Review of the Samsung Galaxy Tablet

My friend Scott used my tablet and wrote this review:

My first look at the Android
tablet, I was rather amazed. I found the tablet to carry many features
that the iPad seemed to lack. Upfront, I was rather impressed with the
camera on it. It also carried a built in micro SD card reader. The size
of the screen seemed a bit more of a reasonable size for a mobile device
- It wasn't trying to sub in a laptop where a phone needed to be.





The market place seemed to have been
populated with a little of everything, which alone has it's plus's and
negs. The interface itself seems a bit more customizable. I have noticed
that is does drain battery a lot faster, even when not in use, than my
iPad does. The interface seems to be a bit more hesitant as far as flow
goes - scrolling down seems a bit clunky and opening apps - reminds me
of microsoft - building a product that does everything and struggles to
do anything incredibly well..... inch high, mile wide philosophy while.
iPad: mile high, inch wide (but growing fast).





I can't criticize the android tablet too
loudly - it does offer more flexibility than the iPad when it comes to
app submissions and 3rd party support - but for $600 I'd expect it to
wash my car.... or at least build an app to wash my $600 car. Ahh the
price of new technology - while I don't think it's a "Lisa" computer
kind of investment, it sure is still new on the market.





I'm curious though on Viewsonic's $150
Android tablet - if it can run half the programs the Samsung Galaxy can,
I'd be more apt to jump in. It took me 4-5 months of messing with the
iPad to fall in love with the price tag - The selling point was when my
computer illiterate almost blind father was able to read the newspaper
on it - size mattered more than I though.





The Samsung Galaxy seems to have an
unbalanced feel of being top heavy - no biggie, but it took me a while
to figure out why it just felt different to hold. With the built in
camera/video recorder - I can see it replacing classroom digital still
cameras/flip cameras. There I start to see it paying for itself faster.
The lack of an iTunes app breaks my heart since most of my music is AAC
licensed.... Silent mode isn't silent unless you go into the option
menus and turn all volumes to silent... I found that out when I thought I
could use the tablet in a meeting.





Navigation changes from menu to menu....
if you want to go back... use the back button on the bottom.... so non
standardized navigation can be a bit of a stinker. Drivers are designed
for windows.... not exactly my cup of tea having it locked down -
Bluetooth allows some flexibility though and USB allows you to
universally use your android as a storage device. To wake it up out of
sleep, none of the buttons on the front of volume buttons work, only the
power button, then I hold it up and 2 seconds later it's back
asleep.... again changeable in the menu, but to make this thing operate
without annoying me.... I might be spending a bit of time customizing it
first.





When I try to open apps, touching the
app seems to be less forgiving, requiring me to touch it three or four
times sometimes before getting it right. The doc connector is
surprisingly similar to the iPads.... but it's not! Give me a fricken
standardized USB or something. If I lose this cable I can't steal one
off my samsung ipod whatever generation or my samsung iphone because
Nooooooo.... they had to design a completely new port. Remember the mini
USB? Motorola had it right.... for a little while at least.





Big plus... It plays flash websites....
not always the best, but I can be more forgiving there. The lack of VGA
out takes me half a step backwards on value again. Apps in the market
place seem over priced for what they're worth, but many from the apple
apps store are there too... a plus. Typing on the keyboard seems a bit
off and they conveniently placed a delete key where the enter key was
suppose to be.... nice one!





The Rock out app is a nice touch for any
digital band where a live person is creating a loop piece for the rest
of the group. Some apps still crash at about the same rate as the iPad
and Skype seems to want to lock up at times.





While the Android Tablet it cool, it's not something I'd turn my Grandma loose on...... yet.





Would I want it.... Yes, at $600...
No.... Competitor to the iPad... Yes.... Does it have potential...
Yes.... For education.... Not economical quite yet, but I look forward
to revisions or variations of the android tablet. I still give my thumbs
up to Google and Samsung on their efforts.

Your experience with this was very similar to mine. I totally agree with you about its benefits, but I do look forward to seeing improvements as the Android OS becomes more operable and user-friendly.

One thing I really loved (and I pointed this out in my review as well) was the attention to detail in the browser's design. There were also a lot of handy social apps that made staying connected very simple.