

First impressions of the Galaxy Tab from Tim Bray (Google Android Evangelist) - bensummers
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/09/02/Samsung-Galaxy-Tab

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nailer
Interesting point:

'The trade-off is obvious. You win because you can show a bigger picture,
which is important, and you lose because it just won’t fit in many pockets,
which is important. It’ll go in most purses, though.'

Anecdote: I have a friend who's completely uninterested in gadgets. She's a
professional comedienne and talks mainly about childhood in her routine. We're
out at a pub one day and she pulls out a giant 5 inch Dell Android phone,
browsing the full (non-mobile) Facebook with her fingers.

How did she end up with a 5 inch tablet/phone? She likes the comfy web
browsing, and there's room in her purse.

~~~
earl
It's worth remembering that pocket size is probably not an issue for roughly
1/2 the population that carries a purse as part of their daily routine.

~~~
dagw
significant number of the other half of the population also regularly carry
some sort of bag.

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RyanMcGreal
Worth the read even if only for the conclusion:

> [A] tablet is, crucially, a _more shareable_ computer. A laptop, with its
> fragile hinge-ware and space-gobbling keyboard, is just not comfy to share.
> A tablet is easier to bring to the café, easier to hand across the table or
> along the sofa, easier to seize in the heat of the moment, easier to hold up
> in triumph, easier to set aside when you need to meet someone’s eyes.

> How big a market is that? Anyone who says they know is lying.

~~~
bensummers
I wrote a blog post about my experiences with using an iPad to show software
at networking events:

[http://bens.me.uk/2010/ipad-software-demo-at-networking-
even...](http://bens.me.uk/2010/ipad-software-demo-at-networking-events)

TL;DR - it works great, but stick to static screenshots for making the tour
very quick.

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ZeroGravitas
One good thing about a serious (with a brand name and TV adverts etc.) iPad
competitor in the market is that, like Tim does here, you can now have an
actual conversation about "what are tablet computers (good) for?" without it
becoming an Apple vs the world fanboy battle.

~~~
ergo98
It is unfortunate that Apple is held as the inventor of the genre. What we're
really talking about are networked PMPs, and Apple might have the biggest
mindshare, but they certainly didn't invent the genre: Archos blazed a trail
that Apple followed.

I have young children, and occasionally one or all of them insist that I stay
with them until they fall asleep. I've used smartphones to consume media and
web pages in such circumstances, yet the _obvious_ thought is "Wouldn't it be
great if this were bigger?" (especially when interacting with dense web pages
where you don't want to lose context by zooming). That is the purpose of
devices like this, for all of those people who always say "But it's too big
for my pocket!"

~~~
chadgeidel
An Archos is cool and all, but I think the "real" device we would like to see
is some form of Dynabook: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynabook>

IMHO non-tech people have a love/hate relationship with their computers. They
love the versatility (the fact that you can do more than play media or read
email - it's "future proof" in a sense) but they hate the
usability/bugs/quirks. As I see it, these two things are in direct opposition,
and Apples model is the most recent successful way (not the only way!) of
reconciling the two.

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fortes
For selfish reasons, I love that it's 1024x600 instead of 1024x768. Means that
all those hard-coded magazine layouts will break :)

I think we'll continue to see a lot of diversity in screen dimensions, which
will continue to be a design challenge.

~~~
acon
If forces a move to fluid layouts for the web I'm all for it. I like my
browser windows tall and narrow, which breaks a lot of sites unless I use
Readability.

On small devices, however, there is definitely a place for pixel perfect
designs. The designer have to be real conscious about what fits on the screen
and how to lay it out in a way which is understandable and good looking.

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martythemaniak
Judging from the specs, this might also make a better ebook reader than the
iPad: smaller and much lighter (easier to hold) with a higher PPI screen
(smoother fonts, easier on the eyes).

Someone should install the Kindle app on it and give us their impressions.

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gvb
See also the linked iPad comparison [http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-
galaxy-tab-vs-apple-ip...](http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-tab-
vs-apple-ipad)

~~~
10ren
Almost half the weight (380g vs 730g), but smaller screen (7" vs. 9.7"). Maybe
this makes it even more squarely a "big iPhone", neither fish nor phone.

~~~
chadgeidel
I really like the size after that screenshot. It looks more like a "page".
However I really want to know what the actual, in-use battery life is like.
That's really where the weight savings lie, and I think they are probably
dreaming when it comes to their claimed 7 hour life.

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leif
> A tablet is ... easier to seize in the heat of the moment

 _awkward_

