Database Users

My review of the Galaxy Tab - updated 02/02/2011

***UPDATED 2ND FEBRUARY 2011***
Ive decided to write a quick review of the Galaxy Tab. It may help some of the undecided to make up their mind before release day.
I purchased my device in Russia, though the hardware and some bloatware is from Italy. It is the 16GB model, running stock JK5 firmware.
Specs
Full hardware specifications can be found at GSMArena. They also have a nice 3D view and lots of high res photos.
Price
I paid $1200 for mine in early October - it was one of the very first in town. Can now be had for $800 though. Its unlocked and works flawlessly on both the carriers i subscribe to (MTS and Megafon). No regrets.
Build
Solid as they come. No flex of any kind. Good glossy materials that look expensive. Combined with the SGP Argos case the tab just looks so much richer than an ipad. I think its the Gorilla Glass
Usability
Very easy to hold in one hand and also (importantly for ipad owners) very natural to hold in two. The keyboard can be typed on with the thumbs of both hands in landscape, which is excellent.
The screen is a glossy but sunlight proof Super TFT LCD (aka S-IPS, the same tech as the ipad), with excellent color, good whites and contrast. Color saturation, as well as black/white density are easily adjustable from the settings menu so the picture can be tweaked to taste. Whats more, you can always tilt the tablet just a few degrees in your hand to avoid most reflections - the viewing angles are what youd expect from an IPS display - excellent!
It has been said the display is inferior to the ipad. This is not entirely true - hydis supplies the same tech to both sammy and lg (who assemble ipad displays).
There is a ghosting issue, but it is unnoticeable under normal conditions. I wonder if its connected to the gpu rather than display itself, because it seems quite unlikely that a modern lcd could possibly have such slow response times as to be clearly visible...
My only gripe is the 16:9 resolution, which is not all that useful for viewing web pages. We could have done with a less widescreen form factor (16:10 would have been perfect). That said, it really does fit excellently into almost any jean pocket, and in most of my inside jacket pockets.
Speed
The device boots quickly and the default Touchwiz home launcher is very smooth. Applications scroll smoothly, as does the app drawer. LauncherPro works flawlessly and has the added advantage of removing the taskbar if needed.
The biggest problem Ive encountered speed wise is in the stock 2.2 browser, which is slow to render and unresponsive in my JK5 Tab. Hopefully there will be significant improvements in Gingerbread and Honeycomb, but for now Im using a combination of Dolphin Mini and Firefox/Fennec nighlies.
Apps
The majority of applications i use on my phones work well in high resolution, but there are many out there that do not. I can see that the market has a long way to go before the kind of apps that are available on the ipad appear there too.
There is now a tweak which will stretch most apps to fullscreen perfectly using an app called Spare Parts from the market.
The simple theming options now available from XDA members here should be welcomed by anyone interested in making small tweaks to the interface. In my book this is definitely a win for android in general.
Playback
Annoyingly, youtube videos are pretty crappy. The app seems to do a lot of post-processing, probably because it defaults to a 480p resolution (though i counld be wrong on this). In any case, the ipad is definitely a winner in this department.
For general viewing i use vPlayer Alpha - it plays almost every video with no problems. AVI and MKV files are my mainstay, and to finally use them on an android os device with a gorgeous screen, as they were intended, is a joy.
The Allshare app that streams via DLNA is also quite good, though slow populating lists from my 2tb server. Not to worry though, XDA members have already got cifs.ko working, so head on to the dev section if you want to speed things up.
Also, the internal SD's FAT file system wont allow files larger than 4GB, so you'll have to split your 720p movies. Pretty annoying, all things considered.
The speakers on the device are excellent for listening to music, but in an annoying position if you are holding your tab and watching movies.
Phone, messaging, GPS
The phone works very well. Calls are clear and crisp, though the awful audio is pretty annoying without earphones. The Samsung email app is excellent, especially in landscape mode. A great replacement for gmail. Messaging is also very good and reminds me of handsent sms, but you can always replace it if you're a heavy user.
GPS worked flawlessly for me. Most of the time without A-GPS to conserve battery and accuracy was excellent. Apparently the Orange firmware has superior GPS, so if you are looking to increase the accuracy and acquisition speed a simple tweak is available to everyone with root in the dev section.
Bugs
In the four months Ive been using it, the Tab has exhibited few errors. It runs nice and cool and has experienced very few force closes.
However, i did have trouble connecting to the Kies software for a while. It took some shamanism to get it going at first, but having upgraded to the JK5 OTA everything is now stable on my x64 machine.
The Samsung email app sometimes fails to provide notifications to the taskbar, despite having downloaded mail.
Battery
The battery is excellent. Personally i find that with heavy use (and i don't watch much video) the battery lasts 8-10 hours. In standby it lasts for many days, especially in airplane mode+on demeand wifi. With nonstop use it would probably do no more than 6. I dont use the power saving feature, and brightness is generally set about half way.
Conclusion
The Tab is a great device right now, but i expect it will get a lot better with a few firmware updates down the road. Android at its best.
Pros:
Ergonomic, svelte, fast, good GPS, full market access, almost bug free
Cons:
Annoying aspect ratio, no files larger than 4GB.
XDA GALAXY TAB BIBLE - ALL GUIDES ON ONE PAGE

Hmmm...interesting. After a few days use, and now reading your review, I'm starting to think there are two different versions out there.
While I agree with most of your comments, some of them seem totally off the mark for me, among those:
The Samsung email app seems pretty awful to me. It's painfully slow and takes ages to connect to POP3 or SMTP servers. It has also force closed a few times. Whereas the new GMail client is damn near perfect IMHO.
Also, I'm having trouble finding quite a few apps in the market. And it's not because they're not available in my country or not compatible with the Galaxy Tab. Latest example: UAE (Amiga emulator) for Android. Works fine, but I had to download it with my G1 and then transfer the apk to the Tab.
On the other hand, I find that the new Youtube client works flawlessly. Fast, smooth, auto-fullscreen in landscape mode. Awesome. Also, the browser is a delight. Blindingly fast (much faster than anything I've tried on my other Android devices) and amazingly intuitive to use (stuff like automatically scaling the text perfectly, ultra smooth pinch-to-zoom, very flexible editing options in textboxes etc.)
Finally, and this seems the weirdest discrepancy of all: My screen is most-certainly not matte. It's high gloss and very attractive to fingerprints.
So? Two versions of the Tab?

excellent first review and i agree with all the points being using the tab since one week....
thanks for putting that down mate.....

Rapax said:
Hmmm...interesting. After a few days use, and now reading your review, I'm starting to think there are two different versions out there.
While I agree with most of your comments, some of them seem totally off the mark for me, among those:
The Samsung email app seems pretty awful to me. It's painfully slow and takes ages to connect to POP3 or SMTP servers. It has also force closed a few times. Whereas the new GMail client is damn near perfect IMHO.
Also, I'm having trouble finding quite a few apps in the market. And it's not because they're not available in my country or not compatible with the Galaxy Tab. Latest example: UAE (Amiga emulator) for Android. Works fine, but I had to download it with my G1 and then transfer the apk to the Tab.
On the other hand, I find that the new Youtube client works flawlessly. Fast, smooth, auto-fullscreen in landscape mode. Awesome. Also, the browser is a delight. Blindingly fast (much faster than anything I've tried on my other Android devices) and amazingly intuitive to use (stuff like automatically scaling the text perfectly, ultra smooth pinch-to-zoom, very flexible editing options in textboxes etc.)
Finally, and this seems the weirdest discrepancy of all: My screen is most-certainly not matte. It's high gloss and very attractive to fingerprints.
So? Two versions of the Tab?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. I definitely share your impression all the way. I also have glossy very fingerprint friendly screen with the same behaviour. Fast browser, flawless youtube, and good gmail app.

Well, i dont know why, but id guess youre running different firmware... could you tell us what it is please?

Sure.
Bought the phone in Switzerland, unbranded unlocked version. Running on Swisscom network.
I haven't rooted it or modified anything yet, so this is still retail version.
From the device info tab (translated freely from german, please forgive any errors):
Model: GT-P1000
Firmware Version: 2.2
Basebandversion: P1000XXJID
Kernel-Version: 2.6.32.9 [email protected] #1
Build Number: FROYO.XXJID

Mine is exactly the same. However, the Webkit browser is definitely not smooth. I am using the Flash player update, so it may be partly responsible.
How very strange... im using webkit to access the android version of igoogle with 10 fully expanded widgets right now. Its definitely not smooth.
Definitely not like iOS or Opera Mini are smooth.

I would suggest everyone will dial *#1234# and put in here all the info about firmware.
What I got is PDA and CSC are JJ2 and PHONE JJ1.
CSC is locally branded for my operator (Cellcom)

My Italian tab bought in Russia:
PDA: P1000XXJID
PHONE: P1000XXJID
CSC: P1000OXAJID

Could you test it with Quadrant and let me know what the score is?

$1200 ?!!! Seriously, that much? Not worth it really. I mean I have an Epic 4g so I can attest to how good the Galaxy line is but to pay that much is ridiculous really. No offense though if you can afford it but that's a lot for this thing.
Forgive My Brevity. To Be Or Not To Be...

I share the same experiences as others in regards to the Samsung email client.
It's good but it is slow.
Fortunately, Nitrodesk just released a new version of Touchdown a few days ago which supports Tab devices and has the same layout as the Samsung email app.
The major advantage is that it is not slow at all and has ton of more exchange features.
I also find the browser problematic and slow, with our without flash (just like the SGS). there is something very wrong about the browser sumsung is releasing with 2.2 and i hope it can be fixed with future firmwares.
Strangely enough, using Dolphin HD (which is also using the same libwebcore.so file) is resulting is a slightly better experience.
Other than that i am really enjoying the Tab. there is no lag at all in the OS (minus the browser). Youtube works just fine for me and the video player did play every file i threw at it until now.
I find the battery life very good and i am heavy user. i get more than on full day with heavy use.
You *should* be getting 8 hours usage with screen on (i.e. actual usage).
Update: i do find the task bar drawer to be jittery for some reason on any firmware BUT XXJI5. on JI5 it is super smooth and solid so i am not sire what Samsung hanged in all other firmwares that makes it so slow.

I paid about the same as most eu states for one of 10 that a friend actually shipped from Italy as a test batch. Others are paying 700 to 900 euro.

Hi
Couple of web sites indicated that galaxy tab is using atmel screen where it allows using solid objects like stylus and not only finger touch. Could please confirm if stylus working with galaxy tab.

Its a capacitive display, so a capacitive stylus will work.

For anyone interested, I've just finished the Hemorrdroids.net review -
http://hemorrdroids.net/samsung-galaxy-tab-review/
Thanks.

Review looks good, Look forward to seeing it when released in the US...

AndyCr15 said:
For anyone interested, I've just finished the Hemorrdroids.net review -
http://hemorrdroids.net/samsung-galaxy-tab-review/
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice review
A small note about the section where you mention the lack of a kickstand. There are many cases ( official & third party ones ) that allow you to use it like a laptop

Is there a good site for Tab accessories? I want to contact and see if they want anything reviewing

AndyCr15 said:
Is there a good site for Tab accessories? I want to contact and see if they want anything reviewing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should contact "zenus" and review some of those great-looking cases they have. It's a shame they have no reps in Europe... I think they're Korean or sth.
That's their official site, check those great cases ( some forum members already bought galaxy tab cases from zenus )
http://www.zenuscase.com/index.php

Another review of the Galaxy Tab - Sprint

hey don't be grading me on this
It’s too small!! It’s too big for a phone!! It’s too expensive!! Google says Android isn’t meant for tablets!! Seems to be what a lot of people are saying to bash the Tab, whether they have actually used / seen the device we do not know but my guess is no. A lot is riding on this device as it is the first ‘true competitor' to Apple’s iPad. The question is does the Tab hold up to this high standard that Apple has put in place? I think it is important to know that the Android OS on the Tab hasn’t been completely reworked to look like a tablet, whatever that may be. It seems like that comment from Hugo Barra, director of products for mobile at Google, was taken a bit too far. The software that comes on the Galaxy Tab is pretty much the same stuff you would see on your typical Galaxy S phone or any other Andoird device. Only a few apps have been modified to take use of the extra real estate. If you already own an Android device you will immediately be at home with your Galaxy Tab as it delivers the same experience you would expect on your phone.
Initial Impressions
The first thing you will notice about the Tab when you hold it is that it is a very solid device. That seems to be what everyone who’s held mine has said, and it’s true! Its 7” size actually fits really well in your hand. Holding it with one hand and using the other for surfing the web is pefect. Contrary to what people say, having a device in this size just feels better, and more natural. The Tab is very easy to hold and very easy to type with in portrait - you don’t feel like you are stretching your fingers across the screen to hit the keys and I would consider this very important. The screen offers a much higher PPI over the competition which in turn offers stunning clarity. Now I must note that the Galaxy Tab does not offer S-AMOLED. Rumors say that this may change, but don’t let that deter you from your purchase.
Pricing
Ah, pricing. Here’s where a lot of people start to complain that it is ‘too expensive’. To be fair, look at mobile phones. Off contract they are about $500. Sprint and T-Mobile both offer this device on a 2 year contract for $400 (may have to go in store for off contract prices), while ATT offers it for $650 and VZW offers it for $600 with pay as you go data plans (no contract price offered). This seems to be pretty fair... it is good to have options. Comparatively, Apple starts their 16GB iPad 3G for $650 with a no on contract price. 32GB and 64GB devices add about $100 to the price. I’ve also noticed a lot tend to confuse the price of the iPad WiFi to the Galaxy Tab. Saying iPad starts at $499. Well, yes, it does, but we need to compare apples to apples. There is no WiFi offering as of yet for the Tab so let’s not compare it to something that that is in a different class. So pick your flavor, would you rather get the device cheaper and be locked in a data contract or would you rather pay more and pay data as you go. Side note: Personally these devices should not be locked into a 2 year contact. Actually, I think all mobile devices should be 1 year only. Life cycles of electronics are far, far less than 2 years, but I digress.
Hardware
The hardware. CPU/GPU combination is one of the strongest in the market. The Tab has the same CPU and GPU that’s found in other Galaxy S phones. The device has a MicroSD slot for user upgradable memory (up to 32GB), volume rockers, an off button (which I wish was on the top and not the side arg), and has capacitive buttons to go back, home, search, and to access settings of an app. NOTE: It would be really nice if the capacitive buttons stayed on when the screen was lit because in the dark it’s hard to find them. A front and rear facing camera is also included. The front features a 1.3mp camera and the back features a 3.2mp camera. Maybe Samsung skimped on the rear camera… but you aren’t going to be replacing your point and shoot so this is not a deal breaker. I would have been nice to see all the effects in the camera settings like the ones seen on the Galaxy S phones. Quadrant scores are only about 1000, which seems a bit low for a device that is a lot more powerful than most devices on the internet. There is a fix for this which takes scores over 2000 but overall people say the device just feels the same (from what I read). Over all the hardware is top notch.
Not going to go into memory because some carriers have different specs.
Software
The device ships with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and features Samsungs TouchWiz UI. The overall feel of the TouchWiz UI is pretty good but it would be nice to have a few more options with the app drawer though. Rather than scrolling left or right to view apps it would nice to have the option to switch to up and down scrolling. I also am not fond of the background square behind the app. My biggest issue with the TouchWiz UI is that you can’t switch which homescreen your home button goes to. You can add up to 9 screens but you can’t change the fact that number 1 is always the home screen. With it like this you can only scroll to the right from home, not left and right.
The default browser has no home button. What’s up with that? That’s a pretty big letdown. Brower performance is not stellar either. Sites that have flash can be very laggy. Being a tablet and having that extra screen real estate shouldn’t mean that sites are forced to their mobile variant. Some mobile sites don’t even have the option to do to desktop and when you are trying to view flash content (like TV shows) this can be frustrating. I recommend downloading Dolphin HD this browser seems to fix some of my issues sans the mobile site issue. The Tab comes with Swype as the standard keyboard. I don’t love it and I don’t hate it because I do use it sometimes, but the one thing that bothers me with Swype is when you tell it to predict words from the settings and then you type, it puts the words in this box rather than in the field you are typing in. With it this way I feel I am constantly making errors when I type. The Tab also has the Samsung keyboard installed. I like this one a little better but I can’t seem to figure out how to turn off the vibrating when I type. The text box for corrections keeps popping up and down when corrections are needed and it can get pretty frustrating because it moves the window you are looking at. After some research Smart Keyboard Pro fixed all my problems.
Bottom line, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is a solid device and lives up to my expections. Whether you buy it out right or on contract you will definitely love it. The pros out weight the cons and the really most cons are really just me be being picky.
Pros:
• Solid device, feels good in hand.
• Easy to type with, very mobile and light.
• Battery life is great.
• Hardware is top notch.
• Screen is great and very clear.
• Has both front and rear cameras.
• Different carriers to choose from.
• Android 2.2.
• Some stock apps are made to be more tablet friendly.
• Great for reading books.
• Very minimal bloat with Sprint version.
• Gorilla Glass for screen
• Sends and receives unlimted SMS, MMS (with data plan).
Cons:
• Not many apps made specifically for the device. Yet.
• Stock browser performance sucks, no home button.
• Samsung connector – Not necessarily a negative but mini or micro USB would have been nicer.
• Swype could use some work / no default Android keyboard.
• Phone feature taken out for US users.
• No way to assign home screens to home button. Default home screen is panel 1.
• No WiFi 'only' model.
• 2 year contracts if purchased on contract. Where’s the 1 year?!
• Emails disappear randomly.
• Samsung seems to be lagging on 2.2 for the other Galaxy S devices, will the same be true when 2.3 comes out for the Tab?
• Video Player FC on me about 6 times when watching a movie. Movie rented from Media Hub with $50 credit.
The device is definitely worth an 8.5/10. Expect the device to get better when updates are put out/new OS arrives.

I could not agree more....I initially regretted the purchase only because I felt like I didn't really need it as is still the case, but I love it nonetheless. I too have a sprint version.
The browsing experience left a bit to be desired, but Dolphin HD does help out a bit. As time passes, support for the tab will grow and we'll start seeing many more dedicated apps
Even though not perfect, I'd still pick out over an ipad any day
Sent from my SPH-P100 using XDA App

I have used the galaxy tab for a 2 weeks. I have never regretted. I have used it for reading email, ebook, surf internet and internet chat. The user experience is good.
sent from Sgp Galaxy Tab

+1 on nearly everything.
What I understand is that the connector for the tab its a PDMI port which is to become the new standard for portable media devices. If so, this shows excellent insight by samsung, ans in the future we will be able to take advantage of new accessories and tech.

Download Dolphin HD browser for faster performance.
On some versions of the Galaxy Tab (Verizon), you can set Home screens.

makami19 said:
+1 on nearly everything.
What I understand is that the connector for the tab its a PDMI port which is to become the new standard for portable media devices. If so, this shows excellent insight by samsung, ans in the future we will be able to take advantage of new accessories and tech.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dell is using it on the Streak as well, I believe.

ConceptVBS said:
Download Dolphin HD browser for faster performance.
On some versions of the Galaxy Tab (Verizon), you can set Home screens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we are gonna need someone to rip out the touchwiz apk

Croak said:
Dell is using it on the Streak as well, I believe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The port on the Streak is not the same as the Tab. I believe that the Streak is PDMI.
Regards,
Dave

I agree with pretty much what you said. I got rid of touch wiz and use launcher pro. It's much more customizable. One of the things I notice on the kb (swype at least) is when I go on forums and double tap a word to edit I can't select the word. Not sure why. On others like typing a url outre other things I can select it. Just not in forums context. Weird.

mach330 said:
I agree with pretty much what you said. I got rid of touch wiz and use launcher pro. It's much more customizable. One of the things I notice on the kb (swype at least) is when I go on forums and double tap a word to edit I can't select the word. Not sure why. On others like typing a url outre other things I can select it. Just not in forums context. Weird.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have LauncherPro on my Incredible, but I installed ADW on the Tab and it seems to be doing well.

Excellent and honest review. I think the Tab is the least worst tablet out there, which is praise indeed. Lots of others will join the party in the next few months but Samsung have made a very good first effort. Like the OP, it annoys me when people compare this device to the cheapest wifi-only iPad. This device has much more capability. A better comparison is to the latest smartphones, and right now I can pick up a Tab for less (often a lot less) than say an HTC Desire HD or an iPhone 4 (this is unlocked prices in the UK). In that context the Tab is good value. Shame the iPad mania has blinkered people to this situation.

Even with more use I love my tab. I'm hoping 2.3 makes it to the device. Being it was made for a 'galaxy d'oeuvres phone it would be interesting to see what comes out of this.
Sent from my Droid Incredible

Acer A500 disapointment ...

Hello, I just bought an Acer A500, this is my first Android device (I own an iphone 3gs).
But I am very dispointed by its speed. I was hoping it would be as fast and smooth (at least !) as my old iphone 3gs but it's not ... When you scroll a web page it's not smooth, whatever the web browser I tried, even single web page as Google !
The only smooth scrolls are when you use the photo browser or when you scroll through the icons pages. For the rest, even the Android Market app, it's not smooth at all.
So is there any optimisation we can do to let the A500 display everything smoother, or is it just an Android 3.0 problem which may be corrected in a future release ?
Thanks

The coming Android OS 3.1 will be better. The update including the browser stability and smoothness.
.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

Thanks, I just hope now the 3.1 will come quickly to the A500 and that it will really be smoother ...

My experience with the A500 is very fluid. I find that browsing to be "fast & smooth" as well. So, I'm left scratching my head that your receiving a better browsing experience on a 3GS. Could you upload a video sample on youtube? Some people have reported wifi issues with their device and that could be the culprit to your browsing experience. See if coming in close proximity of your wifi AP improves your browsing experience. If so then search this forum for what others have done to resolve the wifi issue. I am not having an issue so I have not further investigated the wifi issue.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

The browsing experience is a pain in the ass... but that is not from ACER it's from honeycomb...
the stock browser is still unstable and buggy and not support HTML5 and CSS3 as promissed...
and some function supported already by Iphone (field url and email for input do not trigger the good keyboard)
no smooth animation on javascript it s choppy and lost a lot a frame...
-- EDITED --
When I say a pain in the ass I mean, only if we want make or build animated javascript website
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com
this should be SMOOTH...or maybe I expect too much from "high-end" tablet dual-core.
HTML form field url/email
Issue16401 : http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=16401
SenchaMobile.
http://dev.sencha.com/deploy/touch/examples/kitchensink
-- animations ... choppy and not smooth at all...
-- Buttons ... rounded are... weirdly rendered but that is not a real issues from the android, but probably from webkit or more from also sencha methods.. but still
flickering on any page change...
you can see this flickering also when you are on form fields
-- FEEDBACK --
I do not mean anything wrong, I said before that Android 3.0 is young and will grow up by time with better and better things to come I love android and I love Acer Tablet, really good products
-- 3.1 --
it's come in this month "confirmed by Acer Thailand" but no final date yet...
So far my disapointment are not same
I just see the UI improvement on Samsung Galaxy 8.6... it's so nice the UI is sweeeeet
the status bar, with the turn on/off many things...
the fast app launcher on the bottom... WoOow sweet...
I hope we will got some flavor of it
IMPORTANT:
I own 2 tablets Acer A500
I own 2 Liquid Metal S120

You should probably return it. Nobody has yet had these issues, so it might be something wrong with your tablet.

@bec07 : who ?

You and the OP.

It is important to note that not all websites are created equal. I have fast and smooth experiences with some sites and horrible one with others. There are too many variables from code quality, embedded media and offsite advertising, amount of content on a given page etc to truly quantify a 'good' or 'bad' browsing experience.
Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Some of it has to do with the browser, some has to do with the page you're loading.

gammaRascal said:
It is important to note that not all websites are created equal. I have fast and smooth experiences with some sites and horrible one with others. There are too many variables from code quality, embedded media and offsite advertising, amount of content on a given page etc to truly quantify a 'good' or 'bad' browsing experience.
Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Some of it has to do with the browser, some has to do with the page you're loading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, google.com is fast for me, but this site xda is very slow.

I use Dolphin HD browser... faster and more features.

Basicly all tablets are identical at this point. Some thinner, some thicker but only one manufacturer was smart enough to add the full size USB port.
Since the hardware is identical and it really packs quite a punch those issues should not happen. It would be best they check with their retailer or inconspicuously go to try out another A500.

Bec07 said:
Basicly all tablets are identical at this point. Some thinner, some thicker but only one manufacturer was smart enough to add the full size USB port.
Since the hardware is identical and it really packs quite a punch those issues should not happen. It would be best they check with their retailer or inconspicuously go to try out another A500.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 2 tablet and both are identical so I should change all tablet... naaaa don't think so.
I do think the 3.1 will remove some flickering glitch, and smooth maybe the javascript animation and css animation stuff. but for sure some website are poorly coded or got a DOM overloaded that eat the memory.
I do compare Sencha Touch website between iPad 1 and Acer A500... sad that run smoother on the old old iPad rather than on the new A500
but read really, I said the honeycomb and android is still young and buggy and will be better day after day because of the active community and the open mind of the code. do not interpret or miss understand.
It's a fact that browsing is not that smooth that should be, but it's already good.
now have to become the BEST.
(someone told me on the galaxy S II the browser was.... too fast for rendering it's tooooo good, but I didn't check about flickering or else)

I would have to agree with the first post, the web browsing experience is not as nice as iOS in regards to smoothness/scrolling, comapred to my iphone4 and former ipad1, but its not that bad either.
looking forward to 3.1.

sencha was developed with iPhone in mind, that's not really a valid comparison.

sollie said:
Agree, google.com is fast for me, but this site xda is very slow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just change the theme to xda classic and here you go

Today I checked xoom 3.1 videos on youtube, and I'm still disapointed ...
Browsing the web is faster but still not as smooth as it should be.
And not only the web, also the other apps were not 100% fluid.
I don't know if I will wait until the 3.1 comes to the A500 ... I may sell it quick (only owned for 2 days !) and buy an iPad. And believe it or not : yesterday I have been to the hospital because of an epilleptic crisis I did while using the A500, because of the non-smooth scrollings ...
My point of view is that a pad experience seems magic when it's 100% fluid, without this the pad experience seems not far from a laptop experience, which is not what I was searching for.

New android users always feel that. U can easily change ur the launchers such as Launcher Pro which is very smooth and fast in my opinion. There are tweaks around for you to look for and learn while experiencing Android =)
dizzy33 said:
Hello, I just bought an Acer A500, this is my first Android device (I own an iphone 3gs).
But I am very dispointed by its speed. I was hoping it would be as fast and smooth (at least !) as my old iphone 3gs but it's not ... When you scroll a web page it's not smooth, whatever the web browser I tried, even single web page as Google !
The only smooth scrolls are when you use the photo browser or when you scroll through the icons pages. For the rest, even the Android Market app, it's not smooth at all.
So is there any optimisation we can do to let the A500 display everything smoother, or is it just an Android 3.0 problem which may be corrected in a future release ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Ipads have had probably What? 50 updates. A500 had one so far. I have the A500 and my wife's has the Ipad. I think I updated my wife Ipad 3 times since Christmas ( hour or longer updates ) Give it some more updates and the A500 will shine. The way both Tablets are now if I had to sell one of them it would be the Ipad. The only thing I like better about my wife's Ipad is, I can plug it directly into our digital camera and get pictures real fast, but you also have to buy the 30.00 adapter to do this and now you have something more to lose and carry around. JM2C

This is the difference with Apple : with Apple it works fine out of the box, of course a few bugs are corrected in firmware updates but these bug do not avoid you to use your pad.
With Android I feel like in the bad days of Windows mobile : you have to wait for the manufacturer promeses before being able to use your pad properly, but most of the time windows mobile devices never worked as expected ... That's the problem of having one operating system for hundred of devices with different hardwares.
I would be very happy to keep my A500 mainly because of the included usb port, but also because of the price and the fact that Android is more "open", if only Acer would have given us a 3.1 release date I would feel better.
Edit : this time it's sure, I will sell it !!! A current bug let me type very slow on the keyboard, this is the last bug I will accept ! Another big problem has been found : the button bar on the bottom of the screen : I often touch it while using the A500 which freezes the screen ....
I guess I will wait for 3 or 4 more years before going back to Android ! For now I'll stay with Apple.
Thanks anyway to all of you !

Trying to switch from iPad to Galaxy Tab

So I had an iPad 1, and currently have an iPad 2. I recently switched from an iPhone to a Motorola Atrix and as far as a smartphone, I am enjoying Android much better than iOS on the phone. But switching from an iPad to the Galaxy Tab I'm still up in the air about.
So that being said, the GT is about as good as the iPad for our needs, mainly just web browsing in bed. I really didn't need to get the GT, but I was just craving something different to play with. But do have a few issues / questions.
For starters, I've noticed web browsing is a bit sluggish on the GT whereas it is really smooth on the iPad. I installed Dolphin Browser for Tablets, but it seems just as sluggish as the stock browser.
I am also worried about future OS updates from Samsung, being as they don't have the best reputation in that department. Atleast with the iPad I know I can install iOS updates the day they come out.
Does anyone know what's Samsung's timeline for putting out Honeycomb 3.2 for the GT? I was thinking they might skip it being as ICS is due out soon. They might put their effort more into that. I hope they already started working on it so we don't have to wait for a long time for it.
I guess the durability of the GT worries me also. My first one had the Neuton Rings, I exchanged it at best buy, so far so good with the new one. But I am worried that the new one will eventually get them. It's nice with the iPad that if I have any problems I can go right to an Apple store and get it taken care of instead of sending it off for warranty work.
Well so far I like it, I guess maybe only because it is something different to play with, so no major advantage over my iPad so far. But I'm keeping an open mind about it.

chocodough said:
So I had an iPad 1, and currently have an iPad 2. I recently switched from an iPhone to a Motorola Atrix and as far as a smartphone, I am enjoying Android much better than iOS on the phone. But switching from an iPad to the Galaxy Tab I'm still up in the air about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm exactly the same way.
Right now, I've been thinking about getting a tablet for about a month now. I absolutely love Android and am excited about ICS. However, I believe in the tablet department, I think Apple really nailed it in terms of apps.
I believe that apps on the tablet need to be as smooth and as unique to the tablet/pad design. And apart from a very small amount of apps on Android, very few actually run smoothly and have taken advantage of this design.
In saying that, I have no doubt that Google will catch up eventually, but that may be a few years yet in terms of getting the same quality of apps.
At least in terms of tablets, Apple has it perfected, for the time being.

I believe samsung has to give us the most updated version of the android os for at least a year. They talked about fragmentation at the recent Google io and said that all android manufacturers will be part of this deal too. I don't think it should be too long before we see 3.2 or ics
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on the Xda premium app

let me start by saying that these are my opinions.
Hands down the ipad is much smoother with more and higher quality apps. I own both the galaxy tab and the ipad 2, and i use the ipad muvh more because i can do things in a quarter of the time. I dont blame google for that though. I personally think that tegra is a pos, pardo the french. Every honeycomb tab is very laggy that ive tried(except the jetstream). Even the atrix is incredibly laggy when compared to an sgsii.
I typed tis response on my galaxy tab in about ten minutes due to the lag, i could have spent 2 on the ipad

guys stop whining.
90% of the IPad apps are iPhone apps just with higher resolution, they look the same, they feel the same, basically in most cases it feels like you are holding bigger ipod/iPhone.
However the choice of the apps already on appstore is hands down.
with android there is no key word like "You need an app for that"
you don't need an app to watch youtube
you don't need and app to check your bank account
...
I have 50 apps on my tablet where 80% is games
I have one video player app 1 news reader
and few other apps that makes my life easier
the rest I can do on the web browser or directly from inbuilt apps JUST AS I WOULD DO ON THE COMPUTER
the only thing I can't to is to play high end games and watch BluRay dvd
and really I don't have a need to play games on my laptop only thing I'm using it for is as a BluRay player,
my gtab replaced my laptop in nearly every field (including printing)

I own both an iPad and a Galaxy Tab, I got the tab to replace the iPad, which it has done successfully. My main usage is business use which, involves a lot of emails and Web access etc.
From my experience, the tab (or specifically, Android) beats the iPad hands down, the simple fact that you cannot do such a very simple task on an iPad (or any other IDevice for that matter) such as, attach a damn file other than a photo to an email is bewildering! How can it be geared for business use, when you need a 3rd party app to attach a PDF file, but creates a new email as opposed to just replying?
Or the way that you can only have multiple email signatures for different accounts, if you jailbreak it, not out of the box!
Yes their are more apps on the iPad, but if their were only 1000 tablet apps for Android, would you really have them all installed?
A lot of the Web orientated apps for iOS, are not needed on the Tab, as it is capable of giving you Web pages they way they are meant to be viewed. They both have their pros and cons, but my personal preference is the tab, I can stream movies from my network with nothing else needed other than a file manager, I can map network shares. With another simple app, I am able to print to any network attached printer, not just the ones Apple tell me I should use and on that note, I think that's what it all comes down to.
With Apple you pay £500 for a device and they enforce what they think is best for you, with an Android device, "YOU" decide what you do with it.
Rant complete!

RavenY2K3 said:
I own both an iPad and a Galaxy Tab, I got the tab to replace the iPad, which it has done successfully. My main usage is business use which, involves a lot of emails and Web access etc.
From my experience, the tab (or specifically, Android) beats the iPad hands down, the simple fact that you cannot do such a very simple task on an iPad (or any other IDevice for that matter) such as, attach a damn file other than a photo to an email is bewildering! How can it be geared for business use, when you need a 3rd party app to attach a PDF file, but creates a new email as opposed to just replying?
Or the way that you can only have multiple email signatures for different accounts, if you jailbreak it, not out of the box!
Yes their are more apps on the iPad, but if their were only 1000 tablet apps for Android, would you really have them all installed?
A lot of the Web orientated apps for iOS, are not needed on the Tab, as it is capable of giving you Web pages they way they are meant to be viewed. They both have their pros and cons, but my personal preference is the tab, I can stream movies from my network with nothing else needed other than a file manager, I can map network shares. With another simple app, I am able to print to any network attached printer, not just the ones Apple tell me I should use and on that note, I think that's what it all comes down to.
With Apple you pay £500 for a device and they enforce what they think is best for you, with an Android device, "YOU" decide what you do with it.
Rant complete!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly how I think.

I love android and I love honeycomb, but it just doesn't seem to meet standards yet. Just scrolling through the home screens on the g tab is laggy, now you could say it's because of widgets but it's pretty clear that android can run damn smooth with the right hardware ala galaxy s2.
Hopefully ics will allow me to browse the Internet on my gtab without having to give a pause between each letter or violently press the screen just to make sure it registers.

mchimney said:
I love android and I love honeycomb, but it just doesn't seem to meet standards yet. Just scrolling through the home screens on the g tab is laggy, now you could say it's because of widgets but it's pretty clear that android can run damn smooth with the right hardware ala galaxy s2.
Hopefully ics will allow me to browse the Internet on my gtab without having to give a pause between each letter or violently press the screen just to make sure it registers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, There maybe lag from time to time, but when you consider that all the interface on the iPad is, is the app draw on Android, where as Honeycomb has a whole lot more to it than that, and my app drawer had no lag to it at all lol.
With saying that, whilst not as much as Android, I did experience lag from time-to-time on my iPad, like I say not as much as on Android but!... I couldn't honestly tell you how many times the browser crashed out on me with the iPad, sometimes the websites weren't even particularilly big. Or the annoyance of trying to load a website, then flicking to email then back again, only to find it had to reload the page again because it doesn't do proper multi-tasking, and these things need to be accounted for also, Android simply does more stuff at the same time where as iOS cannot and may lag a bit because of it.

So far my experience with the Galaxy Tab has been positive. I don't experience any OS lag that I can tell, outside of the keyboard lag when typing. I only have 1 widget on the screen though.
My wife and I only really use it for web browsing in bed. I don't really use a lot of apps on the iPad / GT like I do on my Atrix phone.
Of course the only issue I really have is the browser lag. Either Safari or Atomic web browser on the iPad are much much smoother and not choppy when scrolling. So being as I mainly just web browse on it, that is my main issue. I use the stock browser as well as Dolphin for Tablets. I like the stock browser a bit better, I wish it had 2 options though that Dolphin has, such as setting the default viewing to desktop instead of mobile, and an option to have Flash load as needed instead of always.
I guess my main issue is that I didn't really need to buy a GT since the iPad did everything just fine for which my wife and I use it for. I'm just really trying to give myself reasons to keep it. If I keep it, I am debating on whether selling my iPad, or just let my wife use the iPad so I can actually have a tablet to actually use in bed without waiting for her to get done with it. hehe
I just noticed that the Motorola Xoom just got a 3.2.1 update recently while we are still waiting for 3.2. That is a bummer. I know 3.2 isn't a big update, but I hear it's mostly performance enhancments, which would be welcome though.
@mchimney
I notice no lag at all on my Atrix. The only issue I had was a few icons for some apps randomly disappearing from my desktop. I put on Go Launcher and the problem is gone. Actually the Atrix was what switched me to Android from the iPhone. I've had a Nexus One and an HTC Inspire, and although both were nice, just something about the Atrix which made me finally switch. I'm looking forward to the Atrix 2. One of th best things I like the most about the Atrix is how LOUD the external speaker is. I always thoughy the iPhone 4 had a loud speaker, and the Nexus One and the Inspire had low volumn speakers, but the Atrix definately has the best.

TASK650's rom seems to have cleared up any homescreen lag for me no matter what sort of retarded screen cluttering widget I use although at the moment I use only HD Widgets and Battery Girl (It's cute and fairly useless)
That rom also applies a fix to make the stock browser display desktop but I don't think you can toggle back and forth as with Dolphin.
In regards to Samsung updating HC I would not be too optimistic as my Fascinate is only able to go to 2.3 via a port of CM7 which I decline to use at the moment.
Of course since the wifi version is not saddled with Verizon we may indeed see updates in 3.x or ICS but I'm not holding my breath for that.
Swype keyboard seems to have no lag for me no matter what I do save for trying to share a page via News360 but I think that is an issue with the app rather than the keyboard.
Best of luck on your screen not getting rings

I also bought the Galaxy Tab because I wanted to escape from the closed Apple ecosystem. I've had about every Android phone that was released and enjoy them very much, and I try hard to love the Galaxy Tab, but it is giving me a hard time. Really, when it comes to the tabs there is no competition. Most has already been mentioned above, I'll add my short comparison:
- Ipad 2 : connectivity, itunes, no files system (this for me is the major one), screen resolution (too less to comfortable read e.g. pdfs and articles with small fonts), browser may be slow at times, no flash
+ Ipad 2: smooth operation and reliability, no stuttering, no random errors, no force closes, very fast in operation, lots of apps (which I do not need), available apps are of better quality (compare e.g. quick office HD on an iPad to that on android - the latter has e.g. not even the capability to create bulleted lists!), apps integrate much better (e.g. copy paste content between or from browser to apps etc), superior battery life and standby time, very efficient use of memory
- Galaxy Tab 10.1: laggy as hell, force closes of launcher and apps, most videos choppy, bad memory handling (try to open large pdfs/office docs and then to scroll, zoom etc)
+ Galaxy Tab: it's android, so customizable, filesystem (great!), easy data transfer, very fast download speeds, better screen resolution, the whole internet experience (including flash, although it very often stutters and cannot handle the content of some sites)
It's really a tough call, and I always oscillate between falling in love again with the other tab after having used the other for a while.. It heavily depends on what you want to do with the tab. For casual surfing, music, videos, photos etc the Galaxy is super, but if you are a power user that intents to use the tab as kind of a computer replacement while on the road to fulfill a variety of diverse tasks then the iPad is (with exception of the f***ing data transfer / no file system problem) without any doubt far superior.
How spoilt we are to have such discussions - remember if 5 or 10 years ago somebody would have given you a device with such power and capabilities, we wouldn't have believed it..
---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 AM ----------
I also bought the Galaxy Tab because I wanted to escape from the closed Apple ecosystem. I've had about every Android phone that was released and enjoy them very much, and I try hard to love the Galaxy Tab, but it is giving me a hard time. Really, when it comes to the tabs there is no competition. Most has already been mentioned above, I'll add my short comparison:
- Ipad 2 : connectivity, itunes, no files system (this for me is the major one), screen resolution (too less to comfortable read e.g. pdfs and articles with small fonts), browser may be slow at times, no flash
+ Ipad 2: smooth operation and reliability, no stuttering, no random errors, no force closes, very fast in operation, lots of apps (which I do not need), available apps are of better quality (compare e.g. quick office HD on an iPad to that on android - the latter has e.g. not even the capability to create bulleted lists!), apps integrate much better (e.g. copy paste content between or from browser to apps etc), superior battery life and standby time, very efficient use of memory
- Galaxy Tab 10.1: laggy as hell, force closes of launcher and apps, most videos choppy, bad memory handling (try to open large pdfs/office docs and then to scroll, zoom etc)
+ Galaxy Tab: it's android, so customizable, filesystem (great!), easy data transfer, very fast download speeds, better screen resolution, the whole internet experience (including flash, although it very often stutters and cannot handle the content of some sites)
It's really a hard call, and I always oscillate between falling in love again with the other tab after having used the other for a while.. It heavily depends on what you want to do with the tab. For casual surfing, music, videos, photos etc the Galaxy is super, but if you are a power user that intents to use the tab as kind of a computer replacement while on the road to fulfill diverse tasks then the iPad is (with exception of the f***ing data transfer / no file system problem) without any doubt far superior.

At first I was disappointed with my galaxy tab, however after looking deep down into my inner geek and going through all the available tweaks I'm extremely satisfied.
I can't really say much more than that, everything is buttery smooth, no hiccups. I haven't seen a force close for months, the browsing is incredible.
After doing everything to get maximum performance out of my tab the only thing that still bothered me was the non-uniform icons. So after applying my preferred icon pack I showed it to my non techy brother who has an Ipad 2 and he honestly preferred it over his Ipad.
The thing is, I would never recommend a galaxy tab for him because he doesn't have the time to go through all these tweaks, and without them this honestly doesn't even compare to an ipad.
Maybe you can put yourself in these shoes to help you choose.

mchimney said:
I love android and I love honeycomb, but it just doesn't seem to meet standards yet. Just scrolling through the home screens on the g tab is laggy, now you could say it's because of widgets but it's pretty clear that android can run damn smooth with the right hardware ala galaxy s2.
Hopefully ics will allow me to browse the Internet on my gtab without having to give a pause between each letter or violently press the screen just to make sure it registers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As you said, ICS is coming in 1-2months. Samsung already said they plan to keep the Touchwiz development to a minimum since ICS is already very user friendly. That will also allow them to release faster updates. they are hardware masters and no software kings.

I was an ipad 2 user. Am switching to a GT 10.1 4G.
I use ADW launcher with a single home screen and static black wallpaper, 3 widgets and 10 or so shortcuts. No delay. No delay while browsing (the thumbs driven interface is excellent, pages load faster than on ipad)
There are software issues. 3.1 is a work in progress. I've rooted so I could have messed things a bit.
Apple's decision to ban in-app purchases made me rethink my commitment to their brand. Kindle 's store was conveniently accessible. I couldn't believe this decision.
GT's non-standard port and (incredibly) lack of vga out are irritants. What were they (not) thinking??
I still advise most people to stick to apple tablets, a more polished and foolproof product. But for tech savvy (i.e. people who like to waste time learning how to update their ROM), the GT is a very attractive alternative. Much much more satisfying than Apple's environment. (ftr, our household uses 2 iphones, 3 ipads, 3 macbooks, 2 minis, 2 imacs and a macpro :/)

mchimney said:
I love android and I love honeycomb, but it just doesn't seem to meet standards yet. Just scrolling through the home screens on the g tab is laggy, now you could say it's because of widgets but it's pretty clear that android can run damn smooth with the right hardware ala galaxy s2.
Hopefully ics will allow me to browse the Internet on my gtab without having to give a pause between each letter or violently press the screen just to make sure it registers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you need to try my rom out if you'r experiencing lag bro. Lol.

i'll second task. A custom rom like tasks and pershoots overclocked kernel clears up nearly all lag including flash and video playback. The roms also give much better battery life.

I was looking primarily for a near replacement for my laptop to use while lounging about and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 meets that need way better than an iPad. I don't like the browsing and file management experience on the iPad. On the Galaxy tab these functions work pretty much like a laptop.
However, if I could afford to buy just one tablet, it would probably be the iPad -- and that's only because the overall choice and quality of apps on that platform is way better.

Samsung announces upgraded S Pen SDK 1.5

new press release from Samsung Africa: ( not much confirmation elsewhere yet)
-steveblue
Samsung has announced the upgrade of the S-pen stylus for the Samsung Galaxy Note with added features to increase the user experience.
The S Pen that is currently available with the Galaxy Note is as an input device that enables quick and precise key in into the Galaxy Note which acts more like a real pen than the usual stylus accompanied with smartphones. The upgraded S Pen SDK 1.5 has the same great quality of functioning as well as added features to enhance the user experience on the Samsung Galaxy Note.
“We have had a phenomenal reaction to this product since its launch locally in November 2011, and as this product is a first of its kind, regular updates and software upgrades are extremely important to keep us at the competitive edge,” says Paulo Ferreira, Head of Mobile Product and Software Solutions at Samsung.
The new and improved version of the S Pen includes features such as, improved zooming - the improved zoom affords users increased precision when using apps on the Galaxy Note. Control over the S Pen and scrolling is of top quality that will ensure easy browsing and allow for an even more enjoyable user experience. The updated S Pen also now offers a panning feature that grants the ability to change the coordinate values of the ‘CanvasView’. Another added characteristic of the S Pen SDK 1.5 is the capability to change and to customise the background of letters or notes sent from the device.
“This is a great new feature for users to express their personal style and flair. Not only does the upgraded S Pen offer users all the exciting features above, but it can now also select the Pen and eraser to ensure more flexibility and control for all types users,” concludes Ferreira.