“The Galaxy Tab does show some promise, but its flaws far outnumber its positives. Part of that is due to Samsung’s hardware design, and part of the blame goes to the Android 2.2 OS that Google says never was designed for tablets,” Gruman reports. “After using Android 2.2 in a tablet, I understand why Google is telling device makers to wait for a tablet-oriented Android. Samsung should have heeded Google’s warning.”
MacDailyNews Take: Even Google is telling the tablet manufacturers no tot use their current release, Froyo, for tablets and to wait for a special tablet release next year. What does it mean when your software supplier says not to use their software and what does it mean when you ignore them and use it anyway? …The current crop of 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA. Dead On Arrival. Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson that their tablets are too small and increase the size next year, thereby abandoning both customers and developers who jumped on the 7-inch bandwagon with an orphaned product. Sounds like lots of fun ahead. – Steve Jobs, October 18, 2010
Gruman continues, “The Galaxy Tab’s portability comes at a big price: usability. I had to put on my reading glasses to use the device because text is too small, even after I increased the text size. The screen size also makes it hard to use the Web browser. In vertical orientation, the browser window is impossibly tiny, and in horizontal orientation, only a small strip of a Web page fits. I also found the Galaxy Tab screen’s 16:9 aspect ratio awkward to use for everything except watching movies. In either vertical or horizontal orientation, the display feels too cramped… If you do any amount of typing, such as for notetaking, the on-screen keyboard is too small, even in horizontal orientation.”
MacDailyNews Take: One naturally thinks that a 7-inch screen would offer 70% of the benefits of a 10-inch screen. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. The screen measurements are diagonal, so that a 7-inch screen is only 45% as large as iPad’s 10-inch screen. You heard me right: Just 45% as large. If you take an iPad an hold it upright in portrait view and draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the screen, the screens on these 7-inch tablets are a bit smaller than the bottom half of the ipad’s display. This size isn’t sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion. While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size. Apple has done extensive user testing on tough interfaces over many years and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touchscreen before users cannot reliably tap, flick, or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps. – Steve Jobs, October 18, 2010
Gruman continues, “With fewer pixels to push around, you’d think the Galaxy Tab would be a strong performer — but it’s not. There’s a noticeable lag in almost every action, especially in what appears on screen… Samsung’s 1GHz ARM-based Hummingbird just can’t keep up with Apple’s 1GHz ARM-based A4… I also had trouble with Wi-Fi and 3G networks using the Galaxy Tab. Both were sluggish compared to network-related performance on the iPad… There’s a huge difference in quality between the apps available for the iPad and those available for the Galaxy Tab. I installed a bunch of apps available for both devices and in every case found the Android version inferior.”
MacDailyNews Take: This is a nice review so far, huh? (smirk)
Gruman continues, “Many apps on the Galaxy Tab feel crippled or just plain awkward compared to their iPad counterparts because they’ve been blown up to fill the large screen… Samsung erred in its 7-inch widescreen ‘tweener’ display — it’s too small for the Web and rich apps but too big for smartphone apps. Samsung also erred in releasing a device using an operating system that is not tablet-oriented, especially since the operating system’s maker, Google, has warned companies not to use it for such devices. The result of these two decisions is a device that’s neither really a tablet, nor really a pocket computer à la the iPod Touch. Unlike in the Goldilocks story, the size in between is not ‘just right.’ The Galaxy Tab is widely considered to be the best Android tablet available today. That’s absolutely true — which is why if you buy a tablet now, it should unquestioningly be an iPad.”
Oh, there’s much, much more! Read the full review – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s so nice to read the unvarnished truth, however rare it may be! Please click over to read Gruman’s full review.
Goldilocks has tested more beds than Lindsay Lohan.
Reports say 1 million have already sold … how is that possible?
Don’t ppl try before they buy?
@Cascadians,
No they don’t. Many “geeks” buy on specs alone.
@Cascadians,
“Stuffing the Channels”?
@chabig,
Agreed. Fandroids only care about specs and “open”, apple fanboys care about user experience. Not hard to see why Apple has the cult following it does. Rightfully earned.
But Consumer Reports loves it!
Dickeads.
Somebody (MDN) deleted a comment that said :”love my Galaxy tab. Wouln’t trade it for anything” (or something along those lines.
What was the reason behind deleting such a post?
@ Predrag
Agreed.. MDN, Please let us laugh at them.
I unfortunately had to purchase one of these for the company I work at. It is to be used for developing Android apps. We got our iPad 3 weeks ago.. so at least we are developing for all platforms.
The Dude abides.
55% less screen space, 100% less usable, –same price.
hahaha. Sucker born every minute.
That’s why Apple does the whole widget and does it right! They make sure the software fits the hardware and vise versa to make everything work together just right.
@Al
Does Lindsay Lohan even use a bed any more? Oh I’m sorry I thought she did it in a dumpster.
The fandroids over at Engaget gave it a glowing review. Gizmodo calls it a “Pocketable Trainwreck.” Go figure. Actually, “Pocketable Trainwreck” is hilarious, I might start reading Gizmodo again. (I’ve been boycotting them since the iPhone 4 prototype fiasco.)
Apple is going to force any company that wants to compete to do truly massive spending to try to keep up.
Problem is that Apple has a 3 year head start AT LEAST in significant patents for the new tablet regime.
Also-rans will…walk away with crumbs.
Why does the OS have to be optimized for tablets (other than for screen resolution)?
It doesn’t, as long as the only thing that you want to do is use it like a big smart phone. If you want to use for anything like moderate productivity, then you need it to be optimized for that. That’s what the iPad brings to the table. It is much more than just a big phone. iOS is a scaled-down full operating system (OS X). Android is a scaled up Java VM environment/phone OS. Big difference.
Sometimes Galen gets it right, sometimes he gets it wrong…
Yes the electronics dudes at (the formerly reliable) Consumer Reports just lurvs lurvs lurvs them some Galaxy Tab! “a real competitor to the iPad has arrived” “easy to see and press Home, Back, and Menu buttons” – oooh! “touch screen is very responsive” “As with the iPad, there’s an app for just about anything you’d want to do” OMG its truly really sad.
@Cascadians—“Sold” often means shipped to retailers.
All a maker need do is make it different, then the average un-researched buyer will justify the purchase for any number of ill conceived reasons.
The Galaxy will sell because many lust after what they see in iPads but “hate” Apple simply because their peers do. There are few iPad alternatives and they will pay as much or more than they would for a truly usable iPad to satisfy their moral superiority. The faults will be overlooked and a substandard product glorified. That’s the bottom line.
Do I detect a massive tort action against Samsung? They have marketed a product using a system the maker has warned is not be used, if they are sued, Google have already made their disclaimer.
Alot of those Tab shipments went to countries where the iPad has not yet been released. For example, about 150k Tabs were sold in South Korea, Samsung’s home, before the iPad launched.
building on what “KenC” Thats the reason the iPad was released in Korea after the Tab. To try to gain steal sales from the iPad. Thats how they “compete” they do their best lock out competitors in Korea. Korea is about the only place can control the market and stalled the iPads release.
But it doesn’t appear to matter. Iphones including iphone4s are everywhere soon i expect to see the same with the iPad.
“There’s a noticeable lag in almost every action, especially in what appears on screen… Samsung’s 1GHz ARM-based Hummingbird just can’t keep up with Apple’s 1GHz ARM-based A4…”
“There’s a huge difference in quality between the apps available for the iPad and those available for the Galaxy Tab. I installed a bunch of apps available for both devices and in every case found the Android version inferior.”
What a surprise…..
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Galaxy Tab is much better than Ipad on;- faster speed,better sharpness/PPI, Multitask. Easy keybord,16:9 screen aspect ratio.easy to read text. Excellence microphone,excellent audio preamplifier.excellent movie playback.better connection to website than PC. You should be ashamed for misleading the buyer.