My latest purchase – the big T!!! The Samsung Galaxy Tab!
The tablet market is overflowing with new entrants coming in every week. The second major device to enter the Tablet market was the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Running on Android 2.2 Froyo, the Tab is certainly an impressive device. Though its been on the market for a while now and hundreds of reviews have been already been done, since its my latest gadget, it deserves to be the first I review. Quick review, will try to keep it short.
I have had the Tab for around a week now and I must say that I am impressed. It features a 7 inch TFT screen (though I wish it had an AMOLED screen), a 1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A Hummingbird processor, 3.2 MP rear-facing camera and a 1.3 MP front facing camera for video calls, a 512 MB RAM, inbuilt wifi and 3G and supports phone functionality. The touch screen is very responsive and Samsung’s Touchwiz UI looks great. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive about the getting a tablet with a 7 inch screen, but having used it, I’d say it’s a good size, portable and quite light (though I’m still partial to 10 inch screens). The phone functionality though a bonus over the Ipad, is pretty much useless. I sure most people don’t use the device to make calls.
The Android OS is in one word, awesome! The fact that the iOS doesn’t support flash plus the limited video formats, among other things was a deal breaker for me (to each his own). I needed a portable device, so it was either a netbook or a tablet. So far, I’m quite satisfied with my choice. Having installed Quick Office Connect, I can create, edit and view documents and sync with Google Docs. As far as videos go, it supports most video formats and the sound quality is excellent. The battery life is great and though I haven’t timed it yet, its doing well despite some heavy duty usage. Gaming on a screen this size is awesome! Loving it! Especially fruit ninja!
A small thing I was a little unhappy about was that on the second day it began to hang as soon as I tried to play a movie pre-installed on the memory card, which had been playing fine previously. I removed the movie from the memory card, put in another one in the same format, almost the same size and it plays fine! The earlier movie plays absolutely fine on my PC. Go figure!
Another thing, I wish it had, a is USB port or two. One has to connect it to a PC or laptop every time you want to add something. But that said, it’s a great device. Plus, now that Samsung’s dropped the price in India, it’ll cost you almost the same as the 16 GB Ipad 2 in the US, with the same and more features.
I’ll be receiving my Notion Ink Adam in a week or two. Will be interesting to compare the two devices, especially because the Adam which ships with a customized Froyo-Gingerbread hybrid version will soon be ported to Honeycomb.
Will be back with more……..
