I got a test unit of the Samsung Galaxy 91000 Tab from MTN yesterday in the Tab-for-a-day program.
THE SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB P1000
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a 13.58-ounce, 7-inch tablet that slips easily into a (large) pocket or bag. A virtual
QWERTY keyboard and SWYPE™ technology makes e-mail and texting on the go easy. Galaxy Tab features Froyo, Google’s Android™ 2.2 platform, bringing you great performance and speed for browsing Adobe® Flash® Player compatible websites. Fully integrated with services like Google Maps™ and YouTube™ you can search, view, and easily download any of the tens of thousands of cool apps available on Android Market™.
The Tab allows you to easily access Facebook®, MySpace™ and Twitter™ so that you can stay connected to friends and family.
UNBOXING
The Galaxy Tab comes in a small white box which has a photo of the tab on the top and some key specifications on the bottom. The box is about the same width as the tablet. In the box there is:
1. 2pin Travel Adaptor for charging
2. Stereo Ear phones with 2 pairs of extra ear buds
3. USB Data Cable (doubles up as a charging cable)
4. Quick Start Guide booklet and mini disc
5. The mighty Samsung Galaxy Tablet.
I actually picked the tablet and looked into the rest of the box much later in the evening!
HARDWARE
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a very exciting device, the love-at-first-sight kind.
As soon as I saw her, I knew I would fall in love with her.By the way we are still talking about the Galaxy Tab! It has a white back then the sides and front are black. The corners are rounded, and the back is also slightly rounded making it omfortable in your hand. It is made of shiny plastic, but it feels rather solid and well built, no creaks or anything like that. It feels like it would survive dropping off the table, though I did not get to test that.
The screen is covered with a protective film, though it has got lots of words printed on it so you’ll have to pull it off nearly immediately. It is portable, in that you can hold it with one hand comfortably; but it will not fit in your shirt pocket. It has 2 cameras, one at the back and a front facing one. The rear one has a flash. There are four touch buttons onthe bottom or right of the screen depending on how you hold it, a headphone jack on the top edge, a power button, volume rocker, microSD and SIM card slots on the right. The speakers are at the bottom with the connector port.Performance In plain English, the specifications mean that it has sufficient hardware to run comfortably. My Android experience was good. It is fast enough to keep up with my fast clicking and multitasking habits. It froze only once when I was trying to watch a movie, copy files and run other apps in the background. It was also a bit slow when viewing some web pages, but I did not figure out exactly why since it would suddenly resume working properly. But overall, it performs pretty well.
FEATURES
Galaxy Tab features Froyo, Google’s Android™ 2.2 platform, bringing you great performance and speed and you can easily download any of the tens of thousands of cool apps available on Android Market™. I am by default a Symbian guy, but I have recently warmed up to the idea of Android. A couple of friends have Android phones, so I was able to recognize the Android immediately. It was a bit tricky at first, but I quickly got into the flow of things, and I am sure nearly everyone should be able to use it without reading a manual. However, I usually recommend that you should read the quick start guide and user manual before using a device as it contains information which the manufacturer felt important, and some of it may not be evident in your user experience.
There are quite a number of preloaded and core applications, but I still dropped by the Android Market, and downloaded a few applications. I started with Hootsuite as I was in a tweeting mood and I had used it on the
iPad, then a few other social networking applications, utilities and tools. I actually used up the whole 300MB bundle! I particularly liked Hootsuite as it gives an improved social networking experience on the move.
You can also download apps from Samsung Apps. The Tablet has integrated email support in an app that looks like Outlook. I did not get to use it fully, I did not add email addresses since I was using it temporarily. It also has a Gmail app similar to the one I use on my smartphone.The Amazon Kindle e-reader is pre-loaded, so you can keep tabs on all your favourite books, magazines and newspapers with just a touch of the screen.
You can access your documents as well as create new ones with the Think Free Office which is compatible with Microsoft Office applications as well as Adobe pdf. The Samsung Galaxy can actually make voice calls, only that you can’t hold it to your ear, you have to either use the inbuilt speaker, or the included headset. It also has SMS and MMS messaging capability. There is so much more you can do with the Galaxy Tab, I just did not get enough time to use most of them. I will probably write more when I buy one.
CAMERA
I nearly forgot about the camera. The main camera is a 3.12 MP with LED flash. I took a few photos both with day light and at night, they are decent. I liked the panorama mode for taking wide angle shots.
The camera is one part of the tablet that is not that exciting. It is however kind of cool to take photos with such a large screen!
BATTERY
The Tab packs a 4000mAh battery which is expected to give around 7 hours of video playback and up to 13 hours of normal usage. I however run the battery down in about 6 hours without video playback; probably because I was practically using it the whole time, connected to 3G. The battery charges with the included USB connector and wall charger. It is sad that you can’t charge it using a computer USB port.
VERDICT
During the 24 hours that I had the Tablet, I forgot my Nokia N8 phone in three places, each time having to be reminded to pick it up! Before that, we were inseparable – email, tweeting, chatting and all the stuff that people do with their phones. I am sure that you will lose your laptop and phone the moment you start using it as it renders them rather irrelevant in your lifestyle. I can confidently say that this is the perfect tablet which will make your laptop nervous and rightly so because it will perform many tasks that you needed your laptop for. It keeps you connected anytime anywhere, for both work and pleasure. I totally enjoyed the experience of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and it is on my shopping list.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a must-have device.
