At Samsung’s Galaxy Tab launch at IFA in Berlin last week, Samsung executives wouldn’t say when the tablet would debut in the U.S.–but they did say that it would be for sale from “most” major wireless carriers. Looks like they spoke the truth: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint will all offer the Tab.
Tag Archives | Samsung Galaxy Tab
Google: Don't Get Excited About Android Tablets–Yet
Can Google’s Android power tablet computers that make sense as serious iPad rivals? Sure–but it’ll take more than slapping the OS on a device with a big touchscreen. Google–or somebody–will need to seriously rework Android’s interface so it takes advantage of the extra pixels and real estate on a tablet, just as Apple did when it put the iPhone’s iOS on the iPad.
Two upcoming versions of Android, Gingerbread and Honeycomb, will apparently be built with tablets in mind. For now, the best a hardware manufacturer can do is to put Android 2.2 Froyo on a tablet and tweak it to deal with the new form factor. But Google doesn’t seem to think that’s a good idea: Techradar is quoting Google mobile honcho Hugo Barra, and his implied message seems to be to hold off on buying an Android tablet for now.
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More and More iPadversaries: ViewSonic, Toshiba, Archos
A few weeks ago, I rounded up scads of current and upcoming tablets–ones from big companies, ones from little companies, ones that look a lot like the iPad, and ones with personalities all their own. It wasn’t the least bit shocking that my list was incomplete when I published it, or that it grows more out-of-date every day.
Gizmodo’s Gary Cutlack has a new post up about five tablets that weren’t among the thirty-two I wrote about. One’s the iPad itself (hey, it’s a tablet and it seems to have potential!). Another is the reasonably interesting Samsung Galaxy Tab, which I saw last week at IFA.
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Samsung's Galaxy Tab is Going to be Pricey. Or Cheap. Or Maybe Both.
How much will Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet (which I tried at IFA last week) cost? One report says it could go for around $1000, or twice as much as the cheapest iPad. But others quote less alarming estimates of $200 to $400.
Actually, all the figures could be correct: They involve multiple countries, and some are full price while others are what you’d pay after signing up for a 3G contract. (Samsung plans to sell the tablet exclusively through carriers, so most or all of the folks who buy one will presumably get a subsidized price.)
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Hands on with Samsung's Galaxy Tab Tablet
Thursday morning at the IFA show here in Berlin, I attended a Samsung press conference and watched one of the company’s executives brandish its new Galaxy Tab tablet. It was intriguing. But I had a much better time that evening at the Showstoppers press event, where I was able to spend some time exploring the Tab for myself.
The Galaxy Tab I tried clearly wasn’t a done deal: Its touch-screen froze for several minutes then began to work again, and its browser didn’t seem to want to load anything except Google. It’s too early to come to any firm conclusions, but I did discover aspects I liked (the basic form factor, some of the software) and problem areas (other software).
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Samsung's Galaxy Tab is Official
I’m in Berlin for IFA, Europe’s biggest consumer-electronics trade event. The show floor doesn’t open until tomorrow, but yesterday and today have been filled with press conferences by major tech companies–and Samsung’s conference this morning ended with the official introduction of its Galaxy Tab tablet, the biggest IFA news so far.
The Tab is certainly an iPad-like device, but there are some striking differences. Its screen is 7″, making the device a bit larger than a Kindle and substantially smaller than a 9.7″ iPad. (Samsung says it’s pocketable, and it is…if you’re wearing a jacket.) The Tab weighs 13.4 ounces–far less than the pound-and-a-half iPad. It has cameras on the front (for video chat) and back (for snapping photos and apps such as augmented reality). And like the 5″ Dell Streak, it’s not only a 3G data device but a 3G device that can make phone calls.