Converged devices mean more functionality and, unfortunately for me, the need for much longer reviews! I’ve been working hard on the Galaxy Tab over the last few weeks and over at Carrypad I have just posted Part 2 of the full review where I cover things that some of you ‘mo-pros’ out there will be interested in. Browser details, office and PIM applications and the rest of the included Samsung software suite. It’s fair to say that Samsung have added a lot of good stuff to the user experience in terms of usability and functionality and it shows the way forward for Android tablets. Unfortunately, not many developers are taking 1024×600 into consideration so much of the software out there still works with small-screen layouts.
You’re getting a lot for your money though and at this stage I can say that if you’re not dependant on Windows software you should take a close look at the Tab. I’m finding it’s fitting in well between a smartphone (even a basic one) and a netbook in my 3-device strategy.
In part one of our three-part detailed Samsung Galaxy Tab Review we detailed the ins and outs of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the first impressions, user interface and led into some words about the applications. In Part two we will cover those applications.
Again, thanks to TechDepot in Germany. (Part of the OfficeDepot group) for their support with the Galaxy Tab.
In part three of the review (now available) we will take a look at performance, other features and round-up with a summary including issues and target customers.
Due to the number of images in this part we’ve kept them small. Click through to larger versions in the UMPCPortal gallery. Screenshots were taken live (Not internal screenshots) so colors may vary.
Samsung Galaxy Tab Detailed Review Part 2 – Applications
Included applications
There are ‘value add’ features all over the Galaxy Tab. Video support, docking, screen and one that’s more important than anything else applications.
Samsung have obviously spent a lot of time and money developing a suite of apps for the Galaxy Tab and it lifts the device above most Android experiences. This is not Open source Android + Google, this is AOS, Google,Samsung and other third parties working together to deliver one of the best application suites we’ve seen on Android.
In this video I go over all of Samsungs Tab-specific apps and one feature you’ll see a lot is multiple windows panes within applications when they are used in landscape mode. When the screen is this big you reach the stage where even multiple apps could run side by side in landscape mode. As it currently stands that’s not possible with the Tab but the ‘extended’ apps show the way forward for Android on large-screen devices. The work that’s been done here is clearly an investment that has been made for more than one type of Tab from Samsung.
In summary, the Samsung apps add a lot to the device but there’s a few areas that need improvement. The Contacts and Calendar app work well but could do with a bit of spice and style. In the sections below we go through all the applications on the device.
Enhanced Suite
E-Mail. The E-Mail application supports IMAP, POP3 and Exchange protocols and does it in an efficient way, so much so that for the first time on an Android device, we’ve switched away from the default Gmail application. It’s not perfect (why no cut-and-paste? Some delete actions are a little slow.) but it’s HTML-capable and in landscape-mode, quick to scan and attack a backlog of emails.
Multiple select options for deletion and folder moves, long-press for more actions, conversation threading, HTML support and a ‘phone’ button that uses the contacts number and starts the dialer. Accounts can be set for separate update timescales. We haven’t fully tested Exchange support.
The Calendar is also modified to offer dual-panes in various landscape screens although there’s a look and feel to the Calendar application that doesn’t feel quite right. The wood effect background and tabs that take a chunk of real estate could have been more stylish and efficient we feel. Having said that, it’s good to use. In month-view mode you get the calendar and a list of events for the selected day. The calendar auto-syncs with your Google account(s.)
Click = Big!
The Contacts application is combined with the Dialer, Log, Groups and Favorites. Again the tabs and wood affect don’t give us the feeling of a stylish application but it’s a functional one. At first we had trouble scrolling through our 400+ contacts from Google, Facebook and Skype but after time (we assume caching, sync and image retrieval) everything has speeded up nicely. Tapping on a contacts icon brings up all the possible contact methods giving access to SMS, Phone, E-Mail, Google Talk, Facebook and other applications that link-in. Joining contacts (where multiple contacts from different networks show the same person) is possible from the application. If you haven’t used a unified contact list before, we recommend it. Update: We added a Twitter account with 2500 followers and 1200 follows. It doesn’t appear to have sync’d for us.
The Phone ‘tab’ is a fairly basic dialer application. As you select the keys, a list of matching contacts are shown making it easier to enter the number and confirm the right contact is being called. SMS and UMTS video calling (Europe, UMTS standard and reasonable quality) is also possible. Also within this application are the logs, contacts (mentioned above) groups and favorites.
My Files is a basic local file browser which works well and has the advantage of dual-view windows in landscape mode allowing easy drag and drop. Multiple select allows easy housekeeping and there’s a search function. The search button on the frame starts the search function (as in most of the Samsung-modified apps.)
Memo apps on smartphones are ten-a-penny but we like this one because again, there’s that landscape mode enhancement again. Search, share and wireless printing are available. (More about Wireless Printing in Part 3)
Messaging Threaded SMS application with dual-pane window in landscape orientation. MMS capability is included [Note: In previous reports we may have suggested that the feature is not available. It is ‘triggered’ by adding an attachment to an SMS] and simple emails can also be sent. Messages sent appear in the contact history for each person.
Daily Briefing Is an application that pulls together content from AccuWeather, Yahoo Finance, AP news content and the Calendar in 4 swipe-able screens. Configuration for shares and weather location is possible but not for the news content.
News and Weather Similar to Daily Briefing above but with weather from the Weather Channel and news from Google (configurable for multiple tabs including search terms.)
Note: A combination of the two applications above makes perhaps too much sense? Clearly this is a content deal for Samsung.
Samsung Apps This is a potential killer-feature for the Galaxy Tab…if there were some applications available. Samsung (in this region, central Europe, we can’t speak for other regions that may have different content) have provided a channel for Tab-specific apps (free only, no search at this stage) but there’s a distinct lack of content. A few token apps and a Samsung remote-control app for TV’s is hardly a thrilling selection. Auto-notification of new apps is available but any talk about the feature is pointless until more apps (and we mean at least a good 10 or so apps how about a decent Twitter client that takes advantage of the screen?) appear. Maybe there’s some potential for showcase apps if the Galaxy Tab sells well but a payment system needs to be put in place before any major private projects use this channel.
Basic Android 2.2 applications
We’ll look at the Browser in this section but first, lets address some of the other standard-looking Android 2.2 applications.
Alarm Clock Multiple Alarms. Vibrate or specific tone. Nothing extra-special here.
World Clock COnfigurable for multiple cities. Shows daylight zone. We had to specify daylight savings manually which is a disappointment and could be trip people up.
Gmail Gmail is provided and works just as on a standard phone. Text sizes on the email list look a little large to us on this screen but the applications works well. As mentioned above, we’re currently using the IMAP/POP/Exchange Email application and we suspect others will too.
Gallery Gallery is quick, smart and shows some nice transitions in slideshow mode. Access to the camera is directly available via a button on the top right but there are no image editing features on this or any other pre-installed application.
Browsing on the Galaxy Tab
A good browser is critical in a mobile internet device who’s features rely so heavily on being able to view web pages through links in applications, back-end stores and for general web browsing. The browser in Android 2.2 is vastly improved over that seen in 2.1. A new ‘just in time’ compiler improves speeds and on this ARMV7-based CPU, it gets a boost from the ARMv7 optimisations included. Android 2.1 doesn’t take advantage of these new CPUs in the same way. In addition to the standard browser, version2.2 combined with the ARMv7-based CPU permits the use of Flash 10.1. We’re happy to have the option to turn it on, off or have ‘click to run’ features wherever Flash content is presented on a page. YouTube videos work but you’ll be wanting use the dedicated application for that – it’s a lot smoother. It comes into its own where sites Flash for presenting products and shop-fronts. It’s also good for viewing non-YouTube embedded video content. There’s a price to pay though. Page loads are 10-20% slower and zooming and panning can be a very poor experience.
Carrypad.com loaded with Flash element running in header.
Don’t expect everything to work on the browser. Complex AJAX websites (‘web applications’) and sites that implement ‘mouse-over’ actions for drop-down menus and other features can be a real problem. Google blocks the Android 2.2 browser from its own Documents application. We’ve had some success with WordPress back-end but it’s a risky experience. There really is no substitute for a mouse and a full desktop browser if you’re looking for web-based productivity. Alas, this isn’t the Full Internet Experience.
Browsing speeds are good, consistent, backed with strong network connectivity options and due to the large screen format, rarely require much zooming to read the main content on a page. Zooming and panning is fast though (with Flash turned off) Pinch-to-zoom works and there’s 360 degree rotation. A ‘phone’ icon provides a shortcut to the dialer although selecting phone numbers on a page is the easier way to do that. There’s a good text selection/share/copy facility and for heavy users, an 8 window limit.
The browser has its own brightness setting and fairly standard set of browser configurations. One thing we’re very disappointed about though is the ability to set a ‘desktop id’ for the browser. Sites are always delivered as mobile versions an we’ve seen many sites that don’t allow you to switch to a full version therefore locking the user into a limited mobile experience. Third party browsers allow you to get round this problem but with this processing power, capability, speed, connectivity and screen size, we feel that browsing as a ‘desktop’ user should have been an option. Seriously, this could cause problems for some.
Here are some examples of website loading times over a wifi hotspot located about 5 meteres away. (16Mbps broadband-connected. Cache cleared.) The numbers indicate the average time to load the full version of the page completely with Flash disabled.
Amazon.com 11s
Cnet.com 13s
Engadget 20s
news.google.com 3s
NYTimes 15s
Carrypad – 5s
Carrypad 12/14
Sites tested with Flash enabled loaded, on average, 10-20% slower. (1-2 seconds)
In summary you have a very fast handheld browser that is probably going to satisfy most users. Those considering the Galaxy Tab (or any Android-based tablet) as a netbook replacement or modular computer for mobile productivity need to think carefully about the speed issues of running Flash and the issues with ‘mouse-over’ and Ajax websites.
[We haven’t tested the Galaxy Tab with a Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse.]
Think Free Office 2.0
Having mentioned the problems of using the browser for web-based applications we now come to a native application focused on productivity. Specifically word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Think Free Office Mobile is included for free (normally a paid-for application) and gives the user the ability to read and write documents and syncronise them into an online ThinkFree storage area.
The applications provide a simple way to do simple thing with words, numbers and graphics. Basic formatting is possible and saving to the Think Free Online storage (1GB free) is integrated. The package is also able to display basic PDFs. Two PDFs we downloaded failed to display however. A feature list is provided on the ThinkFree website but try as we did, we couldn’t find Google Docs integration. Maybe this is a tailored version for Samsung without the Google Docs features.
Having a Microsoft compatible office suite available is obviously an advantage but we advise doing some test work with it before relying on it when in the field. Again, we weren’t able to test this application with a keyboard.
E-Book applications
At 380gm and one-hand-holdable, the Galaxy Tab is one of the nicest designs we’ve seen for long-duration ebook reading (dedicated reader hardware excepted.) There’s a good argument, however, that being paperback book sized is not the best for reading. Having used the Dell Streak we might, just might, give that the advantage but there’s no doubt that the high screen resolution and pre-installed applications make a compelling argument to use the Tab for everyday reading.
There are two pre-installed eBook applications on the Tab. The first is an ePub compatible reader with a two-page landscape mode. Books can be added to the filesystem and then imported into the application. Opening a book takes 5-10 seconds. Settings for fonts and 6 different color schemes are possible as is bookmarking, highlighting, copying, search and dictionary lookup via a long screen press which brings up a selection tool. Annotation is not possible. Screen brightness can be set separately for this app (as with email, calendar, contacts.) Screen color settings are shown below in a daylight-lit room. (Auto-white balance was used on the camera hence slightly different coloring on the paperback view. Look for the view that matches the paperback for the best daylight equivalent.)
Click to enlarge.
Readers Hub Readers hub is a front-end to three e-book content providers. Unfortunately, Kobo, which is focused on books is the only one of the three applications that is currently live here on our German-version. Magazine content will be enabled through Zinio and newspaper content will be enabled through Press Display. We have no hints about when these services will become live but we suspect that the delay is related to our region.
The Kobo reader has the advantage over eBooks (above) by having commercial content available although clearly this is a relatively new venture because there aren’t many user ratings in the system yet. Pricing is in dollars, payment is via credit card (we used a German credit card successfully) and the content is English-language. Unfortunately, the book we downloaded (published by Random House eBooks) was badly formatted with words being concatenated on average every paragraph. Frankly, quite a waste of our $8. Other, free content we downloaded, didn’t have the same problem and downloading the same content on another Android device via the Kobo reader application wasn’t a problem. Maybe we’re dealing with a screen size bug here. No highlighting, annotations, dictionary or in-book search is available. Landscape mode formatting seems somewhat wasteful of the available space too. Our preference, having used Kobo, is for the Amazon Kindle application, an easy download from the Market. (A sample of the same book at Amazon was free of formatting errors.)
Amazon Kindle
No, the Kindle app isn’t included pre-installed on the Galaxy Tab but if you’re interested in eBooks at all this is likely to be an early download for you. We’ve seen a couple of formatting errors in the application and one book that had uneven left and right borders but the reading experience is still fine.
Media Applications
One of the outstanding features of the Galaxy Tab is it’s media handling capability. From the outset we’ll say we’re impressed and that media features on the Tab are a high level above most other Android experiences and challenge dedicated media players such as the Archos 5 Internet Tablet although any form of digital output in terms of audio or video is sadly missing without the help of optional accessories.
Camera
Lets start with the cameras. The Tab has a 3.2MP auto-focus camera at the rear and a 1.2mp fixed-focus camera at the front. The rear camera is available to Android apps but it’s the built-in Samsung software that you’ll likely be using the most. Samsung have included a variant of the software you see on their phones and it’s good, quick to operate and feature-rich although some of the features are slightly dumbed down. There’s no dedicated two-stage camera button but a long press-and-hold on the on-screen shutter button enables pre-focus. There is no touch-focus/shutter release feature and only a single focusing style. Focusing off-center requires using the press-and-hold pre-focus feature, re-framing and then removing the finger for the shot.
The user interface can only be used in landscape mode.
The shooting modes are: Single Shot, Continuous (at a vastly reduced 0.4MP 800×600 resolution – dissapointing) Panorama (each shot at 0.4MP resolution) smile-shot (at full resolution) and self-shot which uses the front facing camera. There are 5 scene modes. None, Portrait, Landscape (infinity focus priority) , Night (no flash, long exposure) and Sports (quick exposure priority). The flash can be set to on/off or auto and is used for low-light focusing before the shutter is released. Exposure compensation reaches -/+ 2 f-stops and under ‘settings’ you get to control the ISO, resolution (a Wide, 2.4MP mode is possible,) white balance, JPEG compression level, Geo-tagging, shutter sound (or off) and the storage used for photos. There are four effects available; Normal, Negative, Black and White and Sepia. Note that there are no contrast or color settings.
The camera is quick to focus and operate and the huge viewfinder makes composition something totally different to what you might be used to. It enhances the need for good composition a good thing.
In this gallery you’ll find the best of a set of photos we took. In general we’re quite pleased with the results in daylight. As with most phone cameras, low-light work is not easy although we did find the LED flash to be quite powerful.
See more, originals, including EXIF information, in the Gallery.
Video Camera
The 3.2MP rear facing camera can also be used as a video camera at 720×480 resolution. Quality is surprisingly good with few ‘jigglies’ and good sound quality. See this article for more details and a downloadable source file. The YouTube video that resulted from a direct upload from the camera is show below.
Video Playback
We’ve done extensive testing on the Galaxy Tab video features and find it to be excelent. In general you’ll get 1080p playback support out of the box for H.264 and, probably, Divx/Xvid but there are limits. Only 2-track audio is supported. AC3 or DTS is out of the question as far as our test results are concerned which, given the HDMI-out docking port, is a real shame. DVD-quality content should have been supported and I’m sure many would have been happy with just 720p if it meant getting AC3 support.
In terms of video file format support I’ve had success with AVI and MKV containers and WMV, H.264, Xvid and Divx encoded video files. AAC and MP3 is supported (2-channel only.) In terms of bitrates, i’ve tested H/264 up to an average 13Mbps which is a very heavy load. The Tab handled it well with no visible dropped frames and no tearing. The screen quality is just amazing!
Imagine this: When sitting on my sofa and holding the Tab about half arms-length from my eyes, it’s the equivalent of a 100cm diagonal screen where my TV is on the other side of the room!
The player software is good and you can adjust screen brightness, (brightness, contrast and saturation is also available in system settings) to suit your preferences. There’s easy access to video size ratio changes, favourites and volume. Fast forwarding and skipping is very quick and there’s a great ‘Mosaic’ preview feature that allows you to preview various parts of a video using snapshots.
The stereo speakers are really good although both are on the base of the device in portrait mode which means that when holding the device in landscape, the speakers are too easy to cover. The supplied headset quality is fine although not super high-quality. Portrait usage doesn’t seem to be supported but you can rotate the device through 180 degrees to put the headset port in a better position.
Check out the video performance in this video, below. Apologies for the 480p quality on this but there’s good information in the dialogue.
Video Content
Video playback performance is all very good if you’ve got content. Ripping DVD’s isn’t a problem for many but what about just downloading pre-prepared content? Believe it or not, there are people prepared to pay for it, the author included! Unfortunately, the Galaxy Tab fails us here. In Germany there are some online flash-based content portals but there’s nothing easily available for download. We really expected the a ‘video hub’ to accompany the ‘music hub’ covered below but alas, it seems that European distribution rights are very hard to come by. You have to ask yourself why people resort to downloading other peoples content via ‘back doors.’
Audio
The story with audio is a strange one. While there’s a ton of storage (3000 songs we estimate) , who is going to be using the Galaxy Tab as an MP3 player? The answer lies in the docking station and the built-in speakers. As a round-the-house music device the Tab delivers a great performance. We love the built-in speakers quality and volume and have been happily using the device for background music.
The audio library software is good, fast although a little dis-jointed in places. Search is unavailable from the application for example and we only found it via a hint from another Tab user. Press the capacitive search button! Playlist capability was also a little tricky to find. The application supports dual-pane windowing in landscape mode in some tabs.
Don’t expect album art fetching or dynamic playlists and there are no built-in streaming sources in the application.
The media library has a component running in the background that detects valid media being added to internal or SD storage and adds to the media libraries automatically.
Audio can be adjusted through EQ presets, a custom EQ setup and effects such as ‘Wide’ and ‘Bass Enhancement.’ Some setups are available in earphone mode only.
A2DP via Bluetooth is easy to set up and we’ve had this running over our HiFi system without problems. It’s probably the only way to enjoy the music capabilities of the Tab while mobile and without wires running from backpacks!
Music Hub
7digital have teamed up with Samsung to provide music content in DRM-free MP3 (mostly 320kbps) format through a dedicated 1024×600 resolution application on the Tab and we’re pleased to see it finding some of our more obscure choices. The application will be pre-installed on devices in 30 different countries and will provide access to 11 million tracks in all.
We can’t help thinking again at this stage that there should be some form of video hub.
Streaming music
While streaming music applications aren’t part of the pre-installed suite, there’s no problem pulling some out of the Market. Last.Fm, Google Listen, TuneIn Radio, XiiaLive (only in 800×480) all work.
DNLA
Accessing DNLA and UPnP content is supposed to be relatively easy but we had problems. While the application picks up servers and clients and in theory, allows you to direct content (music, video and images) from one device to another (using the Tab simply as a director in some scenarios) we haven’t been able to get it to work. Our 150GB+ collection on our Windows Media Center seems to be too big for the Tab to index and even sending content from the Tab to the Xbox fails. We suspect the Xbox doesnt support being a client despite appearing as one. With the right devices, this could work well but if you’re buying the Tab with DNLA in mind, you’ll need to do a lot more research.
A/V Output
Although the Galaxy Tab is technically capable of providing analogue and digital video outputs, it’s not something that is possible out of the box. For analogue output (composite) the TV-Out cable is required. (€19.90) for digital output you’ll need the docking port which provides HDMI out. (RRP €49.90, Street price around €37.) Neither of these items were available at the time of this review but we’ve pre-ordered the docking station for a later review.
Audio output is via a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. To our ears it was very clean. The supplied headset (with audio playback pause button) was also of good quality build and acceptable audio quality.
Online Video
With our Tab unable to offer any video stores we headed for the YouTube application. Phew! It satisfied our eyes for a testing session that ran over 2hrs late one night. It only supports HQ streaming but 480p can still look great on the Tab. Response is quick (we tested over Wifi) and the newer YouTube application (available in the market) scales well in portrait mode to offer the running video and a list of related content.
Click to see the new YouTube player in portrait mode.
Gaming
Should we start with Angry Birds? We intend to add more gaming content to this review but at this stage we can say that the device has the technical capability but few titles that really take advantage of the capability of the device. Angry Birds works well though and we’ve again wasted hours of testing time with this app. It was so much fun that we made a video…
We’ve tested a few other applications and there’s a recurring problem that many won’t scale up past 800×480. It makes sense because all of these applications were built before the Galaxy Tab pushed the limits on Android screen resolutions.
Games Tested:
Angry Birds: Perfect
Raging Thunder 2 Lite: 800×480 windowed
Labrynth Lite: Perfect. Amazingly lifelike accelerometer reactions and haptic feedback
At this stage we need to be honest with you; We’re not gaming experts but it does appear that there are less high-quality games in the Android market compared to the iPad market. Maybe we’re not looking hard enough so we’re happy to take your suggestions for a future gaming review.
Other Applications.
We don’t have time to review a huge number of Market-sourced applications in this review but here’s a list of what’s working so far. All of these are currently installed on our Galaxy Tab and are working without problems unless mentioned below.
NewsRob
Astro
Flickr Uploader (Pixelpipe) There’s no native Flickr sharing
Speed Test
Skype
Adobe Reader
TuneIn Radio
Facebook
Gtasks
Gesture Search Very responsive
WordPress
Twicca
Google Goggles Crashed after standby
Notes
Countdown Timer
Remote RDP Lite Works!
Firefox (Slow, but working)
Google Sky Map (Wow!)
Meinestadt
Google Earth (again, Wow!)
Opera Mini
Google Listen
TweetDeck
RailNavigator (Deutsche Bahn)
Evernote
Recipes
Blinx Beat (from Samsung Store)
Last.fm
XiiaLive Lite
Summary Samsung Galaxy Tab Applications
It seems silly to be saying that applications are critical because without them, a device would be worthless but the Galaxy Tab highlights how applications that are written for a specific device can elevate it above others in its class. While we don’t care for some of the styling and colour schemes on the apps we can not deny that Samsung have done a great job in adding a huge amount of functionality and ease-of-use. The next time you compare tablets, just do a quick check on video codec support for example. Even Windows 7 on many netbooks can’t match what the Galaxy Tab can offer in terms of video playback flexibility and it’s something you won’t find on a standard ‘AOS’ Tablet. [AOS=Android Open Source.] In summary, we’re incredibly impressed with the Samsung Galaxy Tab applications suite and hope it inspires other OEDs and developers to think about the Android Tablet space. The shear length of this application review gives you a good idea of how much the Galaxy Tab can achieve. We hope you find it useful (and if so, please tell the world!)
Carrypad started in 2006 with the idea that there should be a mobile device that is “the parent of the smartphone… It is the offspring and partner of the PC. inch [Ref] In the last 4 years we’ve seen a range of good devices from mini tablets to mini PC’s. Nokia nearly hit the mark a couple of times with their Linux tablet devices and Archos have been very close in this area too but no-one has really got it together to make a device that converges all the functions in our ‘Ring of FIE’ into a high quality product. Samsung may have just hit the nail on the head with the Galaxy Tab though. We’re not calling this a complete convergent smartphone/PC hybrid but as a ‘Carrypad’ , a mobile Internet device, this is shaping up to be a leading example.
Here’s a full, in-depth review of the 16GB Samsung Galaxy Tab, (European 3G Version) supplied by TechDepot in Germany. (Part of the OfficeDepot group) Many thanks to them for their support.
Part 3 – Camera, Performance, Other features, Summary (available here)
Unboxing
In the unboxing video you’ll see a look around the device and an an initial switch-on test. We received a German model but changing languages for the UI, keyboard and built-in dictionary is no problem. We’re running the device in English with no traces of the original language to be seen at all around the device.
Packaging, included contents.
We’re very disappointed that Samsung haven’t included a soft case in the box because the Tab really needs it. The smooth, slippery casing (especially in cooler, drier environments) means you need to keep it wrapped when transporting it. We’ve dropped the Tab once already (it survived) and now use an old Samsung ultra mobile PC soft case to keep it protected. A car charger or stand would have been a nice touch but unfortunately, you’ll only get a USB wall adaptor (high current for 3.5hr charging) and a docking-port cable for USB connectivity (and charging through a USB port as a slower rate than with the wall adaptor.) A small getting-started manual is also included along with a reasonably good quality ear-bud headset (headphones+mic) with 3.5mm connector.
Our first impressions of the device (published here) were positive. We commented on the completeness of the product and the ‘value-add’ that Samsung have dotted all over the device. From the large-screen optimised applications suite (email, contacts, calendar, notes and more) to the camera software and additional 3rd party applications such as the ‘readers hub’ and office suite. More about those in Part 2. Overall, we think the quality is extremely high. As for iPad ‘wow-factor’ comparisons, let’s get that out of the way now. The user-interface is not as smooth as an iPad. The inherent issues (open multitasking) mean that there’s always a possibility that another application hogs just a little too much of the CPU and causes a delay in a screen transition or input action. The ‘magic’ of the iPad that is down to the amazing user interface physics and screen size just aren’t there in the Tab. It’s good, fast and usable top notch even – but don’t expect that iPad UI magic.
In the first 24hrs our only real disappointment was the slippery plastic we mentioned. It makes it a little difficult to hold from the side for e-book or web reading. A thin screen frame might look smart but doesn’t help here either. A couple of pieces of stick-on tape will fix this but hardcore e-book readers will want to take note of this.
One more thing micro-USB charging isn’t available so our strategically positioned chargers (car, office, lounge, bedroom) were useless with the Tab. Fortunately, the battery life is good.
We are very proud of our live open review sessions at Carrypad. They give you a chance to see the device in an unedited way with multiple reviewers and a live chat session that allows you to interact with us as we test. Parts of the session are recorded and made available, again, unedited. It’s a tough time for a new device and we usually uncover all the hidden warts.
The trend for minimalist devices continues with the Galaxy Tab with a smooth finish of good quality plastics, covered ports, 4 capacitive Android button areas (backlight triggered for 5s by use or screen touches) and just two physical buttons. Only the docking connector and headset port are exposed. A thin frame gives the screen an efficient look although limits one-handed gripping points. The weight is a superb 380gm (0.83oz) which in this size of device feels great. One-handed use is really no problem.
The plastics are slippery and this is probably due to a wipe-clean coating. Cleaning it would be easy if Samsung had provided a cloth! We’re again using an old Samsung ultra mobile PC accessory for this the 3M Scotch-Brite cleaning cloth. Highly recommended.
The two buttons are high quality and for power (or screen/button lock in applications such as the camera) and for volume up/down.
Due to a 360 degree rotation capability, the 3.5mm headset port can be ‘relocated’ if needed.
The built-in mic is located on the left hand side (portrait mode) and it’s a little too easy to cover with a thumb when using the device as a video camera. Here’s what you get if you’re not careful. Speakers (stereo) are surprisingly good and capable of filling a room with radio-like quality and volumes.
On the right hand side are two covered slots for SIM card and micro-SDHC. Both are hot-swappable.
A front-facing camera (1.3Mp, usable for standard 3G video calling on this model) and back camera (auto-focus, 3Mp) with good quality LED lamp (auto, usable for video too) and ambient light sensor complete the look around the device. [Link: Sample photos can be found in our gallery here.]
There’s no stand, no micro-USB connector, no USB OTG, no camera lens cover, no shutter button and importantly, no indicator lamps on the Galaxy Tab.
On the Inside
We’d love to pull the Tab apart to see just how Samsung squeezed everything, including a 15wh battery (3x the size of a smartphone battery) into the casing but unfortunately, we’re dealing with a sealed unit here which means there’s no ability to swap-out batteries. Effectively, you’ve got a Samsung Galaxy S smartphone with a huge screen. 1Ghz Samsung Hummingbird (one of the fastest ARM V7 implementations) CPU with 512MB ram, 16GB of flash (12Gb available for user storage) and a suite of features, some of which would make netbooks and notebooks blush.
PowerVR SGX540 GPU
A-GPS
Acccelerometer
Ambient light sensor
Digital compass
WiFi B/G/N
Bluetooth 3.0
HSPA (quad-band GSM, tri-band UMTS with a theoretical 7.2Mbps download speed and 5.7Mbps upload speed)
There’s not much missing although wouldn’t it have been nice to see an FM radio and USB On-The-Go support? We think so.
Naturally the device is fanless and silent in operation.
Screen
Samsung have some amazing in-house screen technology. We’re still blown away with the quality of the Samsung LCD panel on our old Q1 Ultra ultra mobile PC and the screen on the Tab is just as good. Yes, it’s an LED-backlit LCD screen and not the latest Super AMOLED screen and that’s likely to be for a number of reasons. Cost is the primary factor, availability may be an issue too. There’s also sunlight and battery drain to consider. A full-white screen (as seen on many we pages) taxes OLED considerably to the point where we suspect the battery drain would be more than on the LED-backlit panel you have on the Tab.
Viewing angles are exceptional.
All images taken with the same camera settings.
Fear not though, the quality is superb; And adjustable. Black-level, white level, saturation, brightness are controllable and there’s a power-save mode which, when turned off, gives the screen an awesome level of brightness. There’s little to moan about, apart from, perhaps, the lowest-level of brightness. Ask a gadget-loving, night-reading husbands how important this is because in a dark room, the lowest setting is still too bright.
The screen is glossy and that will affect outdoor and in-car use. We recommend looking for a filtering screen protector in this case.
User Interface
Readers that are familiar with Android will be at home here although Samsung have added some nice bells and whistles that add value rather than trying to ‘skin’ the UI. Touch response and transitions are very good (see above for iPad comments) and Samsung have pre-installed a few quality widgets, one of which we’re still using after a week that’s rare for us!
Up to nine home-screens can be added. A pinch brings you to the overview. We’ve settled for just two screens due to the space available for widgets and shortcuts; A 5 x 5 grid is available for icons. Samsung have a fixed applications widget on the bottom of the screen that is flanked by two configurable spaces. Contacts and Browser are the obvious choices for these positions.
Widgets are provided by the News and Weather application (includes a Google News configurable module,) the application manager (an excellent widget that turns red when it detects high RAM/CPU usage and provides access to kill apps, uninstall applications, view memory and storage space) Feeds and Updates (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace updates), Daily Briefing (like ‘News and Weather’ but includes a share price page and AP news sources,) Picture Frame, Power Control and a neat Calendar Clock. The pull-down notifier bar contains control buttons for WiFi, BT, GPS, Silent Mode and Rotation Lock, a slider for the brightness and the usual notifications area.
The applications pages are tailored and slide sideways. Pages are directly accessible via small page indicators at the top of the screen but we seem to be missing a way to sort or re-organise the icons. Newly installed applications simply add to the last screen. [Correction: There’s an Edit mode that allows a long-press and then a drag of any icon in the applications list.]
Keyboard.
Dear reader, your reviewer is a fan of physical keyboards. He likes slider form-factor devices and eyes-off typing when possible. The Samsung Galaxy Tab might have changed his opinions about that though because in portrait mode,the on-screen keyboard which pops up to cover about 40% of the screen, is one of the best thumbing experiences he’s ever had.
Samsung’s own keyboard (using XT9 technology for configurable word-prediction, correction, word learning and more) is really, really good. We’ve already written two articles with it, one of which was over 1500 words long and the speed is high, stress levels are surprisingly low, better than most physical thumb keyboards. The width is perfect, the weight of the device isn’t a problem and the haptic feedback actually feels like it’s working without any lag. (We turned off the key click sound because that does lag!) It’s obviously not as fast as a touch-typing keyboard but for an on-screen keyboard, it’s up there.
In landscape mode it’s a slightly different matter with the keyboard being too wide for thumb typing and too small for table-top touch typing but with 600 pixels wide in portrait mode, we’re rarely using it for typing any other way.
If the Samsung keyboard doesn’t work for you, try the included Swype keyboard. We haven’t found much reason to use it yet but for one-finger action, it could be better with some practice. Alternatively, there’s a bunch of keyboards available in the market. We haven’t found the need to try them though. We’ll add a video demo of the Swype keyboard in due course.
Open source Android 2.2 is not what many people think it is. It’s a relatively raw experience with no Market, no Google applications and only a basic suite of core applications. It’s what we’ve been seeing on many of the low-cost tablets coming in from China. Google-certified Android is another matter and thankfully, it’s what we’ve got here on the Tab. Google Market is available along with Gmail, Google Maps, the YouTube player and other important applications that Android smartphone users would be shocked to see missing.
Pocketables have some interesting news about the Wi-Fi-only version of the Galaxy Tab. We’re seeing a continuing slide on the prices in Europe with the UK leading on 529 pounds (592 Euros) and others, like Germany, not far behind. The pre-tax price is 451 pounds, $709 which is a healthy chunk of money. The U.S. can expect cheaper prices than that but how about this: $499 for a Wifi-Only version at Best Buy, matching exactly the 16GB Wifi-only version of the iPad.
The two devices don’t stack up as complete equals with the Galaxy Tab leaning towards more mobility and flexibility where the iPad has the app store and beautiful UI on its side but both are up there as excellent choices.
Does the lack of 3G take away some of the mobility advantage though? Should smaller mean cheaper? What do you think?
More information on U.S. pricing over at Pocketables:
It only seems fair to write this post on the Galaxy Tab so for the record, it is now 1943hrs and I’m sitting up in bed with a cup of tea and a packet of shortbread. I am using the device in portrait mode with the Samsung keyboard enabled along with XT9’s error correction and auto-substitution enabled. Word prediction is turned off. I’m using the WordPress application to write the post which means it will need some post processing (spell check, image inserts) on a ‘real’ PC with a ‘real’ browser later. I don’t intend to spend more than a couple of hours on this so am expecting something like 1000 words. I’ll put in some timing checkpoint as I go.
Firstly, a big thanks to Techdepot in Germany who reached out with a request for advertising space in return for one of the first retail packages to go out of the door in the world. Done deal!
Now, before I go into details let me say a word about value for money. Value is in the eye of the beholder and it’s very difficult to predict how much of the Galaxy Tab will appeal to each user. A user without an Mp3 player, portable video player, no gaming devices or navigation device will find a lot in the Tab. Someone with all the latest gadgets won’t but there’s a lot in the Tab that works very well indeed and the idea of total convergence is a powerful one. Over the last week I haven’t used my normal mobile phone and have been away on holiday without a laptop. Gaming, navigation, music, email, twitter, photo and video slideshows and e-reading have all been used successfully. Again, there’s a lot here to use as justification for buying a Tab but it will depend on your current status as to whether €650 euro (current low street-price in Europe) is worth it.
The Tab didn’t come with a big bundle of accessories which was an early disappointment with the Tab. No soft case. No TV-out cable. No stand. The soft case is a must-have and really should be in the box. Apart from that though you’re looking at the usual easy and standalone setup that you expect from the latest Android phones. If you’re a Google user, everything sync up nicely and you’re away in no time. The UI is smooth and there’s a good range of extra apps to explore and keep you excited.
The Tab is nicely weighted for its size, just as the eye expects it to be. At 12mm its amazingly thin and the screen covers a big percentage of the frame area. It slots into most jeans back-pockets easily for transportation around the house. In portrait mode there really isn’t any weight issue when using it to thumb text as I am now but due to the highly slippery surface, its difficult to hold in one hand. I’m employing a ‘loser’ L-shaped grip with first finger and thumb a lot of the time.
Screen sharpness, colour and brightness is very impressive and gets a boost if you turn the power save feature off. Screen viewing angles are excellent all round.
All in all you’re looking at a very happy and exciting first few hours with the device. I doubt anyone will be unhappy with it although I will say that if you’re expecting the top quality UI physics of the iPad, you might be disappointed. A quick test of some finger-drumming apps shows that, like all Android devices I’ve tried, there seems to be inherent latency issues that will always prevent an Android UI from being ‘amazing.’ Maybe that will change in the future.
[Checkpoint : 20:14]
After a week of using the Tab I feel confident in calling it a stable, quality product that performs most of its key functions to a high level comparable with many dedicated devices.
Key Functions of the Galaxy Tab
In detail then, what are the ‘key functions’ of the Galaxy Tab?
MP3 player. Good storage, sound quality (stereo speakers, headphone port, A2DP over Bluetooth) and player features. No Album art retrieval or other advanced features like auto-playlists, Good EQ features. Battery life in this mode, with screen off, is estimated to be near 1 day.
Video player. Up to 1080p and handling xvid, divx, h.264, wmv and other formats and containers such as MKV. No support for multi-channel audio such as AC3. Good player, fast search, good background handling of files added via micro-sd card. Battery life in this mode is estimated to be 5-7 hours due to screen power requirements.
Navigation. Google navigation works well although re-routing when in offline mode won’t work as no maps are held locally. Screen size excellent for safe use in car. No other solutions tested yet.
Web. With Flash being supported and a good, fast built-in browser on the 1024×600 screen 99% of anyone’s requirements will be met. The browser fails at many web applications though with Google docs being a notable example. Internet access is fast through Wifi or HSPA. Portrait mode with 600 pixels wide is good. Browser is locked as a ‘mobile’ browser and can not be changed.
E-book reading. PDFs are handled speedily (tested with Adobe Reader) and there are good choices for E-book applications and stores. The weight and size work well for reading in 1hr chunks. Glossy LCD screen limits use in certain scenarios though and the slippery surfaces means a case or rubber grips-strips will need to be employed.
Emails. Good. The built in app has been re-worked for the bigger screen and provides an efficient way to handle and respond to email from multiple sources. On-screen keyboard option are good and work well in portrait mode. Landscape mode keyboard usage is not ideal due to the size of the device. No cut-and-paste in email is annoying.
Phone. As a speakerphone it works very well and if you have a headset to hand and can keep the Tab close, you can use it as a normal phone. I don’t make or receive many calls on my mobile phone so it is working out very well for me. For SMS usage, the Tab is a killer device.
Gaming. The Android ecosystem is still lagging the Apple ‘i’ ecosystem but there are some gems out there. Angry Birds just works beautifully on the Tab for example but beware, there are many games out there that don’t scale up to the non-standard screen resolution of the Tab.
Storage. With 12GB of storage available on the 16GB version and micro-sd card support up to 32, there’s enough here for most people. USB OTG support would have been a nice addition.
Stability / Memory handling. I have experienced one lock-up while using the Tab during the last 8 days. It occurred when I was messing with sounds settings. In general though, the device seems very stable. 512MB of RAM helps to ensure that the user doesn’t need to worry about managing background apps. (Although there’s a nice little widget that shows number of apps running in g/b which turns red when high mem or CPU usage is detected.)
Battery life. With a huge 15wh battery (3x the capacity of a normal smartphone battery) you can expect a minimum of 24hrs usage out of the device in general use. In use as a navigation device with 3G enabled, you might be able to run the Tab flat in 6-7hrs. That’s an extreme example though. Right now I’m into the 36th hour of using the Tab after a full charge and I have 30% battery life left.
Camera and video. The quality is surprisingly good here although don’t expect it to provide results that challenge the best phones. Samsungss camera application is quick, easy and feature rich although there’s the issue of using a tablet as a camera to get over. No dedicated camera button.
Others.
Gallery: Smooth and easy to use.
YouTube playback: Smooth and easy to use. Even better with the new YouTube app.
GPS : Fast to lock. Retains lock indoors (tested up to 2 meters from a window)
DNLA application – Can’t handle my 150GB collection on a Vista-based server.
Samsung text selection pointers are a very nice touch. They appear when touching text in an input box and allow easier selection of text.
Wifi Reception: Above average
3G reception: Above average
Looks: Slim, light and stylish. Size retains a nice level of discreetness. Classy. Quality feel from plastics and buttons.
No scratches on screen after one week. A few scratches on the rear.
Issues so far
No micro USB charging
Slippery surface sometimes feels insecure.
Glossy screen doesn’t help outdoor use
No FM receiver / transmitter
No notification LEDs
No included case
Browser agent-id can not be changed.
Contacts app seems a bit slow to respond to scrolling actions
[Checkpoint : 2109]
As I mentioned above, there are many ways to justify buying a Galaxy Tab and none of the ‘feature’ use-cases will disappoint unless you’ve experienced the best-in-class before using the Galaxy Tab. It is without a doubt, one of the first true competitors to the iPad and with flexible connectivity, storage, camera, video support and phone features, it offers unique advantages. Lets not forget the mobility aspect too.
The Galaxy Tab still needs to mature, or rather, the Android application ecosystem needs to mature before you’ll see apps that are written with a 7″ 1024×600 screen in mind and before games, music, art and productivity apps reach today standard of iPad apps and in those respects, the iPad wins. It also wins in terms of UI physics which is an important part of the feel of the device.
For mobile workers, the Galaxy Tab doesn’t quite provide the mobile desktop that you get with a Windows-based tablets and UMPCs so if you’re looking for that sort of a mobile PC I would advise to stay clear of the Tab right now but do keep an eye on developments in 2011 because newer versions of Android could open up the market for productive applications on bigger screens.
Ill be working on a full review of the Tab over the next few weeks and there’s a lot more to test. Think Free Office will need some work for a start and there’s also some accessories to think about along with some more tests with third party applications and synthetic performance tests. Between now and then though, I think you’ve got enough enough to go on. At this point you can either add it or take it away from your wish list and if you’re keen on converged devices, this will be close to being a ‘must-buy’ for you. The next step for many though will be to see how the Mi700 / Viewpad 7 compares. At under 400 euros it provides nearly all of the specifications of the Tab. Then there’s the Archos 70 which is even cheaper.
The launch price of 799 was quite the shocker when we heard about it but in the time between launch and availability the price has already dropped by 200 euros (today price at Amazon.co.uk.) making it much more accessible and, when compared to the iPad and many high-end mobile computing devices, about right if you ask me.
[Checkpoint 2132 – finished editing on the Tab – 1550 words]
[Checkpoint 1003 – started post processing on PC. Added gallery, links and more text. Spelling corrections – 35 minutes]
I messed up! Many Tab owners will end up doing the same too because of the position of the built-in mic. When taking videos in a classic ‘mirrored looser’ hand shape you need to be careful. Here’s the effect in my first video uploaded direct from the Galaxy Tab.
Note the muffled video then watch this one. Much better! The quality is actually quite good. It’s H.264 at 720×480 with a 64kbps AAC soundtrack for a total 4.2mbps bitrate. That’s why you don’t see any ripping or wobbly effects. The original file is even better. Bear in mind this one was taken in difficult conditions. I could make a much better video in sunlight! The LED lamp helps though. File analysis from KMPlayer included below.
The question remains though – why not 720p? Continuous auto-focus would have been nice too.
File details. (Download original here) Can someone explain why this is marked as NTSC? I thought that was for analogue format, not digital.
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : 3GPP Media Release 4
Codec ID : 3gp4
File size : 40.6 MiB
Duration : 1mn 20s
Overall bit rate : 4 239 Kbps
Video #2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Baseline@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Muxing mode : Container profile=Unknown@12.3
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1mn 20s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 4 173 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.500
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 29.804 fps
Minimum frame rate : 6.211 fps
Maximum frame rate : 1 000.000 fps
Standard : NTSC
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.405
Stream size : 40.0 MiB (98%)
Audio #1
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 1mn 20s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 62.4 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 67.4 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel positions : C
Sampling rate : 16.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 609 KiB (1%)
There’s only omen way to test the on-screen-keyboard on the Galaxy Tab and that’s to use it!
Im currently lying down with the Galaxy Tab in portrait mode, a small amount of haptic applied to the keyboard and I’ve enabled error correction and word prediction. It’s working amazingly well.
The weight is good in portrait Moses and i guess im running at about 60%of my normal typing speed. Numeric slow the process down though.
I’ve tried Swype but can’t really get over the learning curve needed there. To be honest, with this keyboard working so well why would i need another?
Oh and to time the post im recording this on video. It will be the most boring video I’ve ever published!
Update: It took 6 minutes to write the text and another 5 minutes to correct and post.
Update: Auto-correction errors left in the post.
Update: Video of the post being made on the Galaxy Tab. (Be warned, this is boring!)
The Samsung Galaxy Tab has been very disruptive over the weekend. I had never planned to have it and it’s completely changed the plans. Videos have been going out at a rate of knots and it’s left me no time to get on with the challenge. I’ve started now though and here I am laying on my back on the sofa with the Galaxy Tab in portrait mode using the Samsung on-screen keyboard with auto correction, word prediction and a low level of haptic feedback. The Tab is light enough to be very comfortable and the thumbboard in this mode is just perfect. I guess im already running at 60 percent of my normal typing speed and i bet there’ll be less spelling errors at the end of it than is normal!
I’m using the WordPress application to input the text and although there’s no auto save feature, simple formatting and linking is possible. You can also upload an image into the post via the app. It’s not feature rich but where you’re only writing, it doesn’t matter too much.
One other nice little feature here is that im working in a very low light room. Try doing that with a normal keyboard!
The Galaxy Tab has surprised me this weekend. I thought i would be hitting some major issues with applications that don’t scale to the full screen size but in general, everything is working out well. Some games and graphical apps only scale to 800×480 and center themselves in the middle but I’ve only found four apps out of about 30 that I’ve tried
I have to be little carefull about my excitement levels for the Tab and keep those in check because this is, for me, uber gadget of the year. Im sitting here with a 3Mp digital cam, web browser, music player, great video player, navigation device and thousand and thousands of apps. Its weighs just 380gm and lasts for over 24hrs without a charge. Wouldn’t you get exited about that too?
Later in the week ill be looking for a Bluetooth keyboard that will work with the Tab. Apparently the Apple BT keyboard works ok so i might give that a shot. I might also look for the Samsung keyboard too. It looks great and provides us ports. I guess there’s Usb Otg support built in here.
So that’s it for now. This has been a very easy post write. Way easier than i imagined and let me just say that word prediction and correction on the Samsung keyboard are absolutely top notch. I’ve been correcting a few mistakes as i go bit as i reach the end of this article im getting very confident that what im typing is going into the post Write intended. Great job Samsung!
P.S. that’s about 450 words there in about 45 minutes including formatting, corrections and posting.
Converged devices mean more functionality and, unfortunately for me, the need for much longer reviews! I’ve been working hard on the Galaxy Tab over the last few weeks and over at Carrypad I have just posted Part 2 of the full review where I cover things that some of you ‘mo-pros’ out there will be interested in. Browser details, office and PIM applications and the rest of the included Samsung software suite. It’s fair to say that Samsung have added a lot of good stuff to the user experience in terms of usability and functionality and it shows the way forward for Android tablets. Unfortunately, not many developers are taking 1024×600 into consideration so much of the software out there still works with small-screen layouts.
