Why Galaxy Tab over Another Brand?

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With the approaching release of the 10.1 and seemingly the 8.9 Galaxy Tabs, there are alot of choices going to be available on the market for Android Tablets. Many other big names are joining the fray...so many of you may be wondering...why Samsung vs the other makers?

Having owned nearly every brand of tablet as they've come along (except Xoom) (yes, I'm a gadget whore...I can't help it!) my preference is with a Samsung Device...here's why:

1) For most of the other vendors it's a first attempt at a Tablet device. Kinks will have to be worked out, and it usually ends up being a 3-6 month adventure of updates to get things smooth. Essentially making the device dated and obsolete at that time. (August 2011..Tegra4 anyone?) Mind you, Samsung had to learn some of these same things with a device that's been on the market for months now...so they've got a head start. Aside from the bugs with a new OS (Honeycomb), they should be releasing a damn solid piece of equipment.

2) Entertainment...so far, none of the other brands have services that at least strive to be similar to iTunes. Samsung Media Hub and it's music service have a way to go yet, but they give me options for entertainment right out of the box. I've rented a few movies through it...and quality & convenience is perfect for what I was looking for.

3) Hardware development...Samsung makes damn good hardware, and I wouldn't be surprised to see those Dual Core cpu's (Exynos...or sumthin?) they've been readying in future Tabs instead of Tegra chips. Aside from that, build quality has never been an issue IMO.

4) Brand Device cooperation...like Apple, Samsung has a whole slew of other devices that I'm sure will play nice with our Tabs. There are a few apps in the market that already point to this direction in the future.

5) Popularity - Samsung has an edge here...and for External Development sake, that's good for the end-user, us. Yes HTC has a huge following in the phone forums, and that will automatically spill over into their Tablets...but like I said, it will be their first venture into that category. The Vibrant forums are continually active and exciting, tho the current Tab forum seems overrun with crickets for the most part. There's still a few devoted devs cranking out Galaxy Tab Rom Goodness!

Don't get me wrong, there ARE some negatives...at the forefront of those is an outdated file system and bloated UI, both of which lag the Samsung devices. I'm hoping Honeycomb will eliminate at least the UI issues, as none of us wants to see Touch-Wiz overlaid on top of the hot 3.0 screenage. We can only keep our fingers crossed at Sammys use of RFS filesystems.

In closing...HTC / Asus / and the others are gonna have to be extremely aggressive out of the gates with their first Tablets to give Samsung a run for our money. Hope my opinions have helped you gain some excitement for March 22nd, and Sammy's announcements! I'd love to see other input that adds onto, or against this train of thought.

Some Linkage...

Exynos CPU
http://phandroid.com/2011/03/04/sams...ming-showcase/

Galaxy Tab 8.9
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/09/s...mpressive-sli/

Galaxy Tab 10.1
http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/21952...irst_look.html

Oh...and stay tuned for reviews of both the 10.1 and 8.9 Tabs, I'll need to at least try em out lmao.

wow! thx for the faqs

Thanks for that. Nice outlook on the galaxy 10.1 there. With regards to your mentioned 22nd march, is that the date of UK release?

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Originally Posted by HAJ32

Thanks for that. Nice outlook on the galaxy 10.1 there. With regards to your mentioned 22nd march, is that the date of UK release?

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22nd of March is when Samsung are having an event in Florida. It is widely thought that they will announce the 8.9" Tablet.

It is not known when either tablet will be released. Should be soon though.

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Ok thanks. Basically I'm UK based and am desperate to get a tablet. For me its down to the xoom or the Samsung 10.1. I am already able to pre order the xoom for £500 but I am unsure on what to purchase. If the Samsung is much more it may come down to price, but at the moment they are pretty much neck and neck. The only thing I see putting the xoom in front is the SD card slot that should come into use in a near future update.

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There is another advantage not mentioned that is huge for me personnally....
The 10.1 is so much lighter and slimmer than any other available or coming honeycomb tablet.
It's 130g lighter than the Xoom. It has had to sacrifice extra ports to do it, but weight for a portable device is an essential selling point.
I am sure though that connectivity issues will come via an additional port such as HDMI connectivity which is fine for many who actually rarely use Hdmi.

the only minus i can see in the product it the lack of microsd slot, det hdmi and usb part i dont care about, this is 2011 and in 2011 i normally use dlna og manage everything over Wifi and 3g, so what do i need to hdmi for? damn i can't wait to this tablet comes out!

Agreed...I could care less about HDMI port. USB connectivity irks me a little, and seeming lack of SD card slot as well. However, 16gb should be just fine as I'll continue to use my phone as my music player as it's more portable. Video storage might be a concern though.

HMDI output for me is not important, as I have an HTPC setup in my living room. Haven't had cable tv in a few years, using various streaming services for entertainment.

The only reason I wouldn't get the Samsung tablets is because of the cheap plastic Samsung is obsessed with using on all of their devices. Hands-on with the 10.1 have already belittled the device to a "cheap plastic toy tablet". No other well-known major Android manufacturer has taken this approach with any of the announced Honeycomb tablets.

Even the presumed aluminum rim around the GTab 10.1 is said to be plastic. The only reason I will consider their tablets is because of the specs. More specifically the screen.

Originally Posted by Eclair~

The only reason I wouldn't get the Samsung tablets is because of the cheap plastic Samsung is obsessed with using on all of their devices. Hands-on with the 10.1 have already belittled the device to a "cheap plastic toy tablet". No other well-known major Android manufacturer has taken this approach with any of the announced Honeycomb tablets.

Even the presumed aluminum rim around the GTab 10.1 is said to be plastic. The only reason I will consider their tablets is because of the specs. More specifically the screen.

Couple things to consider here...weight for one. Cost would also factor in. If they release the 10.1 around Xoom pricing, that'd be a mistake. Although, have you held the Xoom? It feels almost identical to the Viewsonic GTab, perhaps slightly more solid because of the aluminum....all the tablets I've gone through have had similar builds, except the iPad. I loved the iPad's durability...just not the closed OS & aspect ratio / build format. I prefer the widescreen build.

The plastic is durable however, without a doubt. In all the posts here on XDA, I've rarely seen a comment regarding the body of a device breaking. Most have shattered a screen. I've dropped my devices extremely rarely...maybe two times over the course of a year, and that was my Vibrant phone. Not even a scratch.Am I overly cautious? Not that I've noticed...I just don't take the tablets when I'm hiking / biking / wrestling / playing football. Plus, I like to sell them when I get bored, so I like them to be mint. Not to mention I NEVER use a device without a case, personal preference.