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Handhelds

Samsung Shows Off Galaxy Tab, Android Allegiance 189

Posted by CmdrTaco from the looks-pretty-sexy dept.
cgriffin21 writes "Samsung is making no bones about it: Google Android is its future. And with the revealing of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the company is showing that it's all in when it comes to Android. At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Samsung finally pulled the curtain off the long-rumored and teased Galaxy Tab, the electronics maker's touch-screen tablet and answer to the Apple iPad."
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Samsung Shows Off Galaxy Tab, Android Allegiance More

Samsung Shows Off Galaxy Tab, Android Allegiance

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  • HOLY FUCK (Score:5, Informative)

    by Barny ( 103770 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @08:46AM (#33449060) Journal

    29 cookies, really CRN.COM, is that completely required?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Give them some credit: at least the site works with cookies disabled. Some other news sites won't let you click past an advert to see the story without having both cookies and javascript enabled.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by John Hasler ( 414242 )

      Assholes. I have no intention of reading the article or ever again attempting to visit the site.

      • Assholes. I have no intention of reading the article or ever again attempting to visit the site.

        But you never would have known not to visit the site if you hadn't chosen to already ignore it and read the comments instead.

        • "But you never would have known not to visit the site if you hadn't chosen to already ignore it and read the comments instead."

          You must be new here.

      • Wait. You're supposed to read the articles here? I was under the impression that that was against the rules. If you read the articles before commenting ... isn't that kind of like cheating??

        d

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by polle404 ( 727386 )
      there's a fairly comprehensive article on
      http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/02/samsung-galaxy-tab-preview/ [engadget.com]

  • Upcoming tablets (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Pojut ( 1027544 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @08:50AM (#33449152) Homepage

    The Galaxy looks pretty sweet...but I'm excited about the plethora of tablets that will be hitting the market soon. Having choice is a good thing, and it will be nice to not have choice limited to a locked-down "appliance".

    • Re:Upcoming tablets (Score:4, Funny)

      by pak9rabid ( 1011935 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @09:11AM (#33449582)

      ...and it will be nice to not have choice limited to a locked-down "appliance"

      You must be new to the mobile telecom industry...

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by sjstrutt ( 603317 )
        I have an unlocked Verizon android device (HTC Incredible) that I can run anything I want on. He may be "new", but you're misinformed.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by bemymonkey ( 1244086 )

      I dunno, seems a bit expensive. I've been hearing about iPad-like prices (800 is floating around as a European-market ballpark figure), which is just not worth it.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm not much of an iPad-fan, but 64 gigs vs. 16, higher resolution, better (IPS baby!) screen, proven reliability and battery life... not to mention the software on the Galaxy Tab looks a lot like the UI was just cloned from the iPad (check out things like the browser and E-Mail app in the Engadget preview video).

      If you're spen

      • Re:Upcoming tablets (Score:4, Informative)

        by Chatterton ( 228704 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @10:24AM (#33451122) Homepage

        Because the development kit of the imitation is free. I can upload my own applications without the need to jailbroken it beforehand. These 2 things get me to NOT by the ipad and i am eager to have one of these babies to play with...

        • Of course Android fans will be buying the Galaxy. I'm talking about the 30 year old yuppie looking for a new toy, or the fifteen year old girl asking for a christmas/birthday/graduation present, or Grandma wanting to check her e-mail without figuring out Windows first.

          All they'll be thinking is, "Hmmm, bigger numbers on the iPad, bigger screen, shinier... do want!"

          Don't get me wrong - I want Android devices to succeed as I'm a huge fan, but I don't think Samsung has a chance here.

          Have you seen the new Archo

        • Because the development kit of the imitation is free. I can upload my own applications without the need to jailbroken it beforehand.

          For only $99/year you can do the same with an iPad. And for that price you get a ton of development resources, including video from every WWDC (Apple developer conference) from last year, along with supported early access to new builds.

          For someone already buying something that's going to be an extra device in addition to a computer, I just can't see getting too worked up over

      • Two words and a number: Toshiba Folio 100

        http://phandroid.com/2010/09/02/toshiba-folio-100-goes-official-399-euros-in-q4/ [phandroid.com]

        More or less the same specs for half the price, and a decent sized screen (399)... Now that I could get on board with.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by GooberToo ( 74388 )

        Why is it that when Apple copied pre-existing Android tablet manufacturers (any other devices even before them), Apple become the, "original." And now that people are following through on plans, long existing before Apple released their product, everyone else is suddenly an imitation?

        Fanboy much?

        Apple was not the first with a tablet. Period. Android tablets existed, and still do, long before Apple pulled the trigger. Android, while not being first with a tablet, still beat Apple by any measure. If you want

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tepples ( 727027 )

      The Galaxy looks pretty sweet...but I'm excited about the plethora of tablets that will be hitting the market soon. Having choice is a good thing, and it will be nice to not have choice limited to a locked-down "appliance".

      I live in the United States, and I'm in the market for a 4-5" tablet, PDA, handheld computer, or whatever you want to call it that doesn't need a $70/mo service plan. People have recommended the Archos 5, but Archos has been slow to port new versions of Android to its hardware and hasn't been able to get Google to approve it for Android Market. Should I just buy a Nokia N900 and ignore the phone part?

      • So what you want is an Evo 4G, terminate your contract, pay the penalty, then root it, flash it, & boot it without a cell plan. You're out what - $500-600 - to get everything you want.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Locutus ( 9039 )
        from what I've read, Google Market is part of the closed source Google apps package and requires a licensing deal with Google. Archos may not like the terms or something.

        It would be nice if there were a 3rd party market application and server system to replace the Google Market so there could be general open markets for everyone or vendors could easily put up their own markets. Much like how GNU/Linux distro's put up their own repositories via apt, rpm, etc.

        LoB

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Microlith ( 54737 )

      it will be nice to not have choice limited to a locked-down "appliance".

      Unless you can hold a button on bootup or install a package trivially that grants you access, you're still dealing with a "locked down appliance." Just because you -can- root it doesn't mean that they want you to.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Locutus ( 9039 )
      I'm still keeping my eyes open as to way I see so many stating either only available outside the US or they won't be available until 2011. Some of those 2011 models were even shown at CES in Feb of this year yet still are not being release to market this year. From what I've seen, this seems to be related to the larger companies more than the small ones and leads me to wonder how much of the $500 million in marketing money Steve Ballmer is using to keep the Android buzz down this holiday season and pump up

  • MUCH better article, with pics and detailed specs (Score:5, Informative)

    by blind biker ( 1066130 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @08:54AM (#33449226) Journal

    Linky. [infosyncworld.com]

    • Re:MUCH better article, with pics and detailed spe (Score:5, Interesting)

      by L4t3r4lu5 ( 1216702 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @09:20AM (#33449760)
      That story states that it has a 1024x600 screen, yet 1080p HD video playback. It has no video output port, according to the description.

      False advertising or bad fact checking when writing the description?

      • Obviously the screen isn't magically going to mutate into a 1080p monster when you play back 1080p material, but just being able to watch that material without needing to reencode it first is already a massive bonus.

        Remember life before Rockplayer? Even DivX/XviD had to be reencoded so that you could watch it on Android...

      • No, it's called bad reading comprehension. It just downscales it to the screen.

      • Galaxy S phones can connect to a TV using an HDMI [samsung.com] or composite [samsung.com] adapter.

        Is it out of the realm of possibility for the tablet to have the same connection options?

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by PhoenixIce ( 706254 )

        That story states that it has a 1024x600 screen, yet 1080p HD video playback. It has no video output port, according to the description.

        From what I have seen from the (unofficial) list of accessories, there is an HDMI out adapter for the connector on the device. I'm assuming that this means 1080p capabilities for the video out.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Aladrin ( 926209 )

        It plays 1080p videos at 1024x600 resolution. Yes, the way they say it is confusing, but they aren't 'false advertising'.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by TheClarkster ( 1130495 )
        It does have HDMI out. There is an HDMI dock for it.

    • Exactly what kind of connector do they have plugged into the bottom of that thing? I thought we had gotten past this... my last 3 phones have all had charging and data connectivity of USB. Please don't tell me that a flagship product (other than Apple of course) is going away from industry standards yet again.

  • Why bother? They link to a guardian article from whence all the real information comes [guardian.co.uk] anyway. No pricing, no hardware specs, really no useful information beyond a commitment to Android.

  • Take a look at the images here [ifanr.com] and tell me that's not some kind of proprietary, non-standard connector.

    The most notes I could find on it were:

    "Connectivity
    30 pin connector"

    What the fsck, Samsung? Why couldn't you just have used the industry standard microUSB plug?

    Ugghhh...

    • Ummm, maybe because they're looking for more to connect to it than just a computer/charger?

      • So why not also have a connector that does [other stuff]? I don't see why having two connectors is a bad thing. One could be the standard micro-USB connector that is used 99% of the time by 99% of the people for syncing and charging. And then another one could whatever wacky proprietary design they use for those features only a tiny percentage of the population ever uses.

    • My thoughts exactly. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere on standardizing small devices on micro USB, Samsung teases us with an awesome device with this crazy crap on it.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Taagehornet ( 984739 )

      [...] tell me that's not some kind of proprietary, non-standard connector

      I would expect this to be the standard 30-pin PDMI connector [wikipedia.org] also found on the Dell Streak.

  • Samsung's first Android phone? (Score:3, Informative)

    by mu51c10rd ( 187182 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @09:04AM (#33449436)

    which include the first Android device from Samsung, the Galaxy S.

    My Samsung Moment and the Intercept would beg to differ. The writer didn't do much research on Samsung's product offerings.

    • Samsung Moment user here too. Hardware keyboards FTW.

      Still, I shudder when I read stuff like this: "This is not just another tablet. We call it a Smart Media device," Thomas Richter, Samsung's head of product portfolio, told an IFA press conference

      *sigh* ... If you have a good product, why the insistence on marketingspeak. Then again, Apple insists on dropping the definite article for the iPhone, er, I mean, for iPhone.

  • A couple of reviews of Flash running on Android 2.2 have come out. I submitted this story awhile ago to the editors but for some reason (anti-Apple bias?) they chose not to run it.

    "shockingly bad" http://newteevee.com/2010/08/31/video-flash-on-android-is-startlingly-bad/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+OmMalik+(GigaOM) [newteevee.com]

    "Weak Android player proves Steve Jobs right": http://blog.laptopmag.com/mobile-flash-fail-weak-android-player-proves-jobs-right [laptopmag.com]

    From the reviews:

    "Adobe needs

    • Re:Flash SUCKS on it (and other droids) (Score:4, Insightful)

      by MemoryDragon ( 544441 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @09:18AM (#33449724)

      Sorry but I have a firsthand experience, Flash runs pretty well on my nexus one, you turn it on selectively and flash video plays fine and thats all I need it for.

      • +1, but on a Desire (the Nexus One's little-bit-retarded younger brother :p)...

        I love that I can now read Engadget articles with titles ending in "With video" without feeling like I'm missing half the content.

        Or how about watching an episode of South Park on the bus, even though you don't have any on the SD-card? Just browse over to southpark.de (our version of southparkstudios.com) and throw on an episode.

        Or streaming my own stuff over my DSL connection via Orb Mycast's Flash player (because their Android

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Nerdfest ( 867930 )

      So is it better to have a sucky experience or none at all?

      It is best to be able to make the choice yourself.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by teg ( 97890 )

        (about flash on mobile devices)It is best to be able to make the choice yourself.

        In principle, I agree with you. That said, there is a benefit to a ban on a major device. The benefit is that the world adapts - video is made available in HTML5 format, to give one example. If everyone had the option, the web sites would just say "turn it on".

        And if there is one think I dislike more than not having flash on iPhone, it would be having it. Other than youtube and its ilk, which are moving to HTML5 because of

        • Simplest solution I see is for Google to include the Gnash player on Android and ensure that YouTube works with it. If that means pushing code back to the project, then great. The best part is you'd have a fully working YouTube that uses an Open Source player on all Android devices

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Altus ( 1034 )

        When, in 5 years, the only video and game platform available on the web is still this shitty ass flash crap you can get back to me about how much choice you have.

        • Ah, so choice is only good when it's your choice. Got it.

          There's already alternatives to flash on the web, if Flash sucks that badly compared to the competition ("shitty ass flash" as you put it) only foolish companies would continue using it. All the alternatives should be supported so that the web designers can make the decision based on what technology meets the requirements, keeps costs down, and makes their customers happy. You know, as opposed to this idea that HTML 5 is going to be the ultra-hamme

    • So is it better to have a sucky experience

      That depends. Does Homestar Runner play in HTML5? Does Weebl and Bob? Do the animations on Albino Blacksheep, JibJab, or Newgrounds? These are vector animations, which would be ten times bigger if transcoded to VP8 or H.264. Perhaps we can see more use of HTML5 should Synfig or KToon become more popular, but right now, animators know Adobe Flash.

    • The blog you posted about how much flash sucks has numerous comments saying it doesn't.

      This is typical tribalism from the apple crowd, just wake up dude and realise it's just a fucking phone. There is no need to constantly reassure everyone that the iPhone is superior to everything else in every slashdot story about android or an android device.

    • Try it yourself. It doesn't work for everything, but the reason I wanted it (embedded video) works just fine.

    • Flash works acceptably well on my Moto Droid. I only ever use it for flash video, though, so YMMV.

    • Something doesn't seem to be right with the links you've posted - have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stW8gS6rBvg [youtube.com] and you'll see that the experience is actually pretty far from the picture you are trying to paint here.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @09:15AM (#33449654)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • ... which would also make it easy for users to get the ebooks for free, making it impossible for authors to make money this way.

      • Apparently, the way to go for money-making, currently, is to provide Aldiko with your material in epub format, and they build a sort-of statically-linked app for each book. Of course they'd still have to leverage the License Server. (And please, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not completely clear on the details, especially considering that the licensing server was cracked already.)

      • Classic fallacy. Just because it's easy to steal doesn't mean authors would not make money. If you're the kind of person that tends to steal things rather then buy them you're in most cases not ever going to be their customer anyway. It's not worth ruining the experience of your actual customers that want to buy and easily consume your product in formats that are readable on their computer, ebook and phone.

    • iPad supports ePub and PDF.

      You can already sell straight to iPad users.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • The tablet is sweet (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MemoryDragon ( 544441 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @09:16AM (#33449702)

    the price is not, it is 700 Euros which is more expensive than the iPad 9 inch version and it only has seven inches screensize.
    I just wonder how many of those Samsung wants to sell here with their pay more get less politics...

  • 7" seems like the wrong compromise. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by guidryp ( 702488 ) on Thursday September 02, 2010 @10:00AM (#33450670)

    7" is too big. It isn't really portable as in throwing it in your pocket or using a belt clip.
    7" is too small. It really won't hold a full page PDF/Comic.

    If I was on the go I would prefer pocketable 5" (Dell streak size).

    For at home or a transportable (requiring a bag) I would actually prefer 10+ and about 1200x800 resolution for looking full screen at PDFs/Comics.

    An attempt to fill both niches meets none of them very well.

  • I, for one, welcome our new...ah, skip it.

    .

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