Samsung Galaxy Tab

[manarak]

There's one thing I'm wondering about.

How fast can you type on such a thing if compared to a Netbook?

[Bumpa STIKKA]

I opened the box today and for the last few hours I've been playing with it...

Absolutely beautiful and easy to learn, too.

I've never used anything Android before but this is easy.

I'll write a fuller report in the next couple of days - but for now I love this thing.

The forum looks great and the videos on www.lbjizz.com play great, too!

Happy Thanksgiving Y'awll!

[azza33]

Looking forward to the review....

So expensive here in oz!!! $999-

Can get it over 24months @ $45 pm with 1.5gb of data each month... Tempting

[Bumpa STIKKA]

Using it now to type this! Review coming soon!

[azza33]

Bumpa i assumed you purchased it on amazon.co.uk? (given pricing) ... do they ship it internationally or did you do it via a friend?

[Bumpa STIKKA]

I did it via a friend through PC World. Ordered online then picked up at a local branch...

I'll have a report later today!

[Bumpa STIKKA]

The Samsung Galaxy Tab...

First off let's make it clear that this is the first time I have used any 'Android' based device. My mobile phone was Windows 6.1 and my computers are Windows 7.

So the only preconceptions I had was what I had read on line. I had read a lot during the tortuous wait to actually own one and so what I got didn't surprise me all that much.

I knew it would be good and that's how it turned out.

Android - amazingly intuitive and well designed for the novice and learner. MORE so than Windows. Don't ask me about Apple products because I don't know. I can't compare them - but the iPad is bigger than the Galaxy iTab.

The menus are where you want them and they are extremely well organized.

On the reviews and promotional guff that I have seen online there is a lot that the Galaxy Tab does that Apples slate does not. No point in dwelling on that as this isn't a comparative review. It's just my thoughts on the device that I own as a 'newbie' to the Android and 'slate' scene.

It looks fantastic. It's sturdy and robust enough for it to feel like it's worth 469 quid!

You can only charge the device through the mains and not on your computer. Dunno why but that seems to be a fundamental screw up to me.

When you insert the SIM card you can't copy over the contacts and it won't read any from the SIM either. In fact you don't even know that the 'phone' part of the device will even work till you make a call or get one! So I have to manually input all my contacts. For most people that would be a real pain - for me, as I have almost no friends, it took about 5 minutes!

Unless you have a WiFi connection then the device is not much good to you. The UK version doubles as a phone as it does have a microphone - the US version does not) but if you are on the phone a lot of the time then this will soon get old. As I get about 1 phone call every couple of days or so then it works fine for me.

Where the device really comes into play is the online reading matter. I've downloaded loads of free books and newspapers so I'll never be bored art an airport again! Subscribing and downloading is easy peasy.

Olay is already addicted to Dirty Birds the game. Games are also easy to find, download and install.

There are five (yes five) home pages for you to store all the shortcuts and most important features on. Again this works out brilliantly as your most important stuff is on the first page and with a quick flick of your finger on the screen you can find your other 'must get to it quickly' items.

One thing I've noticed is the simplicity of Android. There's no burrowing through loads of options and lists to get what you want. The functions and settings are very well laid out and experimenting with them by changing settings and going backwards and forwards in the menu options is almost no hassle at all.

Of course it IS a learning process but it's one where at every turn you think to yourself... "Ah - that's new but if I were designing this, that's where I would have put it, too!"

To my new and fevered virgin fingers the response times were great. I wasn't left thinking it was slow. But I've heard that the iPad by Apple is faster. Who knows...

I've also heard on the web that some reviewers have difficulty with some websites... So far I haven't felt the need to download another browser and the internet browser that comes pre-installed with it works just fine.

But... The NFL website won't let you choose between the mobile or regular version. You are stuck with the crappy mobile version. This means I can't log into my Game Pass subscriptions and watch the games on it. I have emailed Jeff from the NFL and they seem to be interested in sorting this out... but when that happens, who knows.

I suspect that this will be an issue on a lot of sites where you are forced to use the mobile version of the pages rather than the original... but sometimes this works out for the better... for example most news sites including Google have fantastic 'mobile' sites which are much better suited to Android and smaller screens.

The cameras (yes there are two!) are a but naff.. at least the indoor shots I have taken so far have been.

One thing worth mentioning is the keyboard feature where you just drag your finger across the board to make words... Brilliant. I thought this would be finicky and hard to do but once you get through the tutorial and after a couple of days practice it quickly becomes your default way to type onto the screen.

Typing in general is a breeze and it's worth learning how to do it properly as you can quickly learn how to Capitalize names, add apostrophes and cut and past words etc. If you want to type on this device you'll find it quick to learn, easy to fix when you screw it up and generally much faster than any phone you've used.

Many reviews online have said that it's simply an over sized phone... and I suspect these people have all used Android based devices before and are comparing them.

For me it works great as a fully featured 7" slate... which is why I bought it.

The file sharing feature 'AllShare' is a bust so far. I hope this is a work in progress that will be attended to - or maybe I need to go online and get help trying to figure it out...

I'll add more to this post as I remember it or discover it!

[Bumpa STIKKA]

As an aside...

When you turn a phone, camera or slate vertically it quickly changes the view from landscape to portrait. Very clever feature and not all that new..

But what about if the device is flat on the table? It would be nice for the slate makers to recognize when the device is swiveled at right angles and make the necessary adjustment...

Just a thought. Maybe that's something that'll come soon.

[azza33]

When you insert the SIM card you can't copy over the contacts and it won't read any from the SIM either. In fact you don't even know that the 'phone' part of the device will even work till you make a call or get one! So I have to manually input all my contacts. For most people that would be a real pain - for me, as I have almost no friends, it took about 5 minutes!

Go to contacts.... then bottom left touch point... import export from sim available

ps Just bought one today ..super toy and none of the issues i had with android 2.1 Galaxy S at the start .

[Blackbear]

(Bumpa STIKKA @ Nov. 27 2010,06:54) The Samsung Galaxy Tab...
When you insert the SIM card you can't copy over the contacts and it won't read any from the SIM either. In fact you don't even know that the 'phone' part of the device will even work till you make a call or get one!

If this works like other Android devices, and I suspect it does,
you can sync the tablet's contacts with the contacts of your gmail account.

[azza33]

I thought i might add some good applications available free from the market.

Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox business, fox news, fox news radio, Kitco gold, kitco precious metals, Infomax (south korean), USA today, ny times for tablet, adobe reader, oanda currency, thomson reuters news pro, npr news, bbc new (jim blackler one),

For a bit of fun google earth, yahoo messenger, ebay & paypal, amazon kindle, bubble blast 2 , espn scorecentre, IMDB, facebook, the weather channel, ebuddy, ookla speed test, borat soundcard, ron burgundy , dictionary.com, angry birds,.

What else have people found worth looking at?

[Bumpa STIKKA]

Thanks for the tip on getting my contacts imported...

I didn't know I had so many! They go back years! But I whittled the list down to about half a dozen!

I've actually started reading again! I love this gadget... reading in bed it reminds me of how I used to hold a hymn book when I went to church as a kid.

I'm still learning my way around and slowly familiarizing myself with the Tab...

The games are fun and some of the apps are great like the MTR for Hong Kong, which we'll use when we go back next year...

I know there aren't as many apps for the Android as there are for the Apple device, but I get a sense that there is more variety and fun stuff with Android as the Apple stuff has to be thoroughly vetted before it passes their strict guidelines.

Battery power... About 10 times better than a laptop/netbook... ten times worse than a phone!

[Bumpa STIKKA]

When ever I got texts from my phone company the phone I had before couldn't recognize the Thai script and it came through as a load of squares which I couldn't understand.

Now I have the new Galaxy Tab the SMS spams from my phone company come through in the Thai script... which I also can't understand!

[rxpharm]

aah, but if you want the spam translated you can always ask Olay! Who knows there might be some discounts in there somewhere!

[Bumpa STIKKA]

Well, I have lost control of the Tab since I installed some games on it!

And now we've got a car she's downloaded Google Maps, etc...

I shoulda got two!