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!

Product chooser Apple iPad vs Galaxy Tab

For average viewer ratings and a chance to put your own scores in, you can use this version of the tool.

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.
• Connectivity – Hard, radio connectivity. USB, BT, ports, wifi, 3g, removable storage.
• Screen quality – DPI, brightness, reflectivity, colour considered here.
• Portability – How light/small is this to carry, hand-hold. pocket.
• Storage – Based on a combination of speed and size
• Internet Experience – From WAP to desktop quality. Speed, quality, usability considered. (Connectivity is a separate consideration)
• Touch User Interface – Quality, speed, flexibility
• Processing power – Including co-processors. Compared to best of breed (at time of rating.)
• Text Input – Quality relative to size. Covers keyboard quality, size, engineering, features, flexibility, options
• Social Networking – Considers the tendency for the device to be getting the best/widest/newest selection of social networking apps
• Productivity – Includes PIM, sync, remote working and standard office apps.
• Ruggedness – Suitability for mobile work
• Application availability – How easy is it to find quality apps? Rates store, freeware, ease of finding and installing
• A/V/P experience – Combination of video playback, video connectivity, audio components, cam, webcam. A/V/P=audio, video, photo
• Gaming and entertainment – Considers 3D graphics support, CPU speed, games availability, controls, content availability, flexibility.
• Phone and Video Comms – Considers GSM voice, SMS, to multi-video video conferencing
• Location services – GPS hardware, maps, social and navigation software, apps, always on.