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***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
Hi Everyone,
I just got my first Android Tablet and am pretty much in love with it.
HOWEVER, my GF got an iPad2 and of course we couldn't help but compare the two devices.
Overall, Android wins in terms of functionality and features, but with regards to RESPONSIVENESS, the Acer is BLOWN AWAY. The animations, transitions, scrolling, panning, zooming, everything is much better on the iPad.
Is this the case for all our iconias or is it just mine?
Thanks in advance.
cocobur said:
Hi Everyone,
I just got my first Android Tablet and am pretty much in love with it.
HOWEVER, my GF got an iPad2 and of course we couldn't help but compare the two devices.
Overall, Android wins in terms of functionality and features, but with regards to RESPONSIVENESS, the Acer is BLOWN AWAY. The animations, transitions, scrolling, panning, zooming, everything is much better on the iPad.
Is this the case for all our iconias or is it just mine?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have brand new Android tablet, ipad2 is second release, just wait some time and see how android honeycomb becomes faster and powerful.
Greetings
I got 2 Acer Iconia A500
It's not smooth as it should be but it's because 3.0.1 Honeycomb... wait for IceCream 3.1 they promisses to increase the smoothness etc... about the UI
I saw also a lot of application that are optimized phone run.... slooooow on tablet... but I don t complain it's just not mean to be on tablet yet, and if I compare the one made for the tablet they are far away better than the phone one
for me it's acceptable how it run.
it's like a baby need to grow up a little before be on the top.
After rooting the device and removing a whole bunch of bloatwares, my a500 is a lot smoother than before . Perhaps you should try the same and re-compare the 2 ?
sanaell said:
I got 2 Acer Iconia A500
It's not smooth as it should be but it's because 3.0.1 Honeycomb... wait for IceCream 3.1 they promisses to increase the smoothness etc... about the UI
I saw also a lot of application that are optimized phone run.... slooooow on tablet... but I don t complain it's just not mean to be on tablet yet, and if I compare the one made for the tablet they are far away better than the phone one
for me it's acceptable how it run.
it's like a baby need to grow up a little before be on the top.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3.1 is not Icecream, it's Honeycomb 3.1
What bloatware exactly did you remove?
Thanks for the replies everyone!
i think its unfair to compared the 2 tablets for one in my opinion the lower Res ipad2 has less to do when scrolling left or right on their homescreen, I mean the gpu only has to render those cutesy little blocks of apps when on honeycomb the 3d esque transition plus widgets and everything else going on on the home screen.
I think 3.1 should take care of most problems but I don't see it being anymore smooth maybe when quad core tablets come out sure. I'm happy as long as there's more funtionality out the box from the tablet we good 3.1 is gonna bring alot to the table most important for me usb, graphic accelaration etc. My 2 cent that's all
don't forget that IOS is designed by apple for apple, so it's easily tweaked for speed, compatibility, etc.. since it's working on specific hardware, they take advantage of it as much as they can
android is made by google, but it's up to the oems to do everything else. so 2 tablets with similar hardware(or as close to identical as possible) from different oems, may run totally different.
Install ADW, home screen ui becomes much much smoother. other than that... and ipad's and ipad. Unfortunately ipad will always outclass our beloved androids simply because of the way apple runs things.
As said already, I am sure these things will improve. Starting with 3.1 when we get it and hopefully later when we get OC abilty. 1.5gh anyone
babyboy8100 said:
i think its unfair to compared the 2 tablets for one in my opinion the lower Res ipad2 has less to do when scrolling left or right on their homescreen, I mean the gpu only has to render those cutesy little blocks of apps when on honeycomb the 3d esque transition plus widgets and everything else going on on the home screen.
I think 3.1 should take care of most problems but I don't see it being anymore smooth maybe when quad core tablets come out sure. I'm happy as long as there's more funtionality out the box from the tablet we good 3.1 is gonna bring alot to the table most important for me usb, graphic accelaration etc. My 2 cent that's all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep,
Also, in-app speed on Android tablets is fast, though some apps coded poorly will be slow. Otherwise, this is a wash really.
As for homescreen flipping; iPad only scrolls screens with icons. Android tablets are scrolling screens with live widgets and live data display. Huge difference there.
Ceger
abats said:
3.1 is not Icecream, it's Honeycomb 3.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mixed up my mind... IceCream Sandwish is something else... haha thanks to remind it to me
cocobur said:
Hi Everyone,
I just got my first Android Tablet and am pretty much in love with it.
HOWEVER, my GF got an iPad2 and of course we couldn't help but compare the two devices.
Overall, Android wins in terms of functionality and features, but with regards to RESPONSIVENESS, the Acer is BLOWN AWAY. The animations, transitions, scrolling, panning, zooming, everything is much better on the iPad.
Is this the case for all our iconias or is it just mine?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its just you and yours..................
As others have mentioned there is a trade off. Android simply refuses to properly address UI framerate and overall smoothness. Webos win mobile ios all amazingly smooth with fantastic transitions....its not horsepower its proper coding and desire for a smooth UI.
Ipad renders everything seemingly 60fps but there's rarely anything going on . One glance ...just a glance I can see how many emails I have ..the weather forecast.. and latest updates on fb and twitter..while being notified of new updates to apps.
I much prefer that to opening and closing 7 apps regardless of how smooth it is doing it.
cocobur said:
What bloatware exactly did you remove?
Thanks for the replies everyone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well for reference you can read this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1056905
furthermore I also removed photo3d and the keyboard app (replaced with thumb keyboard).
After removing those apps I got rid of some problem i had before such as screen unresponsiveness after sleep (happen sometimes), slow rotation of screen (now it changes screen orientation almost instantly ), more battery life by removing the phone.apk (because before the tablet is always looking for 3g signals)
Though as reminder you need these apps for updates to work properly so please keep the original apk files
i honestly do not care.the difference in the UK smoothness is usually not functional. In that I mean when someone needs to show just how "smooth" IOs is they usually swipe their finger across the screen as fast as they can to show how fast IOs tracks your finger but how often do you really need to swipe your finger that quickly across your screen? Ihave literally no complaints.
MJ-12 said:
As said already, I am sure these things will improve. Starting with 3.1 when we get it and hopefully later when we get OC abilty. 1.5gh anyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
every time i go on the xda homepage and see the "asus overclocked" and "xoom overclocked" i die a little on the inside. because toughs quadrant scores kick @$$. and its sad because i personally think hardware wise we have the best tablet on the market.
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.
I have owned the samsung galaxy 10.1 for approx 2 weeks. I sold my IPAD 2 to purchase as I have always been a fan of android phones. So far, I find the galaxy to be very unpolished. For example, the screens lag when navigating and apps force close to much. When I scroll up and down on the UI, its not smooth as butter like the IPAD. When I change the screen orientation, its very choppy. The IPAD runs circles around this device. I wish it wasnt the case as I wanted to like it. Even the on screen keyboard is hard to type on. Try copying and pasting a sentence. The arrows you use to drag across the words never line up with what is being clicked. I am not sure how anybody finds this device to be a pleasant experience unless you are in denial and I am not talking about the river. Maybe Ice Cream will fix some of the issues. For now, the tablet serves as a perfect example of what happens when technology is rushed to the market without consideration of quality.
I feel better now.
Lance
Take the time to tweak your device with everything available on these forums, it becomes an entirely different device.
Sent from my Samsung Fascinate
lancer123 said:
I have owned the samsung galaxy 10.1 for approx 2 weeks. I sold my IPAD 2 to purchase as I have always been a fan of android phones. So far, I find the galaxy to be very unpolished. For example, the screens lag when navigating and apps force close to much. When I scroll up and down on the UI, its not smooth as butter like the IPAD. When I change the screen orientation, its very choppy. The IPAD runs circles around this device. I wish it wasnt the case as I wanted to like it. Even the on screen keyboard is hard to type on. Try copying and pasting a sentence. The arrows you use to drag across the words never line up with what is being clicked. I am not sure how anybody finds this device to be a pleasant experience unless you are in denial and I am not talking about the river. Maybe Ice Cream will fix some of the issues. For now, the tablet serves as a perfect example of what happens when technology is rushed to the market without consideration of quality.
I feel better now.
Lance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if you are trolling here, but eh, I'm bored so I'll bite.
Those of us who find the Tab to be a pleasant experience must be in denial huh? Don't you think that's a pretty presumptuous and arrogant statement? How do you know what my experience with it has been? Or anyone else's for that matter?
I would usually sit here and try to help you solve your lagginess issue, maybe seeing if you have some sort of rouge process going on or if you are even on the latest firmware. Maybe point you to some of the great custom ROMs the developers here have given us. But, nope. You speak for everyone and everyone must be having the same ****ty experience as you, and if we say we don't we must be lying.
I will tell you though that my experience has been fantastic. The only time I get lag on the homescreen is when I have a live wallpaper up. I've never had any browser lag or lag anywhere else. I have a ton of widgets on my screens too. No lag. Of course though I'm totally lying, but you knew that already right?
I'm finished being sarcastic. Honestly if you aren't happy with the device, go sell it and get an Ipad again. Nobody is stopping you. The Tab is a fantastic product and I would go so far as to say it is the best tablet on the market as of this very moment. But it is not for everybody, especially for people who have no idea what they are doing.
Posting threads like this serves no purpose other than being a troll and drawing the ire of members like myself.
lancer123 said:
I have owned the samsung galaxy 10.1 for approx 2 weeks. I sold my IPAD 2 to purchase as I have always been a fan of android phones. So far, I find the galaxy to be very unpolished. For example, the screens lag when navigating and apps force close to much. When I scroll up and down on the UI, its not smooth as butter like the IPAD. When I change the screen orientation, its very choppy. The IPAD runs circles around this device. I wish it wasnt the case as I wanted to like it. Even the on screen keyboard is hard to type on. Try copying and pasting a sentence. The arrows you use to drag across the words never line up with what is being clicked. I am not sure how anybody finds this device to be a pleasant experience unless you are in denial and I am not talking about the river. Maybe Ice Cream will fix some of the issues. For now, the tablet serves as a perfect example of what happens when technology is rushed to the market without consideration of quality.
I feel better now.
Lance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought mine a couple weeks back too, and my experiences are similar to yours. I still can't understand how a dual core device can be this laggy! I'm hoping its all due to the Samsung bloatware, so I'm going to load up a custom ROM over the weekend and see how that goes... you should try it too
I really like the additional screen space coming from a 4.2" Xperia Arc, and Honeycomb is a lot zippier now than it was back in April when I had the Xoom for a couple of weeks. I still believe its a better tablet than the iPad2 though. That thing seems so zippy because all it is is a magnified iPhone. There's almost nothing running in the background which gives it the appearance of being a lot quicker and better battery life. Load it up with widgets and lets compare them then.
My biggest problem though, is the lack of a good pdf app. I've tried tons of them and they are all really slow to load, very jerky pinch to zoom, and slow scrolling. Hope this improves with ICS
And to the poster above this, I don't get why you even bothered posting if you're going to be so incredibly unhelpful
lancer123 said:
I have owned the samsung galaxy 10.1 for approx 2 weeks... I am not sure how anybody finds this device to be a pleasant experience...
I feel better now.
Lance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lance,
I have watched my brother in law's ipad closely, and you are right. It is faster and more responsive (once tweaked) than my SGT was out of the box. However, the others are right too.
I have rooted and tweaked my SGT and it now makes my ios friends raise their eyebrows. You happily partied all over your ipad, making many changes suggested on user sites like this one. Now you need to do the same with your SGT. If you are unable or unwilling to do that, you are not an idiot or a molester of small animals, you are just one of those people that the ipad was designed for. So get another one, and enjoy it.
I prefer my Android gadgets, because they are more flexible. I am not locked into iTunes, and I have access to my 650GB music library that is not as compressed as AAC. I have a FREE SDK that works rather well, when i want to write my own apps. There are a few paid apps that I depend upon for day to day stuff, just like I would for iOs devices. For me, and many of the others in this form, that is what they want.
Sent from a distant planet with the aid of my towel.
lancer123 said:
I have owned the samsung galaxy 10.1 for approx 2 weeks. I sold my IPAD 2 to purchase as I have always been a fan of android phones. So far, I find the galaxy to be very unpolished. For example, the screens lag when navigating and apps force close to much. When I scroll up and down on the UI, its not smooth as butter like the IPAD. When I change the screen orientation, its very choppy. The IPAD runs circles around this device. I wish it wasnt the case as I wanted to like it. Even the on screen keyboard is hard to type on. Try copying and pasting a sentence. The arrows you use to drag across the words never line up with what is being clicked. I am not sure how anybody finds this device to be a pleasant experience unless you are in denial and I am not talking about the river. Maybe Ice Cream will fix some of the issues. For now, the tablet serves as a perfect example of what happens when technology is rushed to the market without consideration of quality.
I feel better now.
Lance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand how you feel, and I felt the same way when I first handled the SGT 8.9 the UI lag was horrendous .. I felt the product manager of the device should be sacked (or worse done to him) for ever allowing such a device out the door in such state. To make matters worse for me, there was an ipad close by and the UI flow was like watching man utd beat arsenal 8-2 .. I promptly returned the device.
However my opinion has since change since coming here lots of people have filled me in with some tweaks and work around which resolves most of the laggy issue. (You can check out the SGT 8.9 Q & A section its a sticky under this section for people experience with the device)
First of if you can't be bothered to root your device, try the ADW launcher ex, everyone who tried that said its greatly improves the performance and eliminates the lag issue.
You can also if you are feeling adventurous root the device. And install some of the numerous roms around.
just try and take advantage of the open nature and make it yours. Soon ipad owners would be looking at your tab and feeling the envy.
Just my 2 cents
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Please go get your ipad back dude. I have none of the issues you speak of. This thread is a total waste. I don't even believe you own a tab.
By saying "you like Android phones" I'm assuming you mean in comparison to the iPhone. Most of the same issues you’re experiencing in an Android vs. iPad tablet comparison apply to a phone comparison also so your statement's kind of confusing.
iOS is so "buttery smooth" because it's locked down like a prison with Apple exerting Orwellian control over the entire eco-system. I bought my G-Tab and paid more than an equivalent iPad because, for what I do, the collection of individual apps works better than the homogenous equivalents on the iPad. And I did that knowing the iPad had a better display and that the UI and navigation were smoother and more mature.
This forum is fascinating because of the disparity in experiences everyone has. I've had two G-Tab's (Wi-Fi and 3G) and never had a force close on either and I have over 50 apps installed. There's occasional stutter and lagginess but I'd say it appears (for me) less than 5% of the time. One huge difference between iOS and Android is that Android, with its limitless ability to be tweaked, can get hosed by people using badly written apps and the use of memory managers, task killers, battery monitors and the like. Every XDA forum I participate in has people *****ing about some function being hosed and then go on to elaborate about all the crap they've done to their device and ****ty low-rent apps they're using. And they don’t understand why their phone’s getting crappy battery life and has tons of issues no one else seems to be experiencing. I guess freedom comes at a price and it can be abused.
I've had a G-Tab in one form or another since August and have been really satisfied with it. I took my new 3G version on a trip over the weekend and it performed flawlessly and got fantastic battery life with 3G active continuously and download speeds of 8MB in TX (vs. less than 1MB for an iPad). I sat across from someone using an iPad on the flight home last night. The local video he was playing was gorgeous. Compared to mine, his WSJ app looked like crap as did Solitaire and a bunch of other stuff I saw him use. Meanwhile, I was streaming Hulu, HBOGO, and TV shows from my home server using the planes Wi-Fi. I can also play music I have stored on my home server, the Amazon cloud, or from the 2K songs I store locally using my $9.99 Rhapsody monthly subscription. All while reading magazines and newspapers using Next Issue and Press Reader. I’d gladly trade options and versatility for “buttery smooth” any day. iOS is great for a subset of device owners because of its constraints and consistency. But those restrictions are why I chose Android. Android can become smoother through s/w and h/w evolution but iOS will never become more open. Hopefully OP bought his G-Tab somewhere with a liberal return policy so he can return it.
BarryH_GEG said:
By saying "you like Android phones" I'm assuming you mean in comparison to the iPhone. Most of the same issues you’re experiencing in an Android vs. iPad tablet comparison apply to a phone comparison also so your statement's kind of confusing.
iOS is so "buttery smooth" because it's locked down like a prison with Apple exerting Orwellian control over the entire eco-system. I bought my G-Tab and paid more than an equivalent iPad because, for what I do, the collection of individual apps works better than the homogenous equivalents on the iPad. And I did that knowing the iPad had a better display and that the UI and navigation were smoother and more mature.
This forum is fascinating because of the disparity in experiences everyone has. I've had two G-Tab's (Wi-Fi and 3G) and never had a force close on either and I have over 50 apps installed. There's occasional stutter and lagginess but I'd say it appears (for me) less than 5% of the time. One huge difference between iOS and Android is that Android, with its limitless ability to be tweaked, can get hosed by people using badly written apps and the use of memory managers, task killers, battery monitors and the like. Every XDA forum I participate in has people *****ing about some function being hosed and then go on to elaborate about all the crap they've done to their device and ****ty low-rent apps they're using. And they don’t understand why their phone’s getting crappy battery life and has tons of issues no one else seems to be experiencing. I guess freedom comes at a price and it can be abused.
I've had a G-Tab in one form or another since August and have been really satisfied with it. I took my new 3G version on a trip over the weekend and it performed flawlessly and got fantastic battery life with 3G active continuously and download speeds of 8MB in TX (vs. less than 1MB for an iPad). I sat across from someone using an iPad on the flight home last night. The local video he was playing was gorgeous. Compared to mine, his WSJ app looked like crap as did Solitaire and a bunch of other stuff I saw him use. Meanwhile, I was streaming Hulu, HBOGO, and TV shows from my home server using the planes Wi-Fi. I can also play music I have stored on my home server, the Amazon cloud, or from the 2K songs I store locally using my $9.99 Rhapsody monthly subscription. All while reading magazines and newspapers using Next Issue and Press Reader. I’d gladly trade options and versatility for “buttery smooth” any day. iOS is great for a subset of device owners because of its constraints and consistency. But those restrictions are why I chose Android. Android can become smoother through s/w and h/w evolution but iOS will never become more open. Hopefully OP bought his G-Tab somewhere with a liberal return policy so he can return it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stuff you speak of is why I have ran Linux exclusively on my PC for close to 5 years now. Yet I think the OP has a point and was just letting out steam. I too was extremely disappointed when I handled the galaxy tab (in my case it was the 8.9) right from boot the experience was horrendous and the UI lagged SOO much it was embarrassing. This first impression was a real turn off for me and I can understand the feeling of someone who gets a device with such awesome hardware only be bugged down with software. Sure you can always improve with tweaks and mods but if android is ever gonna replicate its success on mobile on tablets. Then the out of the box experience most be killer. Having and awesome out of the box experience and ability to further tweak should not be mutually exclusive. The experience I got on my galaxy s2 even with default rom was exquisite. Just breath taking. Even without Modding or installing a custom rom. That's what I expected from honeycomb. Hopefully most of this out of the box issues would be fixed with honeycomb 3.2 and ICS.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I must agree with OP. Its a f****g ambaresment how a product can be released in the state it was when it was in the box. Now after tweaking and rooting and flashing and using it for a couple of months its useable. But it still lags, not all the time , but try installing something form market and then go to homescreen, right then its laggy as hell.
But we all know this by now, so i agree with the rest of you that we have no need for this thread. And if OP just read a little before buying he would have found this info about the tab. Anyways welcome hope you get your tab sorted.
nickwarn said:
I must agree with OP. Its a f****g ambaresment how a product can be released in the state it was when it was in the box. Now after tweaking and rooting and flashing and using it for a couple of months its useable. But it still lags, not all the time , but try installing something form market and then go to homescreen, right then its laggy as hell.
But we all know this by now, so i agree with the rest of you that we have no need for this thread. And if OP just read a little before buying he would have found this info about the tab. Anyways welcome hope you get your tab sorted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same experience here.... I've even rooted my tab and it did improve but not as much as I would of liked, this was a month ago though, so i don't know if anything better has comed out. I've thought about getting an iPad but..... I just can't if it can't play flash.... How the hell could you own a tablet and not watch a simple flash video. So if anyone can give me advice on how to make my 10.1 as smooth as some of you have said, then please do tell me how. I love my Gtab but the lag does really bother me enough to have had to remove all my widgets....
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
shoo troll.
Klk450 said:
Same experience here.... I've even rooted my tab and it did improve but not as much as I would of liked, this was a month ago though, so i don't know if anything better has comed out. I've thought about getting an iPad but..... I just can't if it can't play flash.... How the hell could you own a tablet and not watch a simple flash video. So if anyone can give me advice on how to make my 10.1 as smooth as some of you have said, then please do tell me how. I love my Gtab but the lag does really bother me enough to have had to remove all my widgets....
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root your tab is only the first step. You need to flash custom rom after you root your tab, then only you can feel the difference.
I just got my tab last week, wifi only version. I can say I'm really satisfied with the performance and I love my tab. The basic steps are:
1. root your tab
2. flash custom rom
That's all you need to do to feel the difference. You can ignore some of the gimmicks, for instance supercharger, overclock kernel and etc that have been mentioned if you have no freaking idea what they are about at the moment. You will pick them up along the way just like I did.
The one tip that everyone here would tell you - READ THE FORUM!
For instance, the first sticky post in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android Development is a good read and good resource to get you started. Here's the link if you have no idea where it is (Seriously?): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1171089
lancer123 said:
I have owned the samsung galaxy 10.1 for approx 2 weeks. I sold my IPAD 2 to purchase as I have always been a fan of android phones. So far, I find the galaxy to be very unpolished. For example, the screens lag when navigating and apps force close to much. When I scroll up and down on the UI, its not smooth as butter like the IPAD. When I change the screen orientation, its very choppy. The IPAD runs circles around this device. I wish it wasnt the case as I wanted to like it. Even the on screen keyboard is hard to type on. Try copying and pasting a sentence. The arrows you use to drag across the words never line up with what is being clicked. I am not sure how anybody finds this device to be a pleasant experience unless you are in denial and I am not talking about the river. Maybe Ice Cream will fix some of the issues. For now, the tablet serves as a perfect example of what happens when technology is rushed to the market without consideration of quality.
I feel better now.
Lance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you on most counts, except that I don't have any issues with the onscreen keyboard and don't get force closes. There are some things you can do to improve the user experience (alternate launchers, overclocking etc), however it still won't feel like the iPad.
That being said, there are things you can do with the tablet out of the box which you can't do with an iPad:
- Adobe Flash support
- Emulation apps availability (SNES, DOS, Scumm)
- File / Directory browsing
- UI customization
- Non-market / store applications installation
While I would love the overall UI performance to be on par with the iPad, given a choice between the two I would rather have the above functionality instead. There is also the possibility of Android's UI performance improving in the future with all this functionality retained. In case of Apple, apart from limited UI customization perhaps, the other stuff is just not going to be available ever.
PS: And all that's just out of the box, if you root your device there's some far more interesting stuff you can do with the tablet!
---------- Post added at 01:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:57 PM ----------
pngface said:
My biggest problem though, is the lack of a good pdf app. I've tried tons of them and they are all really slow to load, very jerky pinch to zoom, and slow scrolling. Hope this improves with ICS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have probably tried it already, but EZ PDF is pretty good. I am comparing it to GoodReader on the iPad and I don't have any issues with loading / scrolling / flipping / resizing.
Of course, this maybe dependent on the size and content of the PDFs you are using, so YMMV -- I mostly read book-sized documents, mostly text, and it works fine for me.
I recently bought a GalaxyTab and I have to confirm, it is quite laggy - In comparison to an iPad.
There are several things which can drastically improve the situation:
Use ADW Launcher EX
Custom ROM, Like Task650/Phantom Extreme Stock
Overclock (although, this didn't change a lot)
I found that the first two points are the most important. ADW Launcher makes the whole Homescreen and Applauncher absolutely smooth, just like on an iPad. And no, the stock launcher isn't.
It's great how many possibilites we have with Android, but be honest - I'd rather have ICS without any new features, but just great performance increases. Thats why I switched to Windows Phone in the first place - I don't want apple, but I want smooth scrolling, smooth transitions. And now, just because Android has much more possibilites doesn't mean it has the right to be slow and choppy. Take a look at the Windows 8 Developer Preview. My god, this isn't even an ALPHA and boy it's SO SMOOTH, I cried almost when I saw that.
The only reason I bought my Galaxy Tab is, that Microsoft still needs about a year until their first tablets are out - And I hate waiting
So please Google, get your Team together and tell them to START OPTIMIZING.
PS:
ezPDF is quite good - But the UI is horrible, and I miss the feature to insert Pages into a PDF. Mandano seems a lot more polished and faster, but misses a lot of annotation features.
I agree with the original poster. My tab is rooted, custom rom, adw, etc. My wife's ipad is a far smoother experience than this tablet. Would I switch back to the ipad prison? Not in a million years. My tablet does so much more than the ipad. If an example is needed, how about my choice of swype or thumb keyboard.
root your tab and wait for an ICS port... ICS is said to have hardware acceleration. That is the only thing Honeycomb lacks and that is why its not as smooth as the iPad...
OR
Flash a custom ROM such as Overcome 1.2.1 (didnt like 1.2.2 or 1.2.3) or w/e other one suits you and then come back edit the OP with the overall news... don't judge this book by its cover and remember its NOT iOS
A newbie when rooting is involved but i was wondering if you could give me an idea of what tweaks you have made? i'm considering rooting my device but unsure of what i could do to make it better.
Cpt Streamline said:
A newbie when rooting is involved but i was wondering if you could give me an idea of what tweaks you have made? i'm considering rooting my device but unsure of what i could do to make it better.
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Flashing a custom ROM is the big one, will make a huge difference. I am using Task650 & Phantom's "In Paris V4". I also installed pershoot's kernel and overclocked.
The experience
I love my Galaxy Tab in comparison to my previously owned iPad but the reason is simply because I like playing with roms and hacking to get the most of my device. On my iPad, I felt too restricted and forced to use software I didn't like. Yes, some of the apps are better on the iPad and yes, the interface is a bit smoother but it's nowhere near as attractive and it's far too limiting.
A friend of mine equated the iPad experience with being put in a padded room where he can't hurt himself and everything if fluffy and safe feeling. It made me laugh but somewhat sums up the experience. Personally, I'd rather not be spoon fed the experience but would rather create my own and make it about me.
My hope is that ICS will be a significant jump. realistically, Android tablet manufacturers should be trolling these forums for employees who can tweak up their software.. Why they don't do this, one will never know.
Either way, I don't think attacks on the Op are warranted. These forums are here for people to both vent and discuss like the adults we are.
Perfectly smooth scrolling web pages are something that I've become accustomed to with the Ipad's I've had while waiting for a decent Android tablet. I thought the Nexus 10 would finally offer the smoothness of the Ipad with 4.2 and the awesome Exynos processor. Sadly, I can't find a browser that is nearly as smooth as Safari on the Ipad. I tried every browser I could find in the Market and even rooted and installed the AOSP browser. The AOSP browser is the best, but on image heavy sites, it still stutters.
Am I the only one that is bothered by this?
Why can the Nexus 10 run graphic heavy games at 30-40 fps but can't render a damn webpage with static graphics smoothly?
Also, I've found quite a few apps don't have smooth scrolling, but I suspect poor coding is causing the issue on them, even though knowing the cause doesn't help that that they are still inferior to their Ipad counterparts.
I don't want to go back to an Ipad! Will custom ROMs, kernels and OCing smooth it out?
The reason certain browsers including Chrome "stutter" is because of how it's coded. I've been using boat browser and I have no stutter issues or smoothness problems. Which other browsers have you tried other than aosp browser?
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda app-developers app
I don't think browsers are optimized for the Nexus 10 or Android 4.2 just yet, hell, I don't think 4.2 or the Nexus 10 drivers are fully optimized at this time, but what I'm seeing of Dolphin and Boat Browser in the following video is pretty darn good, skip to 10 and 20 minutes.
Performance issues on this tablet are very likely software optimization issues and will be fixed eventually. Don't believe all the bad press that makes up stuff as they go along by saying the Exynos chip can't handle the resolution. That's garbage, and shows a pretty big misunderstanding of the processor/GPU. What amazes me is that even major tech sites with people who should know what they are talking about are saying it, and it drives me nuts.
The tablet has been out for less than a week. Developers need time to catch up, including Google with Chrome. If you look at the history of Nexus devices, they have always shipped with software issues, including very blatant issues that should have been fixed before release. The beauty of owning a Nexus however is that bug fixes come right from Google...no waiting on an OEM to deliver them.
A lot of the same issues were leveled against the Nexus 7, and after a couple of OTAs things have been greatly improved, and now everyone loves that tablet. Give it time. Things will get better.
MMcCraryNJ said:
Performance issues on this tablet are very likely software optimization issues and will be fixed eventually. Don't believe all the bad press that makes up stuff as they go along by saying the Exynos chip can't handle the resolution. That's garbage, and shows a pretty big misunderstanding of the processor/GPU. What amazes me is that even major tech sites with people who should know what they are talking about are saying it, and it drives me nuts.
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Google is partially to blame, they handed out a pre-release stuttery models to reviewers after all. Things are better since the 13th update, but Chome is still doing the Nexus 10 a great disservice. Let's see how sites such as GSM and PhoneArena who patiently waited for the final model judge it, I think it's safe to say first impressions mean a lot, and they are testing units with fresh SW, multi-user accounts and performance improvements out of the box. Of course, as you said, there's plenty of performance still to come, and I can't wait to get mine!
johno86 said:
The reason certain browsers including Chrome "stutter" is because of how it's coded. I've been using boat browser and I have no stutter issues or smoothness problems. Which other browsers have you tried other than aosp browser?
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the rationale responses so far. Google is really shooting themselves in the foot with the lack of polish on Chrome, Android, etc. They are doing well overall, but just think of how good they could be doing with a few improvments to user experience here and there! Hire the programmers to make it happen Google!
I tried the Boat Browser and it was decent but not buttery smooth like Safari on the Ipad. I'll reinstall it and post a youtube video of the stutter tonight when I get home.
Boat Browser is the best. Safari might be a bit smoother but that is because you can't scroll as fast as Boat and Dolphin. Scroll it at the same speed for both if your hands is steady enough to slow scroll boat and you will see it is the same ****.
Don't let the i-tricks fool you by hiding stutter with animation and masking page load speeds with both a load bar and a background image loading spin wheel.
Also, after using some of the features on Boat, such as the screen shot and auto scroll top of the page or bottom of the page touch icon, you will never use another browser.
Have you tried Dolphin with Dolphin Jetpack addon? Just make sure you turn on jetpack in Dolphin setting. It's off by default.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
Chrome sucks. End of story. But it's not like the iPad is perfect either. I just browsed on my sisters iPad 4. It was quite a nice experience, I can't deny that, but there was some tiny lag on sites like Engadget and Android police
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
slide83 said:
Thanks for the rationale responses so far. Google is really shooting themselves in the foot with the lack of polish on Chrome, Android, etc. They are doing well overall, but just think of how good they could be doing with a few improvments to user experience here and there! Hire the programmers to make it happen Google!
I tried the Boat Browser and it was decent but not buttery smooth like Safari on the Ipad. I'll reinstall it and post a youtube video of the stutter tonight when I get home.
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Click to collapse
I don't think you'll see Android be as smooth as iOS anytime soon. They are fundamentally different architectures and I think Google will likely stick with what they have in Android and wait for the hardware to catch up. Hardware was finally catching up starting with this generation but the large jump in resolution presents a *slight* setback in performance.
9 times out of 10 Jellybean is smooth enough for me. It is much better than it was in the past.
As for Chrome:
Like I've stated before, most of the development effort going into Chrome for Android for the last 6 months has been to upstream and open the source code rather than on performance and bugs. This is why Android is still on Chrome 18 while other platforms are on 24. There are several bug fixes that we'll get once they release Chrome 24 or 25 for Android, including a bug that makes Chrome laggy to scroll busy webpages.
Once Chrome is fully upstreamed, which looks like it might be for Chrome 25, it will then also be fully open source. This means we have make our own builds and do it as frequently as we want. Additionally, it is likely that we will see a much faster pace of development for Chrome as well.
slide83 said:
Thanks for the rationale responses so far. Google is really shooting themselves in the foot with the lack of polish on Chrome, Android, etc. They are doing well overall, but just think of how good they could be doing with a few improvments to user experience here and there! Hire the programmers to make it happen Google!
I tried the Boat Browser and it was decent but not buttery smooth like Safari on the Ipad. I'll reinstall it and post a youtube video of the stutter tonight when I get home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As others have said, software optimization is key. The biggest issue is that they are dealing with a new SoC, so there is more involved than just CPU and GPU coding. Almost all Android hardware has been Tegra so far, so that code is certainly mature at this point. Comparisons at this stage can be unreasonable in some cases. While the Exynos 4 series has been in use in the Note 10.1, but the 5250 has a new core -- the A15, which no one has experience with AFAIK -- new GPU, new memory architecture... Also, it's possible that Samsung wrote the drivers for the Note 10.1 while Google is taking responsibility for the N10.
So, my point is twofold:
Firmware development for this platform is at an early stage of maturity.
Optimization will be complex and won't be as easy as writing a few simple patches.
I think it will take some time for this new platform to reach its potential. The early adopters, as always, will have to be patient. I hope that gives you some reassurance that your N10 will still meet or exceed your expectations... in time.
slide83 said:
Perfectly smooth scrolling web pages are something that I've become accustomed to with the Ipad's I've had while waiting for a decent Android tablet. I thought the Nexus 10 would finally offer the smoothness of the Ipad with 4.2 and the awesome Exynos processor. Sadly, I can't find a browser that is nearly as smooth as Safari on the Ipad. I tried every browser I could find in the Market and even rooted and installed the AOSP browser. The AOSP browser is the best, but on image heavy sites, it still stutters.
Am I the only one that is bothered by this?
Why can the Nexus 10 run graphic heavy games at 30-40 fps but can't render a damn webpage with static graphics smoothly?
Also, I've found quite a few apps don't have smooth scrolling, but I suspect poor coding is causing the issue on them, even though knowing the cause doesn't help that that they are still inferior to their Ipad counterparts.
I don't want to go back to an Ipad! Will custom ROMs, kernels and OCing smooth it out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been an Android user for two years and in my honest opinion this is as good as it gets with it. There is something historically wrong with the core of Android where a game like Modern Combat 3 can look as smooth as silk, but browsing just feels like its being pushed to its limit.
A friend of mine this week bought himself a 32GB Nexus 7. I rushed round to have a play and was disappointed when trying out Chrome and Opera Mobile with these XDA forums. The Nexus 7 sported a quad-core processor and still browsing at times felt awkward and reluctant. It looked like the framerate wasn't right or the resolution was too much to handle. And that's with the latest update to Jelly Bean.
I did raise a similar issue with my Galaxy Tab 2 7" here and before anyone beheads me I had already flashed it with CM9 final. As I stated NOVA 3 was slick as oil, but browsing with Stock Browser, Opera Mobile and Chrome was making my eyes jump like mad. It looked like Chrome was trying to get around it by only rendering half the screen and then a split second later displaying the rest.
My niece's iPad 2 really impressed me when browsing on the XDA forums. The same pages I browsed on the Nexus 7 were scrolling as good as on a PC. Any comment that Android browsers scroll faster and therefore make the iPad look smoother is full of it. It was fast and it was smooth.
This will be last journey with Android. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna turn into an Apple user and get mugged off by paying ridiculous prices for a piece of their overinflated kit. My current smartphone and tablet will be with me for the next few years to come as the wow factor with all these mobile devices is disappearing, I'm afraid.
Easiest fix is ocean browser. Till they work out the kinks of chrome mobile/tablet version.
Also anyone saying safari on the ipads don't stutter are wrong they certainly do, perhaps not as often as chrome but it does happen. We use the gen 3's at work.
However to say there wasn't any conceivable improvement from Donut to JB I do find strange as I certainly did.
slide83 said:
Perfectly smooth scrolling web pages are something that I've become accustomed to with the Ipad's I've had while waiting for a decent Android tablet. I thought the Nexus 10 would finally offer the smoothness of the Ipad with 4.2 and the awesome Exynos processor. Sadly, I can't find a browser that is nearly as smooth as Safari on the Ipad. I tried every browser I could find in the Market and even rooted and installed the AOSP browser. The AOSP browser is the best, but on image heavy sites, it still stutters.
Am I the only one that is bothered by this?
Why can the Nexus 10 run graphic heavy games at 30-40 fps but can't render a damn webpage with static graphics smoothly?
Also, I've found quite a few apps don't have smooth scrolling, but I suspect poor coding is causing the issue on them, even though knowing the cause doesn't help that that they are still inferior to their Ipad counterparts.
I don't want to go back to an Ipad! Will custom ROMs, kernels and OCing smooth it out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
totally agree. for something that has great specs, its dissapointing to see it stutter when loading webpages. my ipad had lower specs compared to this and it was smoother by a mile than the nexus. i think thats the trade off for buying sometor buying something about to Mike about you can talk to my phone but they hired mejust too ****ing hi Billy.
okay the last part was typed using the voice and it sucks too.lol
Chrome currently really has its problems, but keep in mind that as dalingrin said, the mobile chrome version is 18 while the desktop version sits at 23. So there has been a lot of effort put into porting everything from desktop to android rather than bugfixing and polishing. The android version will catch up early next year: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/1...s-including-android-starting-early-next-year/
In the meantime I recommend using the android stock browser. Its extremly fast and fluid and even supports flash.