Samsung Galaxy Tab Review

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The Samsung Galaxy Tab was considered the Apple iPad’s first real competitor in the multi-touch tablet computer market. If you buy it with a contract, it’s $400, or $600 if you buy it without a contract. This Android tablet is a good-looking alternative to the iPad, handling many laptop functions well, and featuring a crisp, vivid color display. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is used mostly for email, web browsing, music and video playback, and social networking, and of course it runs third party apps as well. Data plans are available from T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. Contracts are for data pricing: you can’t use the Galaxy Tab to make phone calls.

The Galaxy Tab has a 7 inch screen, versus the 10 inch screen on the iPad. That makes the Tab significantly smaller, lighter, and easy to carry around in a handbag or generous pocket. These smaller tablets are easier to use with one hand, and many users like this for activities like reading e-books.

The Tab is a real alternative to the iPad, and many people will prefer it for many reasons. For one thing, its smaller size is preferable to some users. Plus, it has two cameras, can run Flash applications, and multitasks just fine. Samsung has also gone the extra mile to revamp some of the most-used apps like calendar and email so that they don’t look like smart phone versions. The iPad does, however, have a lot more apps that are specifically designed for tablets.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a bit thinner than the iPad as well as being three inches narrower and two inches shorter. It weighs less than a pound – close to what a Kindle weighs. The screen is smaller, but the resolution is almost as good as that on the iPad, close enough that most people won’t really notice. The screen looks great and responds quickly, though some say it’s a tad slower than an iPad in touch responsiveness.

The Tab comes with 16 GB of flash storage, which may be internal or removable, depending on which carrier you get it from. The card slot (which is on all of them) holds up to 32 GB if you buy the card. You can get iPads with up to 64 GB, all of which is internal.

Depending on who you ask, you’ll hear different values for battery life. Samsung says it’s 13 hours, while T-Mobile claims 8. Independent testing with everything on, including WiFi and the screen brightness cranked all the way up, plus use of typical apps, like using email and watching videos has resulted in battery life of 6 to 6.5 hours.

The rear camera on the Tab is a 3 MP camera with flash, while the front camera is 1.3 MP (no flash). The photographs are fine, but nothing to write home about.

You can use the front camera for making video calls using apps like Qik (which comes pre-installed).

While the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be released with Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) at some unspecified time in 2011, the current models run Android 2.2. Android 2.2 runs quite well, though the web browser can go in fits and starts when you try to scroll through long pages. Flash pages work, but they will slow down the browser.

Data plans for the Samsung Galaxy Tab are complicated. T-Mobile, for example, has different pricing for contract and no-contract Tabs, plus different rates depending on whether you’re a new or existing customer. Verizon starts at $20 per month for 1 GB of data, while Sprint charges $30 per month for 2 GB or $60 for 5 GB. You’ll definitely want to shop around to figure out what plan is going to work for you.

In terms of 7 inch challengers to the iPad dominance, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is the most competitive in terms of looks and capabilities. Whether comparisons to the iPad are fair is a matter of debate. Some people specifically want an Android device, and some want the convenience of a 7 inch tablet. But overall, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is a real alternative in the new world of tablet PCs.