application that it critical to you, it would pay to have it checked out. (Our forum members can help)
Android video application support The front facing cam can be used for 3G video calling but it doesn’t seem to register well with Android video applications. We weren’t able to get UStream or QIK broadcasting working which is a shame because it would make a very compact and long-lasting low-end broadcast unit.
Price The 799 Euro recommended retail price is too high and we think there’s universal agreement about that but 2-months after the price was announced, we’re seeing prices closer to 600 Euro than 800 Euro. At the current street price of 649 Euro we think the Galaxy Tab provides enough features to justify the price but it’s up to the end-user to decide how that feature profile fits their requirements. We do, however, expect prices to drop further and expect sub 599 prices in the early part of 2011. If Samsung commit to upgrading the Galaxy Tab to Android 2.3 (we’ve heard that one Samsung representative has confirmed this) then the device will represent even better value.
Alternatives
Our Galaxy Tab product page on Carrypad always shows a list of 10 comparable devices (based on screen size) so check it out for the latest device alternatives.
It’s been 3 weeks since we started testing the Galaxy Tab for this review and in that time we’ve seen no real showstoppers. Quality is high and the extensive feature list still impresses us. It’s one of the best truly converged mobile internet devices we’ve seen and Android allows it to be used in a flexible way. We’ve also heard from Galaxy Tab customers in our forum and there’s a unanimous agreement that it’s a great device. Having said that, no-one really needs it. Like the iPad, it’s a luxury item that brings together existing capabilities from other products and combines them well in a stylish package. Netbooks and smartphones allow you to do more than the Galaxy Tab does but it’s the convenience factor that really makes it special. We’ve long been proponents of the three-device strategy [image from 2008] and we think the Galaxy Tab fits in better than any other device we’ve tested. As for price, well, you’ve got the facts now…it’s up to you.
I’ve got a set of 17 criteria that I’m developing for use when I review devices and I thought it would be an interesting exercise to put the iPad and the Galaxy Tab together to see which one wins on this set of criteria.
As you can see, the Galaxy Tab is the winner. End of story.
Or is it?
The totally dumb thing about this result and most other static ‘ratings’ systems is that every user approaches a device from a different angle. No-one wants every feature in equal measure and the simple reason the Tab is (only just) the winner is because it shines in the mobility and phone/video category. Some users just don’t care about that so if you take those ratings away, the iPad is the winner. The winner shown above is with ‘all things equal’ and won’t help anyone choose a device.
With that in mind I’ve created an interactive tool (hat-tip to Bryan Cryer for the javascript and Steve Litchfield for the inspiration) that puts your desires first and allows you to ‘weight’ my scores in each category.. If you aren’t interested in gaming, give it a low weighting and the scores will adjust giving you a different result. Try it…it’s fun!
Note: The tool is still being developed and I reserve the right to refine my scores for devices.
I realise that my categorisations aren’t flawless and that my scores could also be in error so for that, I ask for your trust that I’ve refined the categories well and know my stuff when if comes to evaluating a device. If you don’t trust my reviewing skills, don’t use the tool! It would also be impractical and unworkable to break out 20 or 30 categories for each and every feature. Your suggestions during this Alpha phase are welcome though.
Here’s some more detail about the categories.
Battery life – Working battery life, standby, always-on. Relative to size and best in class.
