That’s what the Financial Times is saying. Their Tech Blog has given its first impressions.
Clearly the market for this device, which was designed by Samsung’s phone division, not its computer division, is smartphone users, with such user’s interest in portability. Also:
Samsung scores easy wins with features Apple left out. Video calling (which I wasn’t able to test in my brief look yesterday) to a tablet fulfils a future-is-now fantasy (although Apple is bringing that to the iPod touch too). The front and back cameras can also work with augmented-reality apps, such as Google’s own Places or Layar, which could be more useable on a bigger screen than a phone.
With the latest Android, Froyo, comes Flash, and the Galaxy tab also supports DivX, which when combined with a Micro-SD slot makes transferring anything you’ve downloaded (from, er, anywhere) really easy.
Samsung has also pre-loaded its own “hub” software bundles in an attempt to stand ahead of the inevitable flood of Android tablets. Readers’ Hub brings together newspapers (powered by PressDisplay), books (from Kobo) and magazines (courtesy of Zinio) into one app, while Social Hub pulls together Facebook, Twitter et al. There are also Media and Music Hubs, which like Kobo’s bookshelves, take many of their design cues from Apple’s stores.
I will be very interested in seeing it at their press event next week. Ever since the new, upgraded iPod Touch has come out it started me thinking about using my iPhone as an iPod Touch and then moving over to an Android phone. (My recent experience in NYC with AT&T’s on-again, off-again, 3G service was maddening.) Perhaps I should consider the Galaxy Tab instead of a Droid or Galaxy S phone. To be honest, I don’t really use the “phone” part of the iPhone that much. I’m mostly a data and media person.
The size of the iPad is really something I don’t like much. If I’m going to carry something that big and heavy I might as well carry my MacBook Air. It’s too big and heavy to tote around in my messenger bag and it is pretty limited in what it can do in terms of media playback file formats. The umbilical cord to iTunes is also a pain. I like the idea, with the Samsung, of just putting an AVI or XviD on the machine directly. It looks, also, to be about the perfect size for a portable ereader.
We’ll see.
