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Four Worthless Samsung Galaxy Tab Reviews and One Useful

33 points by showngo 16y ago

rbarooah 16y ago
it's also curious that some of them (notably Gizmodo) found the software to be a complete mess, whereas other found it to be nearly as slick as Apple. Is this journalistic bias, or is there a background process or bug that was affecting some reviewers and not others?
- YooLi 16y ago
  Which review found it as slick as Apple? The reviews were all over the place depending on, I think, how the reviewer feels about Apple. The Engadget review stuck out to me in particular because the text described scrolling and such as buttery smooth, but the accompanying video showed quite the opposite.
- arron61 16y ago
  It's because most are bias and do not give other products a chance. They are also instantly brainwashed by what Steve Jobs says. Once he mentioned about the screen size differences, everyone harps on the 7" instantly, touting his/her agreement with Job's statement. The smaller size gives extra mobility and actually makes it easier to type with. I can hold the entire device on both ends and be able to type with thumbs naturally.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- ergo98 16y ago
  The default for the Flash plug-in should be onDemand (aka FlashBlock). I love having Flash on my phone, but yeah if you have it on all the time it is going to seriously bog down the device. The perfect medium is ondemand where you can enable it when you want and need it, but disable it otherwise. Every review where the browser was ever described as "slow" had Flash turned perma on. The Android 2.2 browser is the fastest of the bunch, and the Tab has one of the fastest CPUs, so it's the only explanation. Samsung and others need to push back against Adobe on this. The Flash thing is a good option in the bag, but it's hurting reviews. Other than that, sometimes what is a critical deficiency for one reviewer just really doesn't matter much to another. I have zero interest in the Tab. I think it's a premature product, and I don't know why someone would get it over an iPad. Having said that, the Gizmodo review is terrible, and it is, by far, the outlier: Everyone else is generally positive, and then you have the over the top criticisms of Gizmodo. Like- Which means, conversely, that there's almost no added benefit to using the Tab over a phone. It's not big enough. Web browsing doesn't have greater fidelity. I don't get more out of Twitter. A magazine app would be cramped." Aside from the improved resolution (or does an iPhone 4 not have more "fidelity" than a 3GS?), 7" is a world different than 3.5-4.0". Perhaps it's just that I actually browse on my phone a lot, but I find this criticism oof Gimzodo's bizarre and...well...a bit "pick up the talking points from Steve Jobs". You know the whole ridiculous "sandpaper your fingers" bit. If 7" isn't usable, then what the hell are people bothering paying good money for 3.5" iPhones for? Clearly they're completely unusable.
  - arron61 16y ago
    Can't agree more. Gizmodo's review is as biased as it can get.
    - showngo 16y ago
      They are all bad. At least though Giz addressed how a person actually interacts with the device, which is more than can be said for the others.
  - GHFigs 16y ago
    7" is a world different than 3.5-4.0" This is why I think the author came frustratingly close to having a good point. If 7" is so different, then shouldn't applications be different? Shouldn't there be more applications making use of that difference just as iOS applications may have different layouts on an iPhone than they do on an iPad? I don't mean to suggest that it's impossible for Android developers to make 7"-targeted apps, but at the present time it doesn't seem like there is much reason to, giving the iPad an edge.
    - ergo98 16y ago
      This is why I think the author came frustratingly close to having a good point. If 7" is so different, then shouldn't applications be different? Absolutely. A big thing about Froyo on tablets is that most apps assume that you have a small screen: The default email readers, for instance, show a singular list of emails, and then you open it and the single email takes the screen. There is a very flexible layout engine in Android, and apps are by default resolution and aspect ratio independent, but making an app with a view pane, for instance, just isn't high on many people's priorities given the lack of real world targets. Though of course the browser fully takes advantage of the larger screen and resolution, as does video. Both of those are the number 1 reason why people want a larger screen in the first place.
  - roc 16y ago
    No-one's saying 'too small is useless' and '7" is too small'. The complaint is that 7" is in a no-mans-land between pocketable-and-good-enough and something that justifies being carried in a bag (better for more complex tasks and/or longer sessions). Gizmodo is arguing that the Galaxy isn't better than a pocketable device, except for reading/browsing/video. But at the point that you're dealing with a secondary unpocketable device, the Galaxy has no advantage over the iPad except weight and Flash support that you wind up leaving disabled by default because it causes usability problems. So unless flash-based browsing is a must and barely-better content consumption is enough to justify carrying a second device in a bag, it's very hard to make a case for the Galaxy.
- mikeryan 16y ago
  Some reviewers liked "The Last Airbender" and hated "Inception". These are reviews. They are based on some empirical data but still mostly based on the individual reviewers perception of the device. Of course there is bias, the whole concept of going into a review without bias is flawed.
InclinedPlane 16y ago
Most tech journalism (online and off) is terrible. Often nothing more than rehashing press releases spattered with some superficial observations. If it still gets views and ad dollars why work harder?
ZeroGravitas 16y ago
If I cared that much about typing, then I'd probably be thinking about using my favourite 3rd party Android keyboard, which renders a review of the included keyboard(s) moot to some degree. I'd also question whether feeling "like a total dorkface while typing" is classed as a usability issue.
- StavrosK 16y ago
  What keyboard is that, by the way? I've heard there are some good options in that area, but I find Swype fantastic to type with.
rogermugs 16y ago
it's true. typing is pretty much what made the iphone. before the iphone it was just assumed (even by me) that a soft keyboard was simply not usable. if you cant type on it, it's worthless. ed: and it's important to point out that typing is also a surprisingly easy experience on the ipad.

33 points by showngo 16y ago

it's also curious that some of them (notably Gizmodo) found the software to be a complete mess, whereas other found it to be nearly as slick as Apple. Is this journalistic bias, or is there a background process or bug that was affecting some reviewers and not others?

YooLi 16y ago
Which review found it as slick as Apple? The reviews were all over the place depending on, I think, how the reviewer feels about Apple. The Engadget review stuck out to me in particular because the text described scrolling and such as buttery smooth, but the accompanying video showed quite the opposite.
arron61 16y ago
It's because most are bias and do not give other products a chance. They are also instantly brainwashed by what Steve Jobs says. Once he mentioned about the screen size differences, everyone harps on the 7" instantly, touting his/her agreement with Job's statement. The smaller size gives extra mobility and actually makes it easier to type with. I can hold the entire device on both ends and be able to type with thumbs naturally.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
ergo98 16y ago
The default for the Flash plug-in should be onDemand (aka FlashBlock). I love having Flash on my phone, but yeah if you have it on all the time it is going to seriously bog down the device. The perfect medium is ondemand where you can enable it when you want and need it, but disable it otherwise. Every review where the browser was ever described as "slow" had Flash turned perma on. The Android 2.2 browser is the fastest of the bunch, and the Tab has one of the fastest CPUs, so it's the only explanation. Samsung and others need to push back against Adobe on this. The Flash thing is a good option in the bag, but it's hurting reviews. Other than that, sometimes what is a critical deficiency for one reviewer just really doesn't matter much to another. I have zero interest in the Tab. I think it's a premature product, and I don't know why someone would get it over an iPad. Having said that, the Gizmodo review is terrible, and it is, by far, the outlier: Everyone else is generally positive, and then you have the over the top criticisms of Gizmodo. Like- Which means, conversely, that there's almost no added benefit to using the Tab over a phone. It's not big enough. Web browsing doesn't have greater fidelity. I don't get more out of Twitter. A magazine app would be cramped." Aside from the improved resolution (or does an iPhone 4 not have more "fidelity" than a 3GS?), 7" is a world different than 3.5-4.0". Perhaps it's just that I actually browse on my phone a lot, but I find this criticism oof Gimzodo's bizarre and...well...a bit "pick up the talking points from Steve Jobs". You know the whole ridiculous "sandpaper your fingers" bit. If 7" isn't usable, then what the hell are people bothering paying good money for 3.5" iPhones for? Clearly they're completely unusable.
- arron61 16y ago
  Can't agree more. Gizmodo's review is as biased as it can get.
  - showngo 16y ago
    They are all bad. At least though Giz addressed how a person actually interacts with the device, which is more than can be said for the others.
- GHFigs 16y ago
  7" is a world different than 3.5-4.0" This is why I think the author came frustratingly close to having a good point. If 7" is so different, then shouldn't applications be different? Shouldn't there be more applications making use of that difference just as iOS applications may have different layouts on an iPhone than they do on an iPad? I don't mean to suggest that it's impossible for Android developers to make 7"-targeted apps, but at the present time it doesn't seem like there is much reason to, giving the iPad an edge.
  - ergo98 16y ago
    This is why I think the author came frustratingly close to having a good point. If 7" is so different, then shouldn't applications be different? Absolutely. A big thing about Froyo on tablets is that most apps assume that you have a small screen: The default email readers, for instance, show a singular list of emails, and then you open it and the single email takes the screen. There is a very flexible layout engine in Android, and apps are by default resolution and aspect ratio independent, but making an app with a view pane, for instance, just isn't high on many people's priorities given the lack of real world targets. Though of course the browser fully takes advantage of the larger screen and resolution, as does video. Both of those are the number 1 reason why people want a larger screen in the first place.
- roc 16y ago
  No-one's saying 'too small is useless' and '7" is too small'. The complaint is that 7" is in a no-mans-land between pocketable-and-good-enough and something that justifies being carried in a bag (better for more complex tasks and/or longer sessions). Gizmodo is arguing that the Galaxy isn't better than a pocketable device, except for reading/browsing/video. But at the point that you're dealing with a secondary unpocketable device, the Galaxy has no advantage over the iPad except weight and Flash support that you wind up leaving disabled by default because it causes usability problems. So unless flash-based browsing is a must and barely-better content consumption is enough to justify carrying a second device in a bag, it's very hard to make a case for the Galaxy.
mikeryan 16y ago
Some reviewers liked "The Last Airbender" and hated "Inception". These are reviews. They are based on some empirical data but still mostly based on the individual reviewers perception of the device. Of course there is bias, the whole concept of going into a review without bias is flawed.

InclinedPlane 16y ago

Most tech journalism (online and off) is terrible. Often nothing more than rehashing press releases spattered with some superficial observations. If it still gets views and ad dollars why work harder?

ZeroGravitas 16y ago

If I cared that much about typing, then I'd probably be thinking about using my favourite 3rd party Android keyboard, which renders a review of the included keyboard(s) moot to some degree. I'd also question whether feeling "like a total dorkface while typing" is classed as a usability issue.

StavrosK 16y ago
What keyboard is that, by the way? I've heard there are some good options in that area, but I find Swype fantastic to type with.

rogermugs 16y ago

it's true. typing is pretty much what made the iphone. before the iphone it was just assumed (even by me) that a soft keyboard was simply not usable. if you cant type on it, it's worthless. ed: and it's important to point out that typing is also a surprisingly easy experience on the ipad.