

Samsung Galaxy Tab preview - Garbage
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/02/samsung-galaxy-tab-preview/

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nodata
Vanilla, official Android please - this is what's important to me. I don't
want to worry about my hardware vendor deciding that they don't want to update
the OS any more, and I don't want to worry about using an unofficial unaudited
built of Android.

Does anyone know if this device can run vanilla android?

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nl
The Galaxy S has a one-click root exploit and then you can run what you like.

(Have to say, though, the Samsung Android version is surprisingly good).

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nodata
The elephant in the room is security updates. Nobody releases them for Android
at _anything like the speed_ of any other operating system.

Which is why I want an official Android running on everything: no lock in, no
planned obsolescence, no worries about what the code is really doing.

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aw3c2
It seems too small to me. Even being very negative about Apple, once I played
with an iPad I was quite hooked. It is of perfect size for reading, browsing
and what interests me most, social gathering around it, be it gaming or
reading with 2-3 people.

Pretty much the only reason I would imagine myself getting a tablet, would be
for "enhanced boardgames" and then the size must be as big as possible.

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NickPollard
This is definitely an issue, though it seems Samsung are pushing for something
that is more easily holdable in one-hand - compare to a paperback book or a
Kindle.

I haven't used one yet, but I can see this being a lot easier to hold with one
hand and type with another, when in a crowded tube or train, for example.

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die_sekte
I think the iPad's form factor makes it a nice sofa device. To be truly
portable it should've been slightly smaller. There's no way—I think—to hold an
iPad with your hands and use both of them for interacting. One needs to
support it with one's legs to fully use both hands.

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dagw
If the price is right I'm interested. There's only one thing that concerns me.
Can anybody explain why companies insist on making super glossy screens? Is
there any good reason why they can't make tablets with nice matte screens so
that I can see what's on the screen rather than my own reflection.

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grinich
It's hard to clean off the oil from your fingers.

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nailer
On matte? I have a matte screen and can touch it here and there's no
fingerprint linger. On my glossy-screen Macbook at home the screen looks like
an oily mess (and all I do is sneeze occasionaly!).

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Tichy
I don't get this form factor at all. And all the other Android tablets seem to
be the same. Why?

I can only guess: design by committee?

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ZeroGravitas
Are you talking about the screen ratio being standard 16:9/10 widescreen
rather than following the Apple iPad 4:3 setup like on old non-widescreen TVs?

I'm guessing most of them are just re-using existing netbook screens, just as
the original netbooks re-used portable DVD screens.

Being close to the same ratio as most videos and android phones probably makes
it a sensible choice. On the other hand you'd hope Apple had more than just
aesthetics in mind when it chose the iPad screen ratio.

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Tichy
No, the 7'' displays. I don't have an iPad, but even the iPad seems quite
small. I don't see the point in an even smaller tablet.

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ZeroGravitas
There's plenty of 10" Android tablets being displayed at IFA currently e.g.
Archos 101, Toshiba Folio 100, Viewsonic ViewPad 10 etc. (Dell is supposed to
do a Streak in 7 and 10 inch sizes too)

I've not seen any substantially bigger than the iPad (which is just under 10")
yet, but it wouldn't surprise me.

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Tichy
That's good to hear. I just don't understand why they all launched 7'' tablets
first. Maybe they wanted to fail, in subconscious conspiracy with Apple.

