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Samsung Galaxy Tablet Coming In September
adeelarshad82 writes "The rumors are now reality, Samsung showed the world its first glimpse of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the company's new 7-inch tablet. Samsung Mobile will release more information about the Galaxy Tab on September 2 in advance of IFA Berlin 2010. Tab will run on Android 2.2 and feature full Web-browsing and video calling. The information given by the company implied that the Galaxy Tab will sport an HD screen for video, Flash support, support for e-books, possible GPS navigation, and PC linking."
I had to laugh at the "Possible GPS navigation" part, since they couldn't even get the GPS to work properly on their Galaxy S line of phones. What makes them think they can make it work properly on the tablet?
The GPS problem on the Galaxy S line has been known for over a month (and acknowledged by Samsung, even) and yet there's no fix for it. I mean, it's not like it's a minor problem with the GPS... the GPS just does not work on most phones, and some even will kill your GSM connection all together periodically.
Possible GPS navigation my arse! How about making a working GPS on a phone before trying to put it on a tablet. Other phone manufacturers have been able to put working GPS units in their phones for years. One would think Samsung might have tested this out before releasing a flagship line of phones.
Android 2.2 doesn't support HD displays (only via video out like HDMI), unless they've extended it somehow. Otherwise we'll have to wait for Gingerbread (3.0?). 2.2 only supports up to something like 854x480 for the main display, I'm pretty sure.
So, is this a phone, or a tablet computer, or what? A 7" screen would put this at roughly the size of a paperback novel. Too big to shove into a pocket, too small to do any serious note taking.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I believe that the implication is that you can watch HD videos on the screen. It is also possible that you could have a device with an HD screen, but not the capability to watch HD movies.
Screen, it needs a good touch screen, decent resolution and viewing angle,
Battery life, it has to be much longer than a laptop.
Software support, if the screen resolution is greater than any other device then some software may not work or will appear small.
Price, if it's not much cheaper than the iPad then that's a failure.
The actual OS is important, but given it's Android it's unlikely to present a problem.
We have an e-ink reader - the form factor is great, but the lack of backlighting is surprisingly restrictive, and anyway you can't read documents that require color. I read e-books on my mobile phone, but the screen is really too small.
A 7" form factor with a backlit LCD "the size of a paperback" sounds just right. Big enough to be useful, small enough to still fit in a jacket pocket.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
HD audio on a flat screen speaker set.
Attention... all grammer nazi"s! Is they're anything; wrong with: my post,
> I now have a HTC Desire and the difference between these products can't be described by words alone.
How about sound effects? Interpretive dance? Matchstick diorama?
What does this do for Linux? About as much as TiVo did with it's "Linux system... on prime shelf space"... actually the real analogy here is probably iOS and Mach... I mean, it's so awesome and powerful right? Well, you have to root/jailbreak it first (assuming the device doesn't have an anti-tamper)... and that's getting harder with each new release.
In reality, it's just another consumer device and runs a popular OS which is hackable, that has a DRM-locked marketplace... notice I didn't say anything about Linux or Java... Neither does Samsung.
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This article was a bit light on the details (as it's just mentioning what's in the quick video preview on the site), but other sites have posted some rumors and analysis of some Samsung firmware leaks.
The display seems to be 800x480, which is decent on a 7" screen (133ppi, essentially the same as the iPad's 131ppi). There is a front and rear facing camera (confirmed in this video which mentions video calling), a 1.0 or 1.2GHz hummingbird processor (similar to the awesome 1GHz hummingbird in their Galaxy S phones which can really pump out the pixels), and some other goodies.
http://samsung-firmware.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/4521384-exclusive-samsung-galaxy-tab-
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
If they made a wi-fi only, no-phone (think iPod Touch) version of this and sold it for $199 ($150 on Woot!) they'd sell a zillion of these things.
I don't want another device for making calls and costs me $40 per month in connect fees. I want a good wi-fi tablet that runs real Android and doesn't cost $500.
If I can buy an 8gig iPod touch for $129 (refurb), than I should be able to buy a 7" iPod Touch for about $200. I need it to read PDFs, access Wi-Fi for email and Internet, and play a few games. Why is that so effing hard?
You are welcome on my lawn.
In the public sector. In other areas (such as Emergency Responders, Health Care, Manufacturing and many others) there have been wildly successful tablets for many years.
Apple just made it successful for the average consumer...
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
You would think they would totally go after that market. Removing the phone aspect of it makes it cheaper and doesn't require the monthly fee, sure, but look at what that can do to the business market. Make these things affordable enough so that even a small business can purchase a dozen of them and you're talking about a very sweet tool for a wide variety of uses.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
Will anyone but a handful of nerds know or even care?
Given the fact that there is nothing the Galaxy S can't do that the iPod Touch/iPhone can
I know of one thing the 32 GB third-generation iPod touch can do that the Galaxy S can't: retail for under 300 USD.
And Android phones are going the TiVo way as well, requiring jailbreaks and the like to "get the most out of it". Android's open-source, but the phones themselves aren't open at all. They're just open because the manufacturers were rushing to get phones on shelves. Though, HTC devices have always been more "open" to being hacked (xda-developers was about a particular set of HTC devices back in the WinMo days). But we're seeing with Motorola and probably soon Samsung and the like will be locking down the phones to run "approved OS images only".
The Sony PSPhone if it's true will probably be horrifically locked down, and probably tied to the Playstation Network like the Go, and Sony's pretty good about locking things down tight. Motorola's already shown it with the Droid X, getting back to where things were in the WInMo days.
And yes, I've heard manufacturers ask to lock things down - they say things like they don't want another xda-developers popping up for their phone.
Standard PAL DVD. Not all parts of the world had to live with an inferior resolution.
it sounds like PAL well, more like 576p. so yes, everywhere but where you listed.
All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
If the display is half as good as my old Series 5 LCD TV, I'll be buying one as soon as they are available.
Blu-Ray's crappiness comes from Sony, who determine how other manufacturers can implement the spec.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Really? Where can I pick up an iPhone 4 for under $300 retail?
Anywhere that sells one? That is the price. for the highest end one no less, the 32GB model.
I'm going to carry a phone regardless of whether I have an iPod Touch or not..
The iPhone price is with a two year contract, but since you said you are going to carry a phone regardless, that is irrelevant. Not to mention that now with the 256MB plan the iPhone is the cheapest smart phone to own - I use the device heavily and almost never cross that amount, because I'm around a lot of WiFi.
Or of course you could get a Touch and something like a MiFi and just use Skype on the Touch.
since I can now replace the iPod Touch with a Galaxy S and lose zero functionality
Only if you don't consider the potential loss of almost a hundred thousand applications a drop in functionality. I would, but then I am a practical person who likes to consider what a device can do for me instead of just supporting a handset maker because I like them.
$299 with a contract is NOT retail. It's subsidized. Retail is the specification. You won't find an iPhone 4 32GB for less than around $800 retail (and that's considering eBay retail).
How do you figure the 256MB plan makes the iPhone the cheapest smart phone to own? AT&T's prices are through the roof. My T-Mobile contract is about 30% less than any AT&T contract AND I have unlimited data (or if there's a cap, I've never reached it).
I don't consider the loss of almost 100,000 applications that are completely useless to be a great loss. 95% of the apps on the iPhone/iPod are complete junk (same goes for Android as well). So giving the total number of apps is a meaningless figure. The amount of USEFUL apps on Apple and Android are about the same.
So you claim to be a practical person who likes to consider what a device can do for you instead of just supporting a handset maker because I like them and then go on to defend Apple? I'm not sure how you reconcile that. The iPhone is demonstrably inferior in most categories to the Galaxy S, yet you support them, and support them with either false information (retail price) or meaningless statistics (total number of apps).
So I would have to pay $700 for lesser hardware, clunky UI, vendor lock in, reduced functionality if I wanted to switch (US) carriers and/or be forced into an exceptionally overpriced, limited contract for an iPhone... or pay $350 - $400 for superior hardware, modern UI, open source/no vendor lock in, unlocked for international use AND have a US phone contract that is 30% less than AT&T for the same or superior data transfer limits. Let me think which is a better deal here... I dunno, you tell me.
Cost breakdown:
Monthly recurring:
$185 / mo minimum from AT & T for similar plan
$135 / mo minimum from T - Mobile for similar plan
Hardware cost, subsidized:
$199 - AT & T
$149 - T - Mobile
Hardware cost, retail:
$700 - iPhone 4
$350 - Galaxy S
So $50 a month less and save $350 up front for superior hardware and UI or twice the up front cost and $50 more a month for inferior hardware and UI.
Not really a hard decision there, unless your an Apple Fanboy.
For the record, if you read my other posts in this thread, you'll see I'm not a Samsung fanboy - I think they have crap quality control and exceptionally poor handling of defect issues (then again, so does Apple). They just happened to have made the best Android based smartphone out at the moment, and it's the best by a HUGE margin, not just a little bit. It has leapfrogged every other Android phone out there and leapfrogged the iPhone 4 as well.
I seriously doubt the people that bought iPads are feeling stupid at all. From all the reviews I've read most owners love them and many say they hardly use their other computers any more. But hey, don't let reality ruin a good Apple Hate. I'm sure the whole world has been waiting on the edge of their seats for this Android device. . . .