More details about Samsung's new tablet have emerged courtesy of
Tinh te and from what it claims is a highly reliable source. This time around, the Vietnamese site is claiming that
Samsung's 7-inch Tab will be running Android 2.2 (Froyo) on an A8 processor clocked to a peppy 1.2GHz. It's all powered by a 4,000mAH battery that contributes to the tablet's 370-gram weight with 16GB of on-board storage and up to 32GB of microSD expansion. Oh, and the 7-inch panel is said to be of Samsung's Super AMOLED variety which should make it
readable outdoors judging by its smaller sibs. Sounds hot, but we'll have to see how Samsung's TouchWiz UI holds up to being stretched across all that very expensive screen-estate.
P.S. We've also been told that it'll be called the "Galaxy Tape," not Tab or S-Tab as previously rumored.
posted June 14th 2010 4:02AM
Let's get the following out of the way right now, shall we?
EVO sucks! iPhone sucks! Blackberry sucks!
Ahh. Now let's focus on the article.
A 7-inch Super AMOLED screen? Sounds sexy!
@arboreal snowman
Nice, but is it so hard to make 3 buttons look nice? The rest seems to be same in every device since Ipad. (I'm no fanboy)
@arboreal snowman
your Insult to the SuperSonic out Shadows your hate for Apple, if the world has any humanity left, oblivion will be chosen
@arboreal snowman it's quite sad that nobody even bothers to say symbian sucks anymore
@arboreal snowman
I guess we should get that out of the way since we skipped the whole tablets are useless thing. Tablets running mobile OS's are even more useless.
Get a smartphone instead.
@arboreal snowman Why in the hell did they name this thing galaxy tape? I mean tape? What?
@Corriewf They decided not to go with the trend and name it the "Galaxy Tampon" =P
In all seriousness, this is a very attractive device, but I have not liked any of the samsung touchscreen phones. Their touch interface is just boring imo. I really love my palm pre plus and I cannot wait for (hopefully) a web os slate.
Also, in other news, what the hell do I have to do to get a job at Tinh Te? This is like the 30th major leak they've gotten, do they have big foot lurking around in there?
@arboreal snowman
You forgot Iphones XP
@Corriewf
Makes me think of tape worm for some odd reason. Don't want to buy that.
@Kohai
One time isn't enough?
@donv69 Hopefully for better reasons than you pointed out above.
Nice specs! Hope you can root it and get rid of the Touch Wiz UI. I'm looking at you, hackers!
@LeeBongSmith I've read that ATK (advanced task killer) works for these purposes with other UIs, can anyone confirm?
@juanvaldez
I don't know about ATK, but on my HTC Tattoo, I can reset defaults for the Sense application. After that, when you press the home button, it will ask you to use Home (Android standard UI) or Sense, and you can set one to default.
What's with all of these dark horses coming out for Android...not that I'm complaining
say hello to my lil friend Apple! You want to bet that this thing has an A4 like CPU inside?
@grouver
You mean a high end Arm. If so, that's exactly what it has, it says as much right about these comments. Go read it.
@Alex Wright no I mean an A4 like CPU just like the one found in iPad and iPhone4 and Galaxy. It is not really a high end arm processor since it is based on the older architecture. It is however an optimized arm CPU and considering how much press there is around it I am surprised that I have to explain this ...
Wow, now there's a tablet I might want to sink my teeth in.
@Syon Sounds painful.
@Syon
Why would you want to eat a tablet. Not that I've eaten one, but I'd imagine it doesn't taste good.
@Syon sorry man, they already reported on the chocolate covered iPad
@huzzlehoff so you have never visited a doctor and been given a tablet!! Ching-boom, Yes folks I am here all night, don't forget to try the buffet.
@MrLinux No. I always sit for an hour in a dark dingy room just to be molested by a man in a lab coat and then charged enough to buy 2 of these...
Wow, I need to change my doctor huh?
@TamagotchiSan If your doctor is a proctologist, can I get his name?
wrong aspect ratio
@bebop
I'd rather have 16:9 which is excellent for video and mediocre for internet, than 4:3 which is absolutely terrible for for video and excellent for the internet. I guess it just depends on how you intend to use the device the most though.
@j3ff actually, I love to see webpages in 16:9 specially if they are blogs and the like.
@j3ff I dont find 4:3 terrible for video, because i don't find black bars to be all that bad- plus i'd be using "the internet" a whole lot more than i would be watching video. Also, there are some use cases for 3:4. 9:16? not so much.
@Aguilera Have you tried it? I have a vertical monitor and 16:9 kind of sucks since the whole webpage doesn't fit... I also have an iPad and the iPad is the perfect ratio. Oh and I am a big user of The netflix app.
There's a phone app? This thing makes calls??
@mogren -- "There's a phone app? This thing makes calls??"
That's the carelessness of putting a phone OS on another type of device.
But wait! Apple did that too! Well... Apple thought of that, since they design the software *and* the hardware. All those claims of the iPad just being a big iPhone or iPod Touch were greatly exaggerated. Whether you like the iPad or not... it is a purpose-built device.
However, this Samsung tablet is literally just a big Android phone... but bigger is better, right?
* I'm not defending Apple nor do I see a need for a tablet device in my future... I'm just stating the facts.
On a side note... with 4.3" phones and the 5" Dell Streak... a 7" tablet doesn't seem like that big of a step. They should have gone for the 10" (although a 10" AMOLED screen would be pricey)
@Michael Scrip obviously, you don't know much about their plans. First, they are making a 10" tablet, they will make 3 sizes. 2nd, if they allow you to not get a phone plan, isn't it better to actually have the ability to have choice? Unlike the iPad where some people who carry it everyday would like to have just 1 contract and the ability to have their iPad always have data at the price they had at their old contract, your lengthy argument seems to leave these users out in the cold.
Also, this is just my speculation here, but the reason it would have phone capability might be just to get around the Android app market place restriction (this is seriously ingenious if it circumvents the restrictions, yet doesn't force the consumer into getting this with a cell phone contract).
Lastly, there is definitely a market for Android tablets, so for you to dismiss it is a bit Naive, especially when this has the potential to hit the marketplace first as they've announced the 7" to be shipping in the early fall. Making calls from BT 3.0 will not be so bad for those who want this functionality and to carry only 1 device and can live with a 7" tablet in their briefcase/on their back.
@juanvaldez -- "Making calls from BT 3.0 will not be so bad for those who want this functionality and to carry only 1 device and can live with a 7" tablet in their briefcase/on their back."
Will there really be people who ditch their pocket-sized cell phones and possibly their iPad... to combine them both into a single 7" or 10" tablet?
I'm not dismissing a market for a regular Android tablet... but the phone aspect of it is a little far fetched. Right now... people seem to enjoy their cell phones and tablets separately. I see little reason to combine them.
Smartphones should have data so you can have access to everything in your pocket, all the time. Tablets, as secondary devices, can perform their functions on WIFI only if need be. Phones and tablets aren't exactly interchangeable for the most part.
I agree... choice is great. But I cannot see anyone shutting down their cell phone... and moving their voice/data plan to a 7" tablet.
We'd all love that "one device" that does everything... but if the thing you make phone calls on requires a backpack to carry it in... that's definitely not it.
@Michael Scrip It's not like it's heavy, and again, I've already given an alternative reason for the phone capability. Not imagining anyone, is not thinking very hard. Dell could ship a 5" that people were clamoring for, for months, I know 7" is nearly 50% bigger, but still...there are some out there where size is king (don't forget, more than 1 person carries a briefcase/laptop bag with them at least once a day, women carrier purses).
Next, no, I highly doubt *many* that people will ditch their iPad for this. What I don't doubt is that the iPad didn't get every consumer under the sun who is interested in a tablet to buy one. Some thought it was too big, some thought it was too...Apple.
IMO, as I stated elsewhere, I think there should be an option for an unlocked version and to have carriers support data-only plans. This would allow the exact same contract requirements as an iPad which has had no problem selling, plus this could have the added benefit of being sold subsidized if you do get a phone plan...which just might be enough to convince a few or many thousand to combine devices and/or have a cheapo prepaid cell-phone and this for other occasions. Who knows, not me, I'm not in tablet marketing. I do know I want one, and it all depends on the information we don't yet have...
@mogren
This is a prototype. Note that the four icons on the "Tape" (really?) are in the exact same location as on the phone. They may not have customized the OS for this device yet.
On the other hand, if this were to support T-Mobile frequencies, and I could just pull my sim out of my Nexus One and put it in here when I know I'm going to want a tablet... I could do that.
Seeing a tablet with a "Phone" icon on the bottom reminds me of this...
http://www.funnyordie.co.uk/videos/d2b714361c/hello
Sexy, though.
Great froyo.... so it can run flash
Samsung is seriously confused. What is it Bada, Android, Symbian or WP7
@ZuurKen When you are the 2nd largest cell phone company in the world you have the right to choose as many OS as you want. BTW, Bada is only for cheap (read, borderline feature-phones) smartphones. ATM Symbian is definitely an after-thought, and AFAIK, only a rumor for future productions.
OK, so here's my 2 cents on the device, I didn't want one when I assumed it was going to 100% duplicate functionality and put a worse screen tech in there to boot. I wonder if internationally, and more importantly for me domestically, they will allow a data only plan. I don't see this being able to sell big without a data only plan. To spend $70+ a month to duplicate functionality and have a semi-portable device will be such a turn-off to customers it'll be a joke. However, with an unlocked or less-subsidized tablet that will give each customer as much freedom to choose plans this could have some potential, but still it'll have a little bit of a struggle in it's future until Android allows tablets to natively access their app store.
How long would be the battery life for 4000 mAH?
5 hours? that would be sucks
At least 15 hours, then it is superb!
@ewlung
The battery life in this should be very good. Definitely more than 5 hours, probably more like 10 if you turn the backlight down a few notches. Dell Streak is 5" and 1500mAh battery. iPad is in the 6000-7000 mAh range and 10". This is 7" and 4000mAh. Internals are roughly the same in all three devices in terms of power draw, so the backlight and screen will be the deciding factor.
@ewlung the specs Samsung listed for the 1500 mAH Galaxy S phone with Super AMOLED display:
Li-ion 1500mAh Talk time: 2G/803 min, 3G/393 min. Standby time: 2G/750 hrs, 3G/576 hrs.
270% larger battery is nice, not sure how the rest of the tech will scale...175% larger screen + 1.2 ghz processor might eat the battery more than 2x as fast. I think battery ratings take a bit more of a hit on 3G internet surfing than talk time, while using wi-fi will make it fall inbetween the 2G/3G talk time numbers.
This just random mulling from a simpleton, I'm sure someone can guesstimate this better than I and just about anyone can (and probaly should) totally dismiss everything I just wrote.
@juanvaldez *probably
@CommentsTroll "iPad is in the 6000-7000 mAh range and 10". This is 7" and 4000mAh. Internals are roughly the same in all three devices in terms of power draw, so the backlight and screen will be the deciding factor."
The iPad, IMHO, will almost surely have a more efficient processor, question is how much more efficient. But there is something more important you are missing: power draw. IPS > AMOLED > Super AMOLED. You've already noted the bigger size, which is definitely important, but I think it's more important to rate this device against the Galaxy S as it's the closest thing we have to the internals AND the externals. The big question is, are screens perfectly correlated for power consumption/size...do they get more/less efficient from 4" to 7"? If anyone can answer that, if it's even possible, we could have a good idea on the battery rating.
@juanvaldez
(SUPER) AMOLED power consumption depends for a large part on the displayed image, unlike LCD where power consumption is constant, a dark image will consume much less than a white image (Dark about 40% of a LCD, full white about 200% of a LCD)
Samsung co-developed the A4 processor (see http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20007162-64.html ) so it would be logical it the energy footprint of the processor is comparable to iPad´s
@rj7855 I'm under the impression that Apple has probably, though not definitely, underclocked the A4. In addition to that, they have defeated some of the functionality from the A4 that they don't use. Lastly, this seems to be overclocked, at least relative to what we've seen from every Samsung processor thus far (perhaps they've done other engineering to get it upto 1.2ghz though).
Yes, I have read that the video content negates the disadvantage of LCD, however, you said Super AMOLED. Are you saying that Super AMOLED is worse than AMOLED at energy conservation in video? Have the two actually been put head to head, bc AFAIK there hasn't been extensive testing on the Super AMOLEDs from 3rd parties. Though it's quite likely I just haven't read it, if that's the case I'd love to see a link since it'll be powering my next device and I'd like to see what else they have to say about it that is unbeknownst to me. If you are using AMOLED stats you'd still need to take the 20% power savings into account...equalizing it across all parts might be correct, e.g. 20% more efficient would make the black 32% and the whites 160%....please clarify, SAMOLED is sexy and I want more info.
Again, I don't think I'm coming from a place of authority on the subject. Part of what I'm doing is just speculating, which I made clear, and putting together what information I do have.
@rj7855 .. Samsung didn't co-develop the A4. They manufactured it. It's like saying that Foxconn co-developed the iPhone, XBox 360, Wii, DS and Kindle.
@taligent
yes they did.... before Apple got involved
"Intrinsity was the company behind the (previously dubbed) Cortex A8 chip, and that Intrinsity worked with Samsung to develop and manufacture it."
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/08/apple-ipad-and-samsung-wave-share-a-brain/