The Tablet War welcomes the Samsung Galaxy Tab

I don't own an Android phone or device. Not yet, anyways. For some reason I feel it would be like using an old-generation Symbian OS device. I used Nokia phones for many years before smart phones came into existence. Symbian phones had applications that hardly ever worked the way they were supposed to. Many were developed by third parties and the whole experience was very choppy and slow. That's a problem with many "open-source" applications. When stringent approval guidelines are not enforced you invariably end up with a bad user experience. I'm not saying that the Android experience would be bad; I just haven't used an Android device regularly so I wouldn't know. But it feels like something would be missing or it's not appealing enough. Maybe using iDevices for a while now is the reason. They are reliable and do what they're supposed to. No false claims. However, having used the new Samsung Galaxy Tab (SGT), I have begun to question my blind beliefs about the Android OS.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab

I visited one of the local stores that sells the SGT today and was pleasantly surprised. First of all the SGT felt compact and of the right weight. Something about holding it just felt right. It has a good size screen (7-inch WS-VGA) with a very decent resolution for that size (1024x600). As a result the pixel density is higher which makes the screen an eye-catcher. The SGT is capable of making USB 2.0, Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-fi 802.11 b/g/n connections. And it runs Android 2.2 Froyo which feels very nice.

Ok here are some more good things about it. It switches apps very nicely. The tight screen resolution looks great. I like the size because it can fit into a nice-sized pocket. A jacket's inner pocket maybe, but then again, I live in sunny California and even though winter's around the corner I hardly have to wear a jacket. It has two cameras; a front facing 1.3 megapixel which is less than decent and a 3 megapixel rear camera which is obviously not as good as the iPhone 4's 5 megapixel counterpart. But it still has two cameras which means video calling... check! And the Android interface is well arranged. I had no problems finding my way around. Watching the preloaded videos and running through photos was good too.

Now here's the bad (and probably the reasons why I won't get one). Firstly, opening flash-heavy websites (www.nfl.com) is a big turn-off. Although apps switch fast the browser froze on me at least thrice while trying to play a few flash videos. I could only get one flash video started and it didn't look smooth at all. No wonder Apple doesn't want this on it's devices. Secondly, the memory on this thing is 2GB internal plus 16GB on the provided microSD card which is upgradeable to 32GB only. So that means even if you get your hands on a 64GB or 128GB card (if it's cheap enough) you won't be able to use it in your SGT. That's restrictive and I don't like it. If this thing was made to challenge the iPad, which doesn't even have a memory card slot, you would think they wouldn't restrict the capacity. The iPad wins on this one for me because you can get a 64GB iPad but the max you can get on the SGT is 34GB. Yes, you can swap memory cards but that makes one extra thing to carry around.

Landscape view

Thirdly, the battery life on the Tab is appalling. There have been reports that on a full charge it barely makes it to 4 hours. I must remind you that the iPad lasts 10! Fourthly, when I first got my hands on one after the person in front of me was done playing with it the first thing I noticed was it was warm. In fact a little warmer than warm. Something that DOES NOT happen with the iPad. I have never felt the iPad heat up unless probably it's left in the sun or the frying pan, but why would you do that? Lastly, the accelerometer felt a little fidgety. A little tilt and it would change the screen's orientation. And last but not least, the price. Data plans are all limited and a little pricey for me. I mean, charge me $40 a month but give me unlimited data usage. After all it's a tablet for heaven's sake! Buying the SGT without a data plan will run you $600 to $650 for only 18GB of storage.

The "cons" of the SGT may seem like they outweigh the "pros" but my overall impressions were not overly lopsided. I liked certain features of the SGT. In my mind the Android vs. iOS battle compares to Windows vs. Macintosh with Android being available on many devices like the Windows operating systems. It is, therefore, best to wait for more devices to be launched. iOS and Macintosh on the other hand is restricted to devices made by Apple and hence their products are more reliable. Apple always stands out as having better quality control but then again you pay more for it.

For now though, I am not running out to get a SGT. I'm sure Android fanboys have drooled over the tab and I don't blame them. Shortcomings aside it's a nice product. I, on the other hand, am going to wait for a few more manufacturer's to make Android tablets. The competition between Android device-makers is also fierce and it only bodes well for the consumer. Maybe if the non-contract price were less (around $300) that would be very tempting for a lot of people. I wouldn't mind getting one in that case but I know that's not going to happen. I don't like long-term contracts and that's why I own a "wi-fi only" iPad. One last thing, I think flash needs a big time overhaul and should not be used on current tablets the way it is right now. It's bad. HTML5 is the future.