The Apple iPad seemingly came out of nowhere and for no real, discernable reason it stole the hearts and money of the masses. In reality, it offers little more functionality than a decent smartphone but without the actual phone settings and it didn’t have the power of a standard laptop.
Take away the touch screen, the Apple branding, and the app store and it was a poor netbook for twice the price of a decent one. And yet, somehow, it became one of the biggest tech phenomenon we’ve seen in some years so it was only a matter of time before something a little bit better was released to compete but will the Samsung Galaxy Tab be able to take any of the iPad’s popularity?
As a standalone unit, the Galaxy Tab seems to have the competition beat. It offers phone calls and text messaging as well as access to the ever-growing list of Android apps that are available. Another biggy for the iPad detractors is that the Galaxy also offers Flash support making web browsing a more pleasurable and well rounded experience.
The Samsung Galaxy has a 7 inch TFT screen making it a couple of inches smaller than the iPad but also making it more convenient at just larger than the size of a paper back book. It has front and rear facing cameras so it can be used for video calling as well as photo taking and video recording.
Connectivity is obviously an important factor and the Samsung tablet offers high speed Internet via HSUPA and HSDPA. It also has Wi-Fi and bluetooth.
With 1080p high definition playback and support for Flash, DivX, XVid, MPEG-4, and more it’s also a very handy multimedia player.
Apps can make or break a device like this and the Samsung Galaxy offers access to two app marketplaces. It comes with a variety of different apps pre-installed and if you want more you can get them from the Android marketplace or the Samsung marketplace.
We reckon it’s unlikely that anything will take the iPad’s crown from it but in the Samsung Galaxy Tab we have a contender that potentially packs more punch, offers greater features, and also provides access to a decent amount of apps. It will therefore, we think, steal a few of Apple’s potential customers.
Will you be buying the Samsung or plumping for the Apple?
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