Samsung's Galaxy Tab Android Tablet Now Official 210
itwbennett writes "Samsung held a media event Thursday introducing the Galaxy Tab, and making official what we've already known for weeks, says blogger Peter Smith. 'We still don't have a price or a concrete ship date (though definitely this fall; Samsung says it'll be available for the holiday season),' says Smith. 'It'll ship with Android 2.2 (Froyo), runs Flash, has a 1Ghz Hummingbird CPU, 16GB of memory, a 7" LCD (1204 x 600 ) screen and weighs about 13 ounces. They're claiming a 7-hour battery life. Two cameras: a front-facing 1.3 megapixel, and a back-facing 3 megapixel. It has an HDMI port and will also share media to DLNA devices on the same network.'" Engadget adds some video footage.
Price (Score:2, Informative)
Crucial missing information in the summary:
Amazon UK is reporting an MSRP of 799.99, and Amazon US has a listing for $835.18. Unless is bad info, this thing is DOA.
Re:bah (Score:3, Informative)
Umm, there's definitely WiFi, no one in their right mind would release a tablet without it. There's however no WiFi only version, they all have a 3G antenna.
Re:bah (Score:3, Informative)
I think it has to have 3G in order to qualify for the Android Marketplace.
Re:Price (Score:5, Informative)
Do you mean this?
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-7-Inch-UMPC-with-Touchscreen/dp/B001TZVW8E [amazon.com] 1 new from $835.18
That's not the same product, that's a winxp thing with a hard drive.
Re:Unlike The IPad... (Score:3, Informative)
I'm looking forward to using that Android app that puts anything on screen (everything, not just video) and pipes it out the HDMI to another device, like an HDTV. I could see this being a truly useful device.
Doesn't the Archos 5IT do that by default? Plug the charger thingie, plug the video cable to tv and... I think that's all.
(disclaimer: It might be a false memory for having watched movies with it. I can't test now.)
Re:Soundly Trounces EEE 701 (Score:3, Informative)
"but does it have USB?"
Through a dongle, apparently - and annoyingly.
"Can I install an operating system of my choosing?"
It has been rooted already, so in principle yes. Somebody would need to actually port the OS to the device of course.
"Does it run nmap and aircrack-ng? "
You can build and run console apps on a normal Android device - it's linux after all.
"Can I conveniently SSH into an 8 core SMP server with Maple and MATLAB when I need a little extra oomph?"
Just download an ssh client and off you go. No X forwarding though, as it doesn't run X.
"How usable is the onscreen keyboard?"
Tim Bray has been using one for a few days: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/09/10/Galaxy-Tab-in-my-Pocket [tbray.org]
He really likes the keyboard. He also seems to find the battery life to be rather better than those quoted seven hours would imply.
Re:Android? (Score:3, Informative)
The 3G model includes wifi. It was demonstrated last night at the rollout with a live video call using Qik.
The wifi-ONLY model is said to be coming, but the date is not revealed, nor is the price. What I wonder about is how it will relate to the 3G model, as advance speculation has been that the carriers will subsidize its price heavily. The wifi-only version could wind up with a list cost significantly higher than the 3G+wifi version.
Re:Soundly Trounces EEE 701 (Score:3, Informative)
running any OS of your choosing might be difficult, seeing how this thing doesnt have an x86 cpu, like your eee
SSH shouldnt be an issue though, even my $99 android phone can ssh into whatever i can run SSHD on, there are plenty of apps for any platform (i actually used my ipod to shut down the fileserver at home before unplugging in a thunderstorm)
Re:Price (Score:5, Informative)
No buffering, according to this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20100917/tc_pcworld/samsunggalaxytabfaq [yahoo.com]
"All content from the Media Hub is offered as downloads over Wi-Fi. There will be no online streaming through the Samsung Media Hub."
Collected specifications (Score:5, Informative)
Exact specs, what the hardware is, price, where are they releasing it (which countries), where will I be able to buy it (is it just from carriers?).
You can't even find a Galaxy Tab page on Samsung's website -- they link to one, but it's 404.
However, specs collected from the announcement, press releases and coverage:
Android 2.2 (Froyo)
Flash 10.1 (Web video looked good and smooth)
1Ghz Hummingbird CPU (Samsung, ARM Cortex A8)
PowerVR SGX 540 video
512 MB RAM
Internal storage unclear; some reports say 16 GB or 32GB
microSD card slot, supporting 32GB additional storage
7" TFT LCD screen, 1024 x 600 resolution
Capacitive touchscreen
Quad-band GSM/EDGE, triple-band HSUPA/HSDPA, voice and data connectivity
Dual SIM cards (not sure why?)
802.11 b/g/n wifi
Bluetooth 3.0
13 ounces
7 hour battery life under continuous movie playback
Front facing 1.3 megapixel camera for video calling
Back facing 3 megapixel autofocusing camera for HD video and still photography with flash
HDMI video output port
USB (will trickle charge, but not rapid charge)
Proprietary 30-pin connector for charging and connectivity to dock
3.5 audio jack; internal stereo speakers
Accelerometer, magnetometer, proximity sensor
Full external keyboard, optional
Automotive dash mount for GPS functionality with Google Maps enhanced for the 7-inch display; presumably this suggests it has a GPS chip, although I have not found anything that says so
Will share media to DLNA devices on the same network; should interop with MythTV and XMBC
Will be offered by AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile; pricing and dates to be announced by the carriers
E-reader software (Kindle, PressDisplay, Zinio, etc.)
Thinkfree Office software
Media Hub (cloud-based purchase and rental of video and audio programming) with sharing across your compatible Samsung devices
Interestingly, "legacy" Android apps designed for smaller screens are shown at a correct size, framed rather than stretched. A bunch of apps optimized for the 7-inch display were shown.
Re:No price? (Score:3, Informative)
Telephony (Score:4, Informative)
According to Engadget they removed the telephony app from the US version of this (it's still in the European version):
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/16/samsung-galaxy-tab-loses-voice-capabilities-in-the-us/ [engadget.com]
That's pretty much a dealkiller for me, and gives Samsung an uphill climb if they expect to compete with the iPad, which has a good low end price, an OS designed for a tablet, and an established ecosystem.
Re:Price (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why do Android tablet consistently stink? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:memory: ram or storage? (Score:3, Informative)
It has 512MB of RAM (compared to iPad's 256MB [pcworld.com])
Re:Very much so (Score:3, Informative)
Thank you for not posting what "LARP" meant and making waste 20 seconds of my life too.
For the benefit of future visitors,
LARP = Live Action Role-Playing.
Other than that, I agree with the rest of your rant.
-dZ.