Our Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Tab ( $ 399 with a two - year contract on T - Mobile as of November 11 , 2010 ) is the first Android tablet that has what it have to challenge Apple ’s prevalent iPad . useable from five domestic wireless carriers – AT&T , Sprint , T - Mobile , U.S. Cellular , and Verizon – the Galaxy Tab ’s hardware is similar across supplier . The bounteous difference lie in service pricing , whether the letter carrier takes advantage of the Tab ’s mobile - hotspot capability , and whether the machine has a SIM - card slot ( CDMA - found Sprint and Verizon units lack this characteristic ) . Overall , you could wait the Tab models to be similar in usance , with minor differences in which apps are instal from the get - go .
As for pricing , T - Mobile has set its rates in a path that makes its Galaxy Tab fend out from the crew in several noteworthy way . For one thing , you’re able to use the mobile - hotspot feature ( also known as Wi - Fi communion ) at no additional charge under both monthly and prepaid mobile broadband plans ; in contrast , Sprint charges $ 30 extra per calendar month for the lineament . Also , the twist support HSPA 7.2 and can gain from T - Mobile ’s HSPA+ connection in the marketplace that have the armed service .
Judging from my extended use of goods and services of the Tab , it ’s clear that Samsung has succeed in delivering the smoothest implementation of Android on a tablet to escort – and it has done so on a swimmingly design small-arm of computer hardware that ’s a far watchword from the generic slabs that have cropped up from Asia . What ’s also clear is that , while the Galaxy Tab is a fine 1.0 product , the tablet has room to grow .
Hardware: The Specs
Inside , the Galaxy Tab has Samsung ’s 1GHz Hummingbird software central processor , two SIM slots , a 3 G radio for information connection , and Wi - Fi and DLNA support . The Tab runs Android 2.2 , supports Adobe Flash 10.1 and Microsoft ’s PlayReady DRM , and feature a tab - optimize version of TouchWiz 3.0 , the interface establish on Samsung ’s Galaxy S smartphones . ( More on the interface subsequently . )
With gentle curves and tranquil finishes , the Galaxy Tab exudate a basic elegance . It takes excogitation cue from the Galaxy S sound , and it ’s certainly more stylish and less clunky than the said off - brand Android tablet we ’ve see protrude up across the Web . The back board of the T - Mobile Galaxy Tab is glistening black plastic ; it ’s there where you ’ll retrieve the only outward T - Mobile stigmatisation on the gimmick . The side are matte black , while the front panel is showy disastrous , with a row of four pinch - sensitive push along the bottom of the screen , just as on the Galaxy S smartphones .
The first affair that startle out about the Galaxy Tab is its manageable sizing . The Tab measures 7.5 by 4.7 column inch and stands at a half - column inch thick . That astuteness is the same as Apple ’s iPad ; admittedly , though , in this comparing the latter benefit from rounding conventions , as the iPad measure 13.4 mm to the Tab ’s 13 mm .
The dimensions and weight provide you to hold up the Tab and type on it with your thumbs at the same prison term , using two hands or even one mitt . user with small hands will have to stretch to type one - handed ; for bigger hands , the organization is no problem . I found the keyboard very useable and responsive – a far cry better than many Android on - screen keyboards I ’ve try , and definitely more manageable for holding in two hand and efficiently thumb - typing .
Two things declare back my swiftness and accuracy , though . First , the keyboard lacks farm animal Android 2.x‘s pop - up letters , as incur on iOS ; their absence hindered accuracy . Second , I find that the silver screen ’s sensitiveness made it prosperous to touch off keyboard button circumstantially ( something that also proved to be a big military issue with the capacitive touching menu button when I held the gimmick in landscape painting orientation ) .
Not surprisingly , the front nerve is all silver screen . With a 7 - inch display and a weight of 0.8 Cypriot pound , the Galaxy Tab is pocket-sized enough to fit into some cockeyed spaces ( such as a roomy pouch ) , light enough to restrain with one hand , and large enough to provide fulfil see . I found the Tab particularly comfy to nurse in one hand , unlike the Apple iPad , which at 1.5 pounds is just too heavy to get the picture with a individual hand for any length of time . That say , as time wore on and I read a tome on the Amazon Kindle app , I realise that in an era of half - dog pound einsteinium - readers , I could n’t see myself hold the Tab for lengthy reading sessions of 30 minutes or more .
The wide , Super VGA , 1024 - by-600 - pixel TFT show appeared bright , with dada - out , borderline oversaturated gloss at the nonpayment setting . It had a pleasing angle of horizon ; I could angle and partake in the CRT screen without altering the display .
In use , however , I found that it did n’t handle the glare of sun peculiarly well . ( It also clearly exhibit fingerprint – lots of fingerprints . ) The screen was slightly more viewable in day than the higher - resolution iPad , but it ’s for use in a pinch only . To say it ’s better than the iPad outdoors is a stretch – I could make out the metre , but not how to align the prison term . In the end , I ’d recommend neither ware if your number will take you outdoors , or into way that always have serious blaze .
In contrast , the Galaxy Tab looked gorgeous in ambient and darkened lighting . Yes , I observe some pixelation in Android game . And I noticed the dots that make up the letters – but I see that on the iPad , too , and the essence is bad there because of the iPad ’s humbled pixel tightness . My observations descend as someone whose eyes have been indulge by the resolution on the iPhone 4 .
More Specs
The Galaxy Tab has two cameras – a rear - face 3.2 - megapixel television camera and a front - facing 1.3 - megapixel tv camera – and a camcorder for video recording confab . The back - facing television camera provides adequate quality , but none of the photograph I took with it especially impress me , either indoors with the flash or out of doors in natural light . I find the machine amazingly easy to apply as a photographic camera , though : The big finder ( otherwise be intimate as the screen ) was a kick , but no way are you go to be subtle when taking a photo with the Galaxy Tab .
It ’s worth note that the Tab has a number of photographic camera controls in its software , but the differences in the modes I tried were subtle at well . I also thought that image had a slightly blue cast .
Physically , the machine has very little else on it aside from volume - up and -down controls and a power button . It has 2 GB of store , and one MicroSD slot for expanding up to 32 GB . To utilise the camera , you must have a carte du jour in place .
The Tab has a proprietary charging interface , a negative in that it requires you to have Samsung ’s battery charger on hand . The gimmick chargesveryslowly over its include AC power arranger ; if you punch the Tab into a computing machine ’s USB porthole , it will power up at an even pokier rate on the trickle charge . One thing I did like : When powered off and charging , the equipment render the percentage of the battery bursting charge .
The 4000 - mAh battery provides 7 hours of video playback , concord to Samsung . In my test I found that the battery could last me through a weekend of perfunctory use – which I ’ll limit as television observation and connection surfing over Wi - Fi and 3 constant of gravitation , bring a few snaps , and read a playscript – for a few hour a day , and still have juice leave alone over .
All About the Software
you could expect to see software become the differentiator on tablets – and the Galaxy Tab is a practiced case . The various carrier are offering different software build on this machine .
All Galaxy Tab poser have Samsung ’s TouchWiz 3.0 Android sheathing . I like how TouchWiz adds pop to Android ’s otherwise - indistinct icons , make the screen experience more like Apple ’s iOS than stock Android .
From there , the customizations will vary among the carriers . The T - Mobile adaptation has five home screens preconfigured ( you may add or take off from there in the setting ) . It has a spate of preinstalled apps , too , admit Amazon Kindle for Android , Slacker Radio , a task managing director , and a demo interpretation of Gameloft ’s Asphalt 5 HD ( available only via the T - Mobile Galaxy Tab ) .
Like the Galaxy S phones , the Tab has Swype for potentially faster typing ; Samsung ’s Social Hub for aggregating your substance across vitamin E - postal service , schoolbook , and social networks ; Facebook ; Qik Video Chat ( which you’re able to utilise over T - Mobile ’s HSPA military service ) ; Think Office ( for Word , Excel , PowerPoint , or PDF file cabinet ) ; and Samsung Media Hub for access television show and picture show for download and renting .
Samsung has optimise some marrow Android apps , redesign the memo functions , e - mail , file - management organization , calendar , contacts , medicine player , TV player , and message apps ( yes , schoolbook messaging works via the data plan ; T - Mobile includes unlimited SMS / MMS with its monthly mobile broadband program ) to take full reward of the spare covert real estate .
E - mail , for example , presents a dual - pane view in landscape mode that show up both the undefendable subject matter and your various inboxes . Samsung has slightly tweaked the Android Desktop , too : A slither tray of ikon ( web web browser , apps , einsteinium - mail service , and the similar ) go along the bottom of the show , while widgets occupy the midway expanse of the screen and an enhanced status measure running along the top . Above that is the Android - standard notifications streak , which you may drag down with your fingerbreadth as on any Android twist . The power to pinch to view all of your multiple household screens – a great cutoff feature article not available on the phone serial – is usable here , too .
The Tab start the Google - certified logotype , and has the Android Market on board . Samsung says the 80,000 - plus apps in the Android Market will ferment on the gimmick , although only a small number of those are actually optimized for the Tab ’s roommate screen size and resolution . Of the apps I downloaded that were n’t optimized for a large screen , all but one ( a game ) appeared centered in the screenland at 800 - by-400 - pixel firmness of purpose .
At launching , however , Media Hub is no iTunes . Not by a foresighted shot – the survival of the fittest is thin , and the navigation and demonstration finger crude . In theory , with a bang-up selection of TV and movie options , undecomposed design , and integrating with other Samsung connected machine , such as the company ’s HDTV or Blu - re players , I can see Media Hub becoming an asset to Samsung ’s Galaxy products . Today , it ’s just another app picture that will probably go uninfluenced .
My frustrations with the Galaxy Tab dwell partly with what it lacks – a USB port , a non - proprietary connector , a better keyboard – and part with Google ’s Android operating system itself , an OS that is not intended for use on tablets just yet . candidly , Android does well than I expected on a 7 - in tablet , but the OS ’s nuances and quirks , such as its heavy trust on the back button to get out of card , feel more nettlesome on a larger projection screen .
After across-the-board use , I believe that the Samsung Galaxy Tab lives up to its promise as the most credible Android pad of paper to appointment . Though it is n’t complete , it is a strong first - gen gimmick . It is n’t for everyone : The gamey monetary value without a monthly contract ( $ 600 ) underscores that . Nevertheless , if you ’re planning to get a nomadic broadband data point twist , the Galaxy Tab ’s potential as a roving hotspot make it more attractive than some of its competitors .
