Samsung Galaxy Tab review: device a “mess” aka iPad still winning tablet war

Nov 10, 2010 - 11 Comments

samsung galaxy tab review

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is said to be the first legitimate competitor to the iPad, but you wouldn’t know it based on the absolutely scathing review that Gizmodo writes of the device. Calling the Tab a “wreck” and “mess” that isn’t fit for humans, they basically say that the device isn’t anything for the iPad to worry about (that is me putting it nicely):

This thing is just a mess. It’s like a tablet drunkenly hooked up with a phone, and then took the fetus swimming in a Superfund cleanup site. The browser is miserable, at least when Flash is enabled. It goes catatonic, scrolling is laggy, and it can get laughably bad. When better browsing is half the reason to go for a larger screen, that’s insanity. Not only does it use a stupid proprietary charging/syncing cable, it won’t charge when you plug it into a laptop. Neither of the cameras are anything to write home about. Costing $599 off-contract is embarrassing when the iPad starts at $499. (Update: Fair point, the iPad 3G starts at $629. But it’s got a bigger screen, and this thing still sucks.)

Ouch. I have to say this is surprising to me, the Galaxy Tab looks nice in an iPad knock-off sort of way, and it’s running Android which really is a decent mobile OS, how could so much go wrong? Could you get a worse review? I guess it wasn’t all bad, Gizmodo did praise the Galaxy Tab’s screen and battery life… as if that’s any consolation to their final thoughts; “The Tab is an awkward first attempt at this kind of tablet—wait for somebody else to do it better.”

You can read the full review at Gizmodo, it’s not pretty. Oh and if you were somehow on the fence between a Galaxy Tab and an iPad, you can comfortably buy the iPad now.

.

Related articles:

Posted by: Paul Horowitz in iPad, News

11 Comments

» Comments RSS Feed

  1. moi says:

    hahaha its using froyo at the moment of the review. I have gingerbread on it and IT IS AWESOME

  2. Aditya says:

    I have used both the ipad and Galaxy tab. The latter is much more functional and performance is very good to say the least. The ipad is just fashion. not at all useful. I wanted one device to replace all my clutter – my media player, the cam, the tablet and pda – the ipad is no where near the galaxy tab in that scalability. I believe the review is biased.

    • Aditya says:

      Also would like to add that the Galaxy Tab DEFINITELY CHARGES from a laptop and is capable of multitasking. I am browsing while listening to music and charging the tab right now. More reason to doubt the credibility of the review.

  3. gil batzri says:

    Both of those “reviews” are/were laughable. I am writing this on a galaxy tab. I have used iphone android mac and windows pcs. This is a fine product, the only way i can see drawing this conclusion is the reviewers have apple stock or work for apple.

    Pathetic.

  4. leonard hall says:

    Got my galaxy tab about 5-7 weeks ago.i have a toshiba
    an imac and several palms and pocket pcs also a nokia internet tablet.the laptop is dual booted with windows 7 and ubuntu lucid lynx.as to the speed issue i havent had any problems web pages load quickly for the most part some load a little slowly but the same pages generally load slowly whether on a mac or windows machine.I Love my tab the size factor is perfect to me.flash works great,the apps market if good,and sideloading is no big deal.I never take my laptop around with me anymore.the seven inch form factor is portability incarnate.my only bitch is would it have killed them
    to use regular sd? And to include a usb or two? Not crazy about the charge/sync cable either but these are minor lapses of judgement
    and no where near deal breakers(P.S.I am posting this on my tab
    because i would feel like a hypocrit if i didnt) in conclusion go to a retailler and try one i bet you will have to modify some if not all of your comments if you are an honest person and not a fanatic of on O.S. Or another.

  5. Biller says:

    Tablets market is not very clear at the moment.
    What do we expect from those Devices. When Netbooks do everything you wanna do but they are slow and Laggy.

    SamsungTab tried to get into deep waters with this device , they added Flash and near PC experience to a 1Ghz Cpu , it simply not good enough. On the other hand iPad didn’t promise Flash or any other kind of PC functionality. They did best , they was more honest with the People. They Said what it can do and what not. So people did knew what to expect – it is a game machine / browsing / mail etc.

    Samsung is Selling their Tab and promising a good near PC experience. well that is not going to happen unless they put some more Power in it.

  6. leonardoP says:

    As usual, apple fanboys pretend to have bought the best device of ever, even when the ipad is well known to be an abort: it is neither a computer, nor a telephone, it’s just an abort! I own a galaxy tab and I compared with my brother’s in law ipad and the latter seemed to be an idiot (sorry for the idiots!) compared to Einstein: the browser with flash runs fantastically, the pages where opened (both devices were connected to the same network) in half the time on the galaxy tab. I carry with me everywhere in my small bag where it fits perfectly, my brother in law cannot, he lives it at home… The 3G connection is marvelous and not linked (in Italy at least) with any carrier, at difference with the ipad. And, very important, it’s a telephone, not just a giant telephone which doesn’t make calls, like the ipad. Who writes such completely biased and false information is just a fanatic who doesn’t deserve any credit… and should be prosecuted legally by samsung (btw: I don’t work for Samsung, and I am also a linux/mac/windows user, therefore completely independent by any label, simply a non fanatic user!)…

    • Br3aker says:

      You’re like the one guy who brings some sense into a political argument. I salute you sir.

      Also, inb4 Apple Fanboy flames. >.>

  7. stevej says:

    gizmodo is a well know fanboy website

    • Peter says:

      I don’t know about that, ever since the whole iPhone 4 theft fiasco they have been on an anti-Apple kick. Engadget took their place.

  8. Mark says:

    It’s funny they say the browser is miserable with Flash, maybe Android will kill Flash too.

Leave a Reply

 

Shop on Amazon.com and help support OSXDaily!

Subscribe to OSXDaily

Subscribe to RSS Subscribe to Twitter Feed Follow on Facebook Subscribe to eMail Updates

Tips & Tricks

News

iPhone / iPad

Mac

Troubleshooting

Shop on Amazon to help support this site