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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.
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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
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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
Any one else finding that most of the reviews of the Tab seem to be written by people who just don't get it?
I'm the first in line to call a spade a spade (that would be "shovel a shovel" for our American cousins) but I truly believe the Tab is a fantastic device and I cannot see where most of these reviewers are coming from.
I'm sure that some would say that us Tab buyers are trying to justify our purchase, but I'm honestly finding that the Tab has exceeded my expectations which were already quite high.
I've been in the market for a device that could sit between my laptop(s) and smartphone for casual media consumption and web browsing, and since buying my Tab last Friday, my Macbook has sat on my coffee table untouched and my HTC Desire has only really seen use as a phone.
I was seriously considering an Advent Vega, Toshiba Folio 100, or Archos 101 as they were all around half the price of the Tab, but after my experience with the Toshiba AC100 Android smartbook I decided that I really wanted the full Google experience (Market, Gmail etc) because it was just so much easier than faffing around with APKs etc.
In less than a week, beyond sitting at my desk, the Tab has become my primary device for Internet and media consumption, and I honestly did not expect that to occur.
Whilst the poor reviews don't affect me directly, I'm concerned that many people would be put off this fantastic device without giving it a fair crack of the ship which I can assure anyone who is sitting on the fence, the Tab most surely deserves!
Regards,
Dave
I tend to agree Dave.
The Tab is one of the best, if not THE best, android device i have used to date (and i have used many).
but its not for everyone and it does have some issues that needs to be addressed (such as the laggy browser).
It does seems like Samsung were able to overcome the issues the SGS had with the SGT and all the power to them.
I do think the reviewers just don't get it.
Some if the reviews i have read are just full of lies and totally biased (see BGR's review).
I really like the stock browser, but it is too laggy compared to others. Samsung should definitely have worked harder on that.
I'm also not convinced by swype on a device of this size but I could be convinced, if I could have swype automatically in portrait and something else in landscape.
Regards,
Dave
I don't think the reviews I've read have been overly negative but I've only read a handful:
Oddly, I found the review on Engadget to be one of the better ones, even if they only scored it 7/10.
They seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the Tab, which flies in the face somewhat of their general pro-Apple bias. I guess it just proves that some of the Engadget writers are genuinely enthusiastic about tech and not just stuff made in Cupertino.
GSMArena, normally a beacon of decent reviews, seemed to get a bit too hung up on trying to compare it to the iPad whilst avoiding declaring one better than the other. That and criticising the price a lot.
They also mentioned issues like the screen having ghosting issues, which I just couldn't reproduce when I used the Tab.
There was a 'review' on the BBC site by one of their tech bloggers which was beyond pitiful.
It just compared web-browsing and playing videos but was so lacking in any genuine insight or intelligence that I would advise not wasting your time on it.
Then the review on BGR, that one really did annoy me.
The reviewer criticised the pixel density of the Tab compared to smartphones and criticised the screen as too small compared to the iPad whilst conveniently ignoring the iPad's poorer pixel density.
If I was being generous, I'd say the review just didn't 'get' the Tab but it smacked much more of pro-Apple bias IMO.​
So, one good review, one in-depth but indecisive review, one non-review and one advert for the iPad...
However, reading a lot of the comments left on various sites in response to their reviews, I would say there is a definite lack of 'getting' out there.
A lot of people just don't seem to see the appeal or usefulness of the Tab, which is fair enough everyone's entitled to their opinion but like you Dave, I'm not convinced they've actually given the Tab a fair go before reaching that decision.
Read WIRED review
http://m.wired.com/reviews/2010/11/galaxy_tab/
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
antz88c said:
Read WIRED review
http://m.wired.com/reviews/2010/11/galaxy_tab/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For those of us not on a mobile device: http://www.wired.com/reviews/2010/11/galaxy_tab/
well, comparing the tab with full fledge tablet will be useless
as i see it, tab is a phone that have tablet capabilities, considering they're still using FroYo which was a phone OS primarily
but when google OS for Tablet is ready in the market, and the tab get it, Ipad will get some rivalry from galaxy tab for sure, as Ipad cant be used as a phone, at all
Justin^Tan said:
well, comparing the tab with full fledge tablet will be useless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say that comparison to any other Android tablets or the iPad is far from useless as they're all running similarly-capable OSs.
True, comparison to something running, say, Win7 would be a bit of a waste of time but I fail to see why comparing a 7" Android tablet to a 10" Android tablet would be useless.
Justin^Tan said:
as i see it, tab is a phone that have tablet capabilities
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what, if you don't mind me asking, are 'tablet capabilities'?
My vibrant feels so small now.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Step666 said:
I would say that comparison to any other Android tablets or the iPad is far from useless as they're all running similarly-capable OSs.
True, comparison to something running, say, Win7 would be a bit of a waste of time but I fail to see why comparing a 7" Android tablet to a 10" Android tablet would be useless.
And what, if you don't mind me asking, are 'tablet capabilities'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well let me put my fair understanding on both devices.
IPAD ADV
---------
- Bigger Screen: More Space for applications, pleasant for the eye
- Brighter Screen
- Longer Battery Life
- Applications tailored just for IPAD
IPAD DISV
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- Heavy.. use on one hand for a long time is just not comfortable.
- Can't Make Call without Jail Breaking / Additional Support
- Bulky, It would mean that you have to carry a bag with you all the time.
- Most of the stuffs don't work in IPAD. e.q. Flash
This is critical for some reason and at least for now, most websites run flash: Videos or Games and it's extremely cumbersome to get the contents to be played on the IPAD. Tethering not working right out of the box (if i remember correctly)
- No support for widgets. why is this important? well, because it's a feature that enable us to glance through information easily or access certain function easily. Plus, it's beautiful and pleasing. Imagine, you want to check your Data Usage, all you have to do is open your screen and you know straight how many have you used instead of opening the program and do a check button again. >.<!!
SGT ADV
--------
- Connectivity: you can make call, browsing using wifi or 3G.
- Light in size and pocket-able on most jeans or clothing.
- All in One? compared to IPAD, you will need an extra pair of device as a phone but with tab, you have it all.
- Device capable for honey comb & ginger bread.
- As android is open source, it's open to development and customization. This would mean that if samsung doesn't make SGT good enough for people, a team or someone can make that customization to provide more battery life, better interface etc.
SGT DISADV
------------
- Built on TFT technology.. which the screen is slightly distorted on certain angle.
- Compared to IPAD, the battery life sucks. However,
you get widgets, connectivity and multi tasking done right and still it's enough to be used as a daily phone / tablet.
- Not many application tailored for SGTab yet and my feeling about this is the future is a bit unknown .. With so many screen resolutions out. 7inch 8.9inch 10 inch.. it's just making it hard for developer to tailor the application but all in all, the android tablet coming to the market is definite so it's possible that the tailored applications will be growing steadily.
My Summary:
--------------
While ipad offers better battery life, applications, screen and performance. It does have certain disadvantages such as lack of flash support, customization, calls and it's bulky. And for some who wish to have portability and entertainment on the GO, Tab is definitely superior than IPAD in many ways. However, taking apps into consideration, the Apps in IPAD is amazing simply because they are tailored. Android is still evolving. We will see more applications tailored for Android tablet size become available in the near future. Having said that i would say all in all, the pro and cons between these two devices is 50:50 and at the end of the day, it's up to your preference whether you want a device with good apps support but lack portability or you want one with all in and portable.
foxmeister said:
I'm the first in line to call a spare a spare (that would be "shovel a shovel" for our American cousins)...
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe that should be "call a spade a spade" - for the non-Americans...
-Daniel
Why is everyone comparing to an IPAD...this isnt an IPAD! Forget the reviews....I can show you 100 reviews that say it's a fantastic device....ask the users....
dweidman said:
I believe that should be "call a spade a spade" - for the non-Americans...
-Daniel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Curse predictive keyboards!
Dave
Sorry for my bad english.
Then my point of view :
The SGT is not the better yes i agree with that.
But for me the point of view is different for everybody. Why ? Because i buy my 'item' because all off my requested features are in my 'item'.
If you havn't yet, look up the review that carrypad has done.
shollywood said:
Why is everyone comparing to an IPAD...this isnt an IPAD! Forget the reviews....I can show you 100 reviews that say it's a fantastic device....ask the users....
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Click to collapse
exactly. and also this flash nonsense always. yes we can do flash. but this is not the killer argument here.
this is a handy tablet with a nice os. thats it. and it can be used as a phone too.
it has a great speaker, which makes conference calls very nice.
widgets with that screen size rocks. gamings is brilliant on the device.
there is no need for comparison to some other device. this one is great.
Most of the reviews I've seen have been positive if not amazing, the Giz article is not an outstanding review or the best piece of journalism I've seen!
My iPad is a lounge device, my SGT is my RoadWarrior device. I wouldn't compare them as they fill 2 very different roles for me.
foxmeister said:
I'm also not convinced by swype on a device of this size but I could be convinced, if I could have swype automatically in portrait and something else in landscape.
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello have you try to use keyboardmanager on the market
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Display - Pretty good but not nearly as great as the iPad's.. nor is it as bright as the iPad. Pixel density looks A LOT like the iPad.. I can't really say the Xoom is any sharper than the iPad.. Whites look much better on the iPad.. they definately have a much higher color gamut and contrast ratio on the iPad. This is disappointing considering how much the Xoom costs off-contract. The Xoom screen looks nearly identical to what Samsung uses on their Galaxy Tab 7". Viewing angles are "decent" but again, not as good as iPad. I would say they are using a cheap PVA type panel, not IPS on this unit. PVA is still much better than TN at least.
Weight - Same weight as iPad.. so to me, it feels too heavy for it's size... but I think the Xoom is much easier to hang onto/hold because of it's widescreen nature'd body.
Speed - Depending on apps I guess.. or how optimized they are.. Angry Birds Seasons (the tablet version) runs like crap compared to Angry Birds on my Galaxy Tab.. not sure why.. Web browsing is a real treat.. Definately renders web sites faster than the iPad.. content is ready to explore at a much faster pace.. However, scrolling isn't as nice as it is on the iPad.. I don't know why Android can't get scrolling anywhere near iOS's Safari. Scrolling is choppy and clunky depending on how many pictures are needed to be shown on the screen at one time. Quadrant scores LOWER than my Galaxy Tab.. Could be Quadrant's not optimized well enough for the Tegra2 platform.
Battery Life - I will have to edit this in later.. my Xoom came out of the box with 77% life..
Interface/UI - I actually like Honeycombs UI.. the quick-softkeys are delightful to use.. especially to multitask with.. Flying between apps is instantaneous and snappy.. much faster than iPad's multitasking.
Speakers - Horrible placement.. they project all sound away from you being on the rear of the device when you're holding the Xoom.. so everybody else hears MORE than what you're hearing.. Otherwise they sound pretty good.. I would say as good as iPad.. and even louder.
Data Connectivity - Verizon 3g on the Xoom FLIES.. I've gotten over 2mb down and over 1mb up.. the modem chip inside the Xoom must be pretty exceptional.. my Galaxy S phone (also on Verizon) barely gets over 1mb down and about 600-700kbps up. Wifi on the other hand seems weak.. my connection is constantly dropping to my home's Wifi connection.. and the Wifi router is just 1 room away :/
Interesting Tid-Bits
The built-in "Chrome" Browser is GPU accelerated.. resulting in much smoother/faster rendering/scrolling.. When installing a 3rd party Browser like Dolphin HD, the web browsing experience plummets, which reminds you of your first Android powered phone and browser.. slow rendering and horrible, choppy scrolling. So with this said, if an app isn't taking advantage of the Tegra2 SOC, don't expect much performance.. this probably also explains the crappy framerates you get when running Quadrant.
I'll post more later.. going back to playing with the Xoom.
the ac adapter ... does it support the european voltages (between 220-240 volt)
SmokeMasta said:
the ac adapter ... does it support the european voltages (between 220-240 volt)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The AC adapter says this:
Input: 100-240V~50/60hz 0.6A
Output: 12V --- 1.5A
Hey Diversion, have you noticed any Force Closes, I wouldn't say an abnormal amount, but anything significant since you've been using it?
vitodintino1228 said:
Hey Diversion, have you noticed any Force Closes, I wouldn't say an abnormal amount, but anything significant since you've been using it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a few in the browser, but i had about 5 tabs open of nothing buy pictures.
vitodintino1228 said:
Hey Diversion, have you noticed any Force Closes, I wouldn't say an abnormal amount, but anything significant since you've been using it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not a single Force Close yet today.. The first time I opened the Market it said my Market was "Out of date" but after closing out and going back in, all was well.
bwcorvus said:
I had a few in the browser, but i had about 5 tabs open of nothing buy pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't gone more than 2 tabs in the browser so far.. i'll open a lot more windows and see if I can get mine to FC.
Thanks buddy, I appreciate it. So far i'm imperssed, honestly. I think it's a solid device. Worth 800 bucks? Probably not, but over 18 months, what the hell, I can afford to be an early adopter. I may invest in an anti glare screen. I can't tell if it's so nice looking that its glassy, or so poorly implemented that its a glare magnent, lol.
Either way, i'm happy with my investment, and I really hope google puts a lot of attention to fixing bugs and any other issues with Honeycomb.
vitodintino1228 said:
Thanks buddy, I appreciate it. So far i'm imperssed, honestly. I think it's a solid device. Worth 800 bucks? Probably not, but over 18 months, what the hell, I can afford to be an early adopter. I may invest in an anti glare screen. I can't tell if it's so nice looking that its glassy, or so poorly implemented that its a glare magnent, lol.
Either way, i'm happy with my investment, and I really hope google puts a lot of attention to fixing bugs and any other issues with Honeycomb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just as glossy as the iPad/Galaxy Tab (I own both).. I was in my car using my Xoom in a parking lot.. and it was just badddd.. sun glaring in my eyes lol.. But I expected that.
Diversion said:
It's just as glossy as the iPad/Galaxy Tab (I own both).. I was in my car using my Xoom in a parking lot.. and it was just badddd.. sun glaring in my eyes lol.. But I expected that.
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Click to collapse
I can agree with that, I don't know.. It doesn't outweigh the pros as of yet. The main thing that i'm eager to test at this point is the Battery, and some of the dual core optimized games and what not. What about you? Are you looking for anything in particular? Any other experience you can comment on? So far, by the way, tethering to my droid x is working phenomenally.
vitodintino1228 said:
I can agree with that, I don't know.. It doesn't outweigh the pros as of yet. The main thing that i'm eager to test at this point is the Battery, and some of the dual core optimized games and what not. What about you? Are you looking for anything in particular? Any other experience you can comment on? So far, by the way, tethering to my droid x is working phenomenally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I'm really looking for is a Tablet with an alternative OS (anything not Windows) with great battery life and gives me the tools to be as productive as a netbook.. Far reaching goals im sure though.
Does honeycomb have an easy way for selecting in the middle of sentences / words? I know the IPad has a magnify glass come up when you hold your finger near a word so that you can see exactly where the cursor is, does honeycomb do something similar? Also, how is the copy/paste in honeycomb? I know on my 2.3 phone, it's not that great and hard to select exactly what you want.
you able to find google body app... cant find it on market and it's not preinstalled???
Can you try viewing streaming websites on WiFi (justin.tv or ustream.tv) and see how the tablet handles higher quality streams?
JimmyHACK said:
you able to find google body app... cant find it on market and it's not preinstalled???
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Click to collapse
I was wondering the same thing.
vitodintino1228 said:
Hey Diversion, have you noticed any Force Closes, I wouldn't say an abnormal amount, but anything significant since you've been using it?
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The only one that I've seen so far is when trying to run "Remote Desktop Client" by Xtralogic. No dice so far, so I'll have to keep a look out for a Xoom-Approved RDP client
schnoz said:
Does honeycomb have an easy way for selecting in the middle of sentences / words? I know the IPad has a magnify glass come up when you hold your finger near a word so that you can see exactly where the cursor is, does honeycomb do something similar? Also, how is the copy/paste in honeycomb? I know on my 2.3 phone, it's not that great and hard to select exactly what you want.
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When you click the words a little pointer comes up, drag it were you want it.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
schnoz said:
Does honeycomb have an easy way for selecting in the middle of sentences / words? I know the IPad has a magnify glass come up when you hold your finger near a word so that you can see exactly where the cursor is, does honeycomb do something similar? Also, how is the copy/paste in honeycomb? I know on my 2.3 phone, it's not that great and hard to select exactly what you want.
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I have no experience with Android 2.3.. but there seems to be a pretty nice/decent cut and paste built in.. I haven't used it yet.
I have had an iPad since july of last year, sold it yesterday in prepartion for the Xoom purchase today. Walked into Verizon purchased the Xoom and walked right out no hassle, no activation required. Here my Mini Review so far, with some comparisons to my previous 32gb ipad.
Hardware:
Nice heft, feels really solid and has that industrial feel. I do not feel I am going to drop it because it slips out of my hand... i always felt that way when holding an ipad.
its a 16:10 screen so it is wider than it is long. Should be perfect for movies.
Screen is a finger print magnet like ipad.
Software:
Gmail- is incredible on this thing. Drag and drop, color labels, etc. the workflow with gmail is priceless and so fluid. I cannot speak of the general "email" app because i only use gmail.
youtube- way way faster loading videos on this than it was on the ipad. it has some eye candy, which is always nice.. esp for android.
browser- Browser is great! and it loads pages faster than my ipad did. also it has tabs and THEY DO NOT RELOAD ON SWITCHING!! I had 8 tabs open... flipping through them flawlessly! As always using google account you can sync bookmarks and such between desktop and xoom.
Havent tried the music app yet
The gallery is like your standard vanilla android gallery.. loaded all my picasa pics from the cloud.
Other apps- there are very few "tablet apps" in the market. The 2 I did DL was pulse and accuweather. Pulse was pretty basic but did take advantage of the fragments. Accuweather is slick... but they need to polish up some pixelation i saw tapping the background "live" water.
Apps like facebook and kindle scale up nicely. While some apps dont like the speedtest app.
Speaking of speed test, i did a load on my wifi connection at 15mbps down and 3 up and i pull 14mbps down and 2 up. My ipad could never pull above 10mbps. I also noticed my signal holding strong than it did on my ipad.
Workflow is great!! This is what i have been missing on ipad... background task, unintrustive notifications.
Thats all I have right now... so far I am liking the decision i made. But i know i will be missing my apps the ipad had!!! Android cant match it yet... it will take some time.
If Xoom battery life is anything like G Tablets (Also Tegra 2) it should have pretty damn good battery Life
Hello, I just bought an Acer A500, this is my first Android device (I own an iphone 3gs).
But I am very dispointed by its speed. I was hoping it would be as fast and smooth (at least !) as my old iphone 3gs but it's not ... When you scroll a web page it's not smooth, whatever the web browser I tried, even single web page as Google !
The only smooth scrolls are when you use the photo browser or when you scroll through the icons pages. For the rest, even the Android Market app, it's not smooth at all.
So is there any optimisation we can do to let the A500 display everything smoother, or is it just an Android 3.0 problem which may be corrected in a future release ?
Thanks
The coming Android OS 3.1 will be better. The update including the browser stability and smoothness.
.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
Thanks, I just hope now the 3.1 will come quickly to the A500 and that it will really be smoother ...
My experience with the A500 is very fluid. I find that browsing to be "fast & smooth" as well. So, I'm left scratching my head that your receiving a better browsing experience on a 3GS. Could you upload a video sample on youtube? Some people have reported wifi issues with their device and that could be the culprit to your browsing experience. See if coming in close proximity of your wifi AP improves your browsing experience. If so then search this forum for what others have done to resolve the wifi issue. I am not having an issue so I have not further investigated the wifi issue.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
The browsing experience is a pain in the ass... but that is not from ACER it's from honeycomb...
the stock browser is still unstable and buggy and not support HTML5 and CSS3 as promissed...
and some function supported already by Iphone (field url and email for input do not trigger the good keyboard)
no smooth animation on javascript it s choppy and lost a lot a frame...
-- EDITED --
When I say a pain in the ass I mean, only if we want make or build animated javascript website
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com
this should be SMOOTH...or maybe I expect too much from "high-end" tablet dual-core.
HTML form field url/email
Issue16401 : http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=16401
SenchaMobile.
http://dev.sencha.com/deploy/touch/examples/kitchensink
-- animations ... choppy and not smooth at all...
-- Buttons ... rounded are... weirdly rendered but that is not a real issues from the android, but probably from webkit or more from also sencha methods.. but still
flickering on any page change...
you can see this flickering also when you are on form fields
-- FEEDBACK --
I do not mean anything wrong, I said before that Android 3.0 is young and will grow up by time with better and better things to come I love android and I love Acer Tablet, really good products
-- 3.1 --
it's come in this month "confirmed by Acer Thailand" but no final date yet...
So far my disapointment are not same
I just see the UI improvement on Samsung Galaxy 8.6... it's so nice the UI is sweeeeet
the status bar, with the turn on/off many things...
the fast app launcher on the bottom... WoOow sweet...
I hope we will got some flavor of it
IMPORTANT:
I own 2 tablets Acer A500
I own 2 Liquid Metal S120
You should probably return it. Nobody has yet had these issues, so it might be something wrong with your tablet.
@bec07 : who ?
You and the OP.
It is important to note that not all websites are created equal. I have fast and smooth experiences with some sites and horrible one with others. There are too many variables from code quality, embedded media and offsite advertising, amount of content on a given page etc to truly quantify a 'good' or 'bad' browsing experience.
Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Some of it has to do with the browser, some has to do with the page you're loading.
gammaRascal said:
It is important to note that not all websites are created equal. I have fast and smooth experiences with some sites and horrible one with others. There are too many variables from code quality, embedded media and offsite advertising, amount of content on a given page etc to truly quantify a 'good' or 'bad' browsing experience.
Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Some of it has to do with the browser, some has to do with the page you're loading.
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Agree, google.com is fast for me, but this site xda is very slow.
I use Dolphin HD browser... faster and more features.
Basicly all tablets are identical at this point. Some thinner, some thicker but only one manufacturer was smart enough to add the full size USB port.
Since the hardware is identical and it really packs quite a punch those issues should not happen. It would be best they check with their retailer or inconspicuously go to try out another A500.
Bec07 said:
Basicly all tablets are identical at this point. Some thinner, some thicker but only one manufacturer was smart enough to add the full size USB port.
Since the hardware is identical and it really packs quite a punch those issues should not happen. It would be best they check with their retailer or inconspicuously go to try out another A500.
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I have 2 tablet and both are identical so I should change all tablet... naaaa don't think so.
I do think the 3.1 will remove some flickering glitch, and smooth maybe the javascript animation and css animation stuff. but for sure some website are poorly coded or got a DOM overloaded that eat the memory.
I do compare Sencha Touch website between iPad 1 and Acer A500... sad that run smoother on the old old iPad rather than on the new A500
but read really, I said the honeycomb and android is still young and buggy and will be better day after day because of the active community and the open mind of the code. do not interpret or miss understand.
It's a fact that browsing is not that smooth that should be, but it's already good.
now have to become the BEST.
(someone told me on the galaxy S II the browser was.... too fast for rendering it's tooooo good, but I didn't check about flickering or else)
I would have to agree with the first post, the web browsing experience is not as nice as iOS in regards to smoothness/scrolling, comapred to my iphone4 and former ipad1, but its not that bad either.
looking forward to 3.1.
sencha was developed with iPhone in mind, that's not really a valid comparison.
sollie said:
Agree, google.com is fast for me, but this site xda is very slow.
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Just change the theme to xda classic and here you go
Today I checked xoom 3.1 videos on youtube, and I'm still disapointed ...
Browsing the web is faster but still not as smooth as it should be.
And not only the web, also the other apps were not 100% fluid.
I don't know if I will wait until the 3.1 comes to the A500 ... I may sell it quick (only owned for 2 days !) and buy an iPad. And believe it or not : yesterday I have been to the hospital because of an epilleptic crisis I did while using the A500, because of the non-smooth scrollings ...
My point of view is that a pad experience seems magic when it's 100% fluid, without this the pad experience seems not far from a laptop experience, which is not what I was searching for.
New android users always feel that. U can easily change ur the launchers such as Launcher Pro which is very smooth and fast in my opinion. There are tweaks around for you to look for and learn while experiencing Android =)
dizzy33 said:
Hello, I just bought an Acer A500, this is my first Android device (I own an iphone 3gs).
But I am very dispointed by its speed. I was hoping it would be as fast and smooth (at least !) as my old iphone 3gs but it's not ... When you scroll a web page it's not smooth, whatever the web browser I tried, even single web page as Google !
The only smooth scrolls are when you use the photo browser or when you scroll through the icons pages. For the rest, even the Android Market app, it's not smooth at all.
So is there any optimisation we can do to let the A500 display everything smoother, or is it just an Android 3.0 problem which may be corrected in a future release ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ipads have had probably What? 50 updates. A500 had one so far. I have the A500 and my wife's has the Ipad. I think I updated my wife Ipad 3 times since Christmas ( hour or longer updates ) Give it some more updates and the A500 will shine. The way both Tablets are now if I had to sell one of them it would be the Ipad. The only thing I like better about my wife's Ipad is, I can plug it directly into our digital camera and get pictures real fast, but you also have to buy the 30.00 adapter to do this and now you have something more to lose and carry around. JM2C
This is the difference with Apple : with Apple it works fine out of the box, of course a few bugs are corrected in firmware updates but these bug do not avoid you to use your pad.
With Android I feel like in the bad days of Windows mobile : you have to wait for the manufacturer promeses before being able to use your pad properly, but most of the time windows mobile devices never worked as expected ... That's the problem of having one operating system for hundred of devices with different hardwares.
I would be very happy to keep my A500 mainly because of the included usb port, but also because of the price and the fact that Android is more "open", if only Acer would have given us a 3.1 release date I would feel better.
Edit : this time it's sure, I will sell it !!! A current bug let me type very slow on the keyboard, this is the last bug I will accept ! Another big problem has been found : the button bar on the bottom of the screen : I often touch it while using the A500 which freezes the screen ....
I guess I will wait for 3 or 4 more years before going back to Android ! For now I'll stay with Apple.
Thanks anyway to all of you !
Here are two videos I made with the SIII, first the unboxing, then the demo for the gestures.
Note that I left out the direct call and pick up to be notified functions as I didn't have a microSIM card.
Feel free to ask whatever question about the phone and I'd love to answer or test things for you. Enjoy watching!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GauEbTHJYNk&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edbhVsWdngo
Edit: I forgot to mention that I've fiddled with the S Voice in multiple languages (I'm not a native speaker of either of them) and it surprised me how well I managed to get along with the app. It's responsive, useful and can easily understand you (I'm kind of shouting at it because I wanted to get it right, but it works very nicely). Can't wait for the Romanian version!
Cool!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Tomorrow I'll be giving back the SIII, so post questions, if you have any, while I'm still able to verify things for you!
How were you able to acquire such a beast before release?
I'm with the Samsung Mob!lers Romania and we almost always get the devices prereleased. Unfortunately they are beta products and can have faulty software, but luckily I had no problem whatsoever with the SIII. Stay tuned for a full video hands on and many other Samsung devices
Funniest part is when it open maps in Korean language
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Rate your UX with the new nature inspired TouchWiz. How is it different than S2 TW? Smoother? Any small, but experience enhancing changes?
Reviews have shown that the stock S3 browser is much better and less laggy than the S2. Can you confirm this with real life usage?
Unfortunately I have no S2 at hand to try out, but what I can say based on my experience with TouchWiz is that it's very sharp and quick and in the time I used it I had no intention of using a custom launcher. The browser is the same I have on my Tab 2, and prefer it over Chrome, but I can't say how much faster it is than the predecessors.
There are many users talking about the possible screen issues on the SGIII. Were you able to notice some kind of tinting?
Thank you for your time and great videos by the way.
I saw some topics talking about the display quality, with a slightly pink hue, but the model I have is just perfect. A lot of people complain about the oversaturation, but I think the colors are very very vivid. You get four different display color settings to match your taste, with dynamic being the flashiest and then standard, natural and movie.
I've tested everything out and I never got a force close or any kind of error, although it got stuck in S Voice once, but bear in mind that I don't have an actual production model.
floiancu said:
and prefer it over Chrome
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i read about other reviewers saying this too. very cool. thanks.
And here's the full review, a short presentation of the features. I particularly love the screen, crisp clear as you can see in the close up at the end. Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-fcYW3GRS0&feature=youtu.be
Thank you, Flo.
EDIT: Now I see that the other guy has replied to my question about the reader and the answer is that it is available for most sites!
Is there a "reader" type function in the web browser? In one other video demonstrating text reflow, the reviewer pressed an icon in or near the address field to go into a "reader" mode! So clearly it does exist, but the reviewer was browsing mobile wikipedia when he did it, I was wondering if it is available when for example reading an article on Gsmarena in desktop mode?
I didn't see any reader button so I can't say if there was one, when I browsed I simply used the text wrap on the standard double tap zoom, never at different sizes.
If it's the same browser with the one I have on my Tab 2 (ICS 4.0.3) then there is no such feature, but they nay be different.
have u used or looked at a htc one X before? if so could you make a brief comparison of its screen with the sgs3 screen?
I have only seen them separately and I only know that both displays are amazing. A romanian reviewer whom I trudt has made a detailed comparispn between them and he favours the screen of the One X. In terms of resolution or color tones they're both overkill, but he says that the visibility in heavy sunlight is better on the One X.
I can only say that there's nothing you can possibly use the screen for that requires a higher resolution. Check the close up in the end of my gestures video to see how crisp clear it is!
Fantastic mate. Thanks for the videos.
If you still have the device with you can you try to shoot and upload a video showing the multitasking capability. Open as many apps as you can including games and browser and switch back from one another to see how well is it functioning ?
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I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?fife3i
I gave the phone back, but I've tested the problem reported on the One X, that the multitasking was not working properly (reloading web pages when switched back to the browser etc) and I can completely vouch for the multitasking on the S III. It switches the apps flawlessly and keeps them in the RAM not requiring a reload.
floiancu said:
And here's the full review, a short presentation of the features. I particularly love the screen, crisp clear as you can see in the close up at the end. Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-fcYW3GRS0&feature=youtu.be
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haha love the comparison with the 5110. I had that phone about 14 years ago and it wasn't considered to be a big phone back then.
Facepalm the phone to silence it is EPIC !