The tech community seems to be almost overwhelmingly positive about the new Samsung Galaxy Tab. Some of that is because the tech community tends to love the openness of Android, and some of that is because the Tab is a shiny new toy — but much of it appears to be because Samsung’s new tablet is actually pretty cool.
Check out the video, below, from Stuff.tv. It’s one of many reviews and unboxings that I’ve come across that sings a balanced tune about the Tab’s goodness. Some highlights are as follows:
- The smaller size of the Tab is a good thing, as it can fit in a (large) pocket and is easier to type on than an iPad (for people focused on thumb-typing).
- Having Flash on a tablet is awesome and it appears to work pretty well, even on 3G.
- Samsung and Carriers have pre-loaded “helpful” software (or bloatware) onto the device.
- The interface, while infinitely more configurable, is not a slick as the iPad — but it does the job.
- People will like it, no matter what Steve Jobs thinks.
My last two highlight points, above, were mentioned in every single positive review I read, watched, or skimmed, and though there are a few negative reviews out there, many of them come of as Apple fanboys doing what Apple fanboys love to do: trashing things that are not Apple. There are a some reasonable points to take away from the negative reviews, however, such as the difficulty that first time users of the Tab can have with finding the “on” button, and the fact that Android 2.2 was simply not built for tablets (just like Google said it wasn’t) and that leads to the occasional performance hiccup.
Overall, it seems that the Samsung Galaxy Tab will be a reasonable alternative to the iPad, even if it will never quite achieve the elitist notoriety of an Apple product. What do you think?
Samsung Galaxy Tab Video Review [Stuff.tv]
