5 ms·

Samsung Galaxy Tab preview

21 points by Garbage 16y ago

dagw 16y ago
If the price is right I'm interested. There's only one thing that concerns me. Can anybody explain why companies insist on making super glossy screens? Is there any good reason why they can't make tablets with nice matte screens so that I can see what's on the screen rather than my own reflection.
- grinich 16y ago
  It's hard to clean off the oil from your fingers.
  - nodata 16y ago
    There must be a middle ground: a screen that is visible without looking at ourselves, as well as a screen that doesn't resemble a minor environmental catastrophe.
  - nailer 16y ago
    On matte? I have a matte screen and can touch it here and there's no fingerprint linger. On my glossy-screen Macbook at home the screen looks like an oily mess (and all I do is sneeze occasionaly!).
aw3c2 16y ago
It seems too small to me. Even being very negative about Apple, once I played with an iPad I was quite hooked. It is of perfect size for reading, browsing and what interests me most, social gathering around it, be it gaming or reading with 2-3 people. Pretty much the only reason I would imagine myself getting a tablet, would be for "enhanced boardgames" and then the size must be as big as possible.
- NickPollard 16y ago
  This is definitely an issue, though it seems Samsung are pushing for something that is more easily holdable in one-hand - compare to a paperback book or a Kindle. I haven't used one yet, but I can see this being a lot easier to hold with one hand and type with another, when in a crowded tube or train, for example.
  - die_sekte 16y ago
    I think the iPad's form factor makes it a nice sofa device. To be truly portable it should've been slightly smaller. There's no way—I think—to hold an iPad with your hands and use both of them for interacting. One needs to support it with one's legs to fully use both hands.
- dagw 16y ago
  I guess it depends on your use case. My primary use would be reading and watching videos while on the move. For that the iPad as always seemed slightly too big, and this looks like a much better size. Most people I know who own an iPad generally leave it at home and rarely carry it around with them. For me that would defeat much of the purpose of buying a tablet.
nodata 16y ago
Vanilla, official Android please - this is what's important to me. I don't want to worry about my hardware vendor deciding that they don't want to update the OS any more, and I don't want to worry about using an unofficial unaudited built of Android. Does anyone know if this device can run vanilla android?
- nl 16y ago
  The Galaxy S has a one-click root exploit and then you can run what you like. (Have to say, though, the Samsung Android version is surprisingly good).
  - nodata 16y ago
    The elephant in the room is security updates. Nobody releases them for Android at anything like the speed of any other operating system. Which is why I want an official Android running on everything: no lock in, no planned obsolescence, no worries about what the code is really doing.
Tichy 16y ago
I don't get this form factor at all. And all the other Android tablets seem to be the same. Why? I can only guess: design by committee?
- ZeroGravitas 16y ago
  Are you talking about the screen ratio being standard 16:9/10 widescreen rather than following the Apple iPad 4:3 setup like on old non-widescreen TVs? I'm guessing most of them are just re-using existing netbook screens, just as the original netbooks re-used portable DVD screens. Being close to the same ratio as most videos and android phones probably makes it a sensible choice. On the other hand you'd hope Apple had more than just aesthetics in mind when it chose the iPad screen ratio.
  - orangecat 16y ago
    Yeah, Apple deserves credit for resisting that trend. 16:9 is good for movies and lousy for everything else.
  - Tichy 16y ago
    No, the 7'' displays. I don't have an iPad, but even the iPad seems quite small. I don't see the point in an even smaller tablet.
    - ZeroGravitas 16y ago
      There's plenty of 10" Android tablets being displayed at IFA currently e.g. Archos 101, Toshiba Folio 100, Viewsonic ViewPad 10 etc. (Dell is supposed to do a Streak in 7 and 10 inch sizes too) I've not seen any substantially bigger than the iPad (which is just under 10") yet, but it wouldn't surprise me.
      - Tichy 16y ago
        That's good to hear. I just don't understand why they all launched 7'' tablets first. Maybe they wanted to fail, in subconscious conspiracy with Apple.

21 points by Garbage 16y ago

dagw 16y ago

If the price is right I'm interested. There's only one thing that concerns me. Can anybody explain why companies insist on making super glossy screens? Is there any good reason why they can't make tablets with nice matte screens so that I can see what's on the screen rather than my own reflection.

grinich 16y ago
It's hard to clean off the oil from your fingers.
- nodata 16y ago
  There must be a middle ground: a screen that is visible without looking at ourselves, as well as a screen that doesn't resemble a minor environmental catastrophe.
- nailer 16y ago
  On matte? I have a matte screen and can touch it here and there's no fingerprint linger. On my glossy-screen Macbook at home the screen looks like an oily mess (and all I do is sneeze occasionaly!).

aw3c2 16y ago

It seems too small to me. Even being very negative about Apple, once I played with an iPad I was quite hooked. It is of perfect size for reading, browsing and what interests me most, social gathering around it, be it gaming or reading with 2-3 people. Pretty much the only reason I would imagine myself getting a tablet, would be for "enhanced boardgames" and then the size must be as big as possible.

NickPollard 16y ago
This is definitely an issue, though it seems Samsung are pushing for something that is more easily holdable in one-hand - compare to a paperback book or a Kindle. I haven't used one yet, but I can see this being a lot easier to hold with one hand and type with another, when in a crowded tube or train, for example.
- die_sekte 16y ago
  I think the iPad's form factor makes it a nice sofa device. To be truly portable it should've been slightly smaller. There's no way—I think—to hold an iPad with your hands and use both of them for interacting. One needs to support it with one's legs to fully use both hands.
dagw 16y ago
I guess it depends on your use case. My primary use would be reading and watching videos while on the move. For that the iPad as always seemed slightly too big, and this looks like a much better size. Most people I know who own an iPad generally leave it at home and rarely carry it around with them. For me that would defeat much of the purpose of buying a tablet.

nodata 16y ago

Vanilla, official Android please - this is what's important to me. I don't want to worry about my hardware vendor deciding that they don't want to update the OS any more, and I don't want to worry about using an unofficial unaudited built of Android. Does anyone know if this device can run vanilla android?

nl 16y ago
The Galaxy S has a one-click root exploit and then you can run what you like. (Have to say, though, the Samsung Android version is surprisingly good).
- nodata 16y ago
  The elephant in the room is security updates. Nobody releases them for Android at anything like the speed of any other operating system. Which is why I want an official Android running on everything: no lock in, no planned obsolescence, no worries about what the code is really doing.

Tichy 16y ago

I don't get this form factor at all. And all the other Android tablets seem to be the same. Why? I can only guess: design by committee?

ZeroGravitas 16y ago
Are you talking about the screen ratio being standard 16:9/10 widescreen rather than following the Apple iPad 4:3 setup like on old non-widescreen TVs? I'm guessing most of them are just re-using existing netbook screens, just as the original netbooks re-used portable DVD screens. Being close to the same ratio as most videos and android phones probably makes it a sensible choice. On the other hand you'd hope Apple had more than just aesthetics in mind when it chose the iPad screen ratio.
- orangecat 16y ago
  Yeah, Apple deserves credit for resisting that trend. 16:9 is good for movies and lousy for everything else.
- Tichy 16y ago
  No, the 7'' displays. I don't have an iPad, but even the iPad seems quite small. I don't see the point in an even smaller tablet.
  - ZeroGravitas 16y ago
    There's plenty of 10" Android tablets being displayed at IFA currently e.g. Archos 101, Toshiba Folio 100, Viewsonic ViewPad 10 etc. (Dell is supposed to do a Streak in 7 and 10 inch sizes too) I've not seen any substantially bigger than the iPad (which is just under 10") yet, but it wouldn't surprise me.
    - Tichy 16y ago
      That's good to hear. I just don't understand why they all launched 7'' tablets first. Maybe they wanted to fail, in subconscious conspiracy with Apple.