Samsung has now launched 5 phones under the “Galaxy S inch brand. They are all quite similar with 1GHz Samsung hummingbird CPUs, 512MB of RAM and running Android 2.1. The only outlier being the “Epic inch which has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and 4G service from Sprint, while the others all lack a physical keyboard and 4G radios.
We’ve got the Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate (the Verizon version) on hand for review and dare I say, it might be the best Android handset that Verizon is currently offering.
Hardware
As usual, we’ll look at the device’s important specs and show you a quick hardware tour. For more detailed specs and info, check out our Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate tracking page.
Specs:
Android 2.1 OS
4 inch 800×480 AMOLED capacitive screen
1GHz Samsung “Hummingbird inch CPU (ARM Cortex A8)
512MB of RAM
5.0MP auto-focus camera with single-LED flash
18GB of memory (2GB built-in, 16GB card pre-installed)
Although the technology behind our live review on Friday evening wasn’t too stable, I’m happy to report that the N350 is. Apologies to all those that experienced the dropouts. With a free video streaming service I guess there’s not much we can complain about but we’ll do our best to improve it next time.
We’re testing the Samsung N350 because it’s one of, if not the lightest netbook on the market. Not only that but it’s a dual-core Atom netbook using the N550 processor at 1.5Ghz. For those who already have a netbook and are looking to upgrade without having to increase the weight, the N350 has to be at the top of the list. Not only is is running the N550 CPU but there’s easy access to the DDR3 RAM for an upgrade and a standard 2.5 inch SATA drive that can be replaced with an SSD if you want to improve ruggedness. (Disk upgrade will void the warranty though.) Unfortunately there’s no 3G in this version but there’s a covered SIM card slot and space on the motherboard so clearly there are plans to release a 3G-capable model. The only thing you have to think carefully about is the battery life. More about that below.
The matt screen and good build quality I’m typing stress-free and almost silently on my train journey to Duesseldorf this morning add to the quality package and it looks like Samsung have once again done a great job. You’ll pay 20-50 Euro more for the N350 than for other, similar netbooks but for mobile use, it’s worth it.
When Intel introduced the Dual-Core Atom this year they demonstrated high quality video playback. Sure, the performance is better but don’t get too excited about very high-end video. For one, you’ve only got a 1024×600 screen with VGA out. Secondly, that all-important benchmark of 720p YouTube is hit-and-miss. In our tests we didn’t see smooth playback at all. Offline videos do work well though with 720p at high bitrates possible. We saw a 4mbps DivX playing with just 25% CPU load, an H.264 at 2mbps playing at 40% load and a 7.5Mbps WMV at 40% load. All this is happening through the CPU and not through dedicated video hardware.
In our CrystalMark test we saw an impressive 36000 which the highest we’ve ever tested on a stock netbook. The CPU score and memory speed was impressive. An SSD could push that score up a lot higher though as we’re only seeing average disk performance. In practice the disk seems quite good though with a boot taking just 40 seconds. We got from cold boot to Wifi-On in just 55 seconds. Return from standby is quick too with Wii available in 10s. There’s a ‘quick boot’ option which we worked our way through but despite the 10 minute set-up, it did’t bring any huge improvements in cold boot. Maybe we need to look further into that because it sounds like a good idea, at least.
Easy access to RAM upgrade.
Battery life could be an issue on the N350. With 80% of the battery left we’re seeing an impressive 5hrs left but that’s the good side of the story. The range of battery drain on the N350 ranges from an impressive 3W, (again, the best we’ve ever seen on a netbook) up to well over 10W. 12W is probably the limit but with Wifi connected, screen level to 50% (brighter than most people will require) and a few Flash-enabled browser tabs open while you do some web work, you’ll see an average 10W drain. It’s no worse than any other netbook but it will drain the battery in about 3.5hrs. Fortunately the device idles down well. We’re typing away happily at 25% screen brightness, Wifi and BT off in power saving mode and 5hrs seems possible. For those just wanting to do some word processing, it’s a good result from a 33Wh battery.
So what is the Dual-core CPU bringing? We mentioned the better video performance above but one of the main things we’ve noticed is the smothness of the Win 7 experience. We’ve experienced a certain amount of lag in previous Windows 7 netbooks that we’ve tested but this build seems to match the requirements of Windows 7 very well. OK, were only running Windows 7 Starter edition here but that doesn’t deter from the fact that the N350 is a product that works smoothly. The other advantage we’ve noticed is the speed and smoothness of browsing. We’re using Firefox 3.6 with Flash enabled and there’s a definite improvement over previous generation and single core Pinetrail netbooks. Although we haven’t tested it, we suspect a 2GB RAM upgrade and an SSD would turn this into quite the performer for both speed and multitasking although don’t expect to render those videos in much less time than on a normal netbook. As a reference point, we’re seeing about 20% improvement in the SunSpider result under Chrome. 1300ms isn’t too bad and that 20% figure is what you should expect as a general improvement over-all. Dual-core doesn’t directly translate to 2x performance!
The N350 is delivering a smooth, quality and highly mobile netbook experience and one we’re very happy with. The battery life is definitely something to think about and most mobile workers are going to want to invest in at least a second three-cell battery. Those wanting a high-end Flash video experience will want to evaluate requirements tightly too. At 1060gm and with RAM and SSD upgrade possibilities, the N350 is one to take a closer look at if you’re wanting a highly mobile full computing experience.
We’re using the N350 at the MeeGo Conference in Dublin this week so check back for more long-term thoughts soon. This review written on-the-go using the N350, the Nokia N82 for photography and a Samsung Galaxy Tab as a 3G access point.
Heads up! If you’re interested in a mobile netbook with a touch more oomph! than your average Atom N450 based device you’ll want to tune in here over the next few days because the Samsung N350 dual-core Atom netbook is on its way.
The N350 is one I’ve had my eye on as a possible upgrade to my trusty Gigabyte Touchnote so it will be coming with me to Dublin and the Meego conference next week where it will get a good workout. Before that though, we need to do a live review with it and JKK and I are planning to get busy with it at 2100 CET (Berlin) on Friday. As always with the Friday sessions, bring a bottle of your favorite tipple!
I’ll update here or on twitter @chippy with any changes to the plan.
Update: Session is over. I’ll be writing up the results of the testing for Sunday14th – Summary: It’s a high quality netbook but we only got 3.5hrs (estimated based on 2hrs of tests) of battery life. A six-cell battery is available for a rather shocking 130 Euros. The total weight with the 6-cell would be about 1200gm.
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’m quite the fan of the Samsung N350. 1KG and 4 or 5 hours of dual-core productivity. That’s impressive, especially when you can double that with just 200gm or so of extended battery. What I’m waiting for though is a 3G version because as you’ll see in the video below, RAM and SSD upgrade will be easy but the PCI-Express Mini slot is just a placeholder. No connector or antenna. Looks like I’ll be waiting for a 3G version although with the Galaxy Tab giving me an estimated 8-10 hours as a 3G hotspot, maybe I’m covered! I’ll see if I can get hold of an N350 for deep testing soon.
The video below is via Ndevil TV who have a number of other reports (text in German but some videos also in English.)
This month has to be one of my favorite since I started blogging about mobile computing but the icing on the cake has to be the return of the 1KG netbook. I’ve had hands-on and I really like this Samsung N350. So much so that if it turns up in a 3G version, it will probably replace my ‘old’ Gigabyte Touchnote 3G. That extra core will smooth out the transition from XP to Vista and maybe, just maybe, allow me to switch to 720p video editing a badly need upgrade from my current 480p YouTube format.
At 399 Euros, it’s 50 Euros more than we were expecting and it’s also only coming with 1GB and Windows Starter so I hope Samsung have plans for other versions soon. Note that it doesn’t have the 1024×768 Screen that Samsung told us about at IFA. I’d pay up to 500 Euro for a Home Premium 3G version of this. I’ll drop my 2GB RAM and Runcore SSD in from my Touchnote and it should fly!
Anyway, enough about me and my wishes, it’s over to Balazs of Ndevil.tv now as he’s kindly done an unboxing of the German model, in English.
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]
Samsung has now launched 5 phones under the “Galaxy S inch brand. They are all quite similar with 1GHz Samsung hummingbird CPUs, 512MB of RAM and running Android 2.1. The only outlier being the “Epic inch which has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and 4G service from Sprint, while the others all lack a physical keyboard and 4G radios.
