Samsung Galaxy Tab
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HTC Flyer vs. Galaxy Tab vs. iPad... fight!
In a world of 10-inch dual-core Androids, HTC has opted to tread its own path by cranking up processor speeds, sticking to a 7-inch form factor and eschewing the latest Honeycomb build for a Gingerbread version it could customize more comprehensively with Sense. All that's well and good, but sometimes all it comes down to is how these gadgets look and feel. So to help you wrap your mind around the Flyer's new aluminum body, we present a couple of comparison galleries with it set against two devices that need no introduction. Get clicking! %Gallery-116842% %Gallery-116843%
Vodafone UK lands Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 exclusive launch
We reported yesterday that Vodafone customers would be the first to get their hands on the lightweight 10.1-inch tablet, and now we're getting word via Twitter that Vodafone UK will carry the Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 exclusively in Britain, at least to start. Thus far, that's all she wrote -- Vodafone's tweet ends with "More info Coming soon!" but they've yet to follow up. So there's still no confirmation of a solid release date -- we've heard March for Asia and Europe -- or pricing, and Americans eagerly awaiting the tablet's Stateside debut have been left out in the cold, but at least our British friends will know where to go when the slim slate makes it to market. [Thanks, Chris W.]
Samsung pairs up against iPad with 10.1" Galaxy tablet
Samsung already boasts of having the most successful Android tablet on the market with its 7-inch Galaxy Tab and now the Korean manufacturer is coming after the iPad with its recently announced Galaxy Tab 10.1. As the name implies, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a 10-inch (1280x800) tablet with a dual-core 1 GHz Orion processor from Samsung and 16 or 32 GB of storage. The tablet also includes a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera capable of 1080P recording and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera. Powered by Android 3.0 honeycomb, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 can connect wirelessly via WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n and HSPA+ at speeds up to 21 Mbps. If you remove the operating system from the equation, the hardware specs on this upcoming tablet exceed that of the current generation iPad. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 and other Honeycomb tablets like the Motorola XOOM include dual-cameras, a dual-core processor, and in some cases 1080P video recording and playback. Hardware is only part of the equation, though, and iOS offers many advantages over Android 3.0, not the least of which is an app store filled with applications designed specifically for Apple's tablet device. Of course, we would be remiss if we did not mention the rumored Apple iPad 2 in this tablet comparison. The next generation iPad is expected to be announced in the upcoming months and its hardware specs may up the ante for tablets devices once again. If you had a US$1000 to burn, what would you do? Grab one of these hot, new Android tablets or wait for Apple to trump them all with the iPad 2?
Samsung says Galaxy Tab sales to consumers actually 'quite small' [update: misquote!]
When is a tablet sold not actually a tablet sold? When it's a Galaxy Tab, apparently. As The Wall Street Journal reports, those two million Galaxy Tabs that Samsung reported it had "sold" in the fourth quarter of last year were apparently not actual sales to consumers, but simply sales to distributors (which is a different matter altogether). Even more surprisingly, Samsung's Lee Young-hee further explained on an earnings call on Friday that so-called "sell-out" sales to customers were actually "quite small," but she wouldn't provide a specific number. Somewhat confusingly, however, she also later noted that while "sell-out wasn't as fast as we expected," Samsung still believes that sales to consumers were "quite OK," and that it is "quite optimistic" about 2011. Update: As it turns out this was a misquote, and sales are actually "quite smooth." Full details here.
T-Mobile expected to cut Galaxy Tab pricing to $249.99 (update: drop is official!)
After initiating the first on-contract Galaxy Tab price cascade back in December that quickly led Sprint to respond, T-Mobile may chop subsidy prices again today for the 7-inch tablet to just under $250 (after a pesky $50 mail-in rebate). Together, that's only $62 more than the bargain bin CherryPad, which should infuriate early adopters who paid double that only a few months ago, not to mention sober up Samsung. However, when you consider that pseudo-4G tablets like the Dell Streak 7 and LG G-Slate will join Magenta's lineup soon, it is a viable strategy for extending the Tab's consumer appeal in this viciously competitive Android tablet world we live in. Then again, if the dual-core processors teased for the Tab's successor actually pan out, we doubt Samsung will need any assistance getting back to its smug position on top of the Android heap. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled on T-Mobile's site today and be sure to update should the price change actually materialize. Update: A recent peek at T-Mobile's site shows the price drop is now official. If you're in the UK and prefer buying the Tab unsubsidized, Amazon and Tesco have also chopped their prices to a palatable £341.24 ($542) and £359.20 ($571), respectively. Thanks, Raphael and Rupert!
Galaxy Tab hits new low on US Cellular: $200 with 5GB data agreement
And the drops, they keep on comin'. Just 48 hours after T-Mobile USA reduced the financial barrier surrounding the Galaxy Tab to just $350 on contract, the suddenly boisterous US Cellular is doing 'em one better. The carrier has just lowered the price of a shiny new 7-inch Tab to just $199.99 on a two-year data agreement, with the only major caveat being that consumers will have to opt for the pricier 5GB / month plan. That'll run you $54.99 per month with pay-as-you-go messaging, or $74.99 per month with an all-you-can-message plan. We still aren't totally hip with a tablet on contract (sans voice capabilities), but those who've warmed won't find a better deal east of the Mississippi. Or west of it, frankly. [Thanks, D]
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Tablets
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. You didn't think we'd let the holiday season go by without an official Engadget Tablet Gift Guide did you? Hey, give us more credit -- we know it's not 2009 anymore! The past year has seen an explosion in the tablet category, and while the iPad may still be the market leader, there's no shortage of Android and Windows 7 alternatives out there that let you surf the web, read books, and watch videos with just a flick of a finger. Sure, more are on the way, and all signs point to Apple updating the iPad in early 2011, but if you've got to have a touchscreen slab before the end of the year, we're here to lend a helping hand. Hit the break for a rundown of the best choices by price category.
T-Mobile drops Samsung Galaxy Tab to $350 on-contract
Been waiting for a carrier to shave a bit off the price of the Galaxy Tab before you took the plunge? Well, you now have your first option to consider -- T-Mobile has just knocked $50 off the on-contract price of the tablet, bringing it own to $349.99 for those willing to sign a two-year term (the off-contract price unfortunately remains unchanged). Incidentally, T-Mobile has also dropped the price of the Samsung Vibrant down to $150, although that's not the first time a Galaxy S device has been discounted. Of course, while T-Mobile is the first to start discounting the Tab, it almost certainly won't be the last. We'll keep you posted on any other changes.
OnLive demos Windows 7 on an iPad and Galaxy Tab, launches cloud computing tablet app
Flash on an iPad? No problem, and neither is QuickTime on a Samsung Galaxy Tab -- assuming you're running both from a virtualized Windows 7 PC using OnLive's new app. OnLive may have originally pitched itself as a streaming games service, but founder Steve Perlman revised his ambitions at the D: Dive into Mobile conference today, showing off a host of Windows 7 programs (including 3D modeling software Maya, above) running on the pair of ARM-based tablets. Like always, OnLive requires a nearby server and fast internet connection to function adequately, and the apps themselves would need touch controls, but Perlman said it's actually easier to deliver apps than games since they're less sensitive to lag. OnLive didn't provide a date when we can expect full cloud functionality, but you can get a sneak peek at a pared-down version right now -- the brand-new OnLive Viewer app, which lets you spectate games in progress (and will eventually let you play them) is now available for iPad.
Samsung sells one million Galaxy Tab units (update: confirmed)
Wondering just how well a tablet would do if picked up and marketed by all four major carriers in America? We're still waiting for the breakdown within our borders, but there's hardly a doubt that the unprecedented carrier arrangement has helped Samsung shatter its estimates on Galaxy Tab sales. Purportedly, the outfit has just passed the one million mark in global sales of the 7-inch Android tablet, but Information Week is quick to point out that Sammy's not clear on whether that's units in the sales channel or units in the hands of consumers. Either way, one million's nothing to scoff at, particularly when you consider that only 600,000 had been sold as of November 22nd. The firm's now hoping to move 1.5 million of 'em by the year's end, and while that's still well short of the estimated seven million iPads that have been sold to date, it's a sales rate that we're sure no one at Samsung is kvetching about. Update: CNET heard from a Samsung representative that the company hasn't officially announced the sales figure here, but hopefully we'll get some clarification soon. It's possible that the PR team simply isn't ready to dish out the number in official fashion yet. We'll keep you posted. Update II: So, it's just what we expected -- the numbers are real, but Samsung wasn't quite ready to come clean with 'em. According to Kim Titus, Director of Public Relations for Samsung Mobile, the company has "sold one million Galaxy Tabs globally." Good on 'em!
55 people think the iPad is more valuable than the Galaxy Tab (updated)
If you read tech news today, expect to see a story making the rounds concerning a "consumer poll" rating the iPad versus the Galaxy Tab. According to the report, an "overwhelming majority" of consumers prefer Apple's tablet over its nearest Android competitor -- a whopping 85 percent of those queried felt the iPad had a higher perceived value than the Tab. Sounds shocking, right? Except there's one small problem. The "survey" (and really, you have to use the term loosely here) consisted of 65 people. Let's just say that again: 65 respondents. That's problem number one. Problem number two is that the survey was conducted by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who is not only using a bizarre and somewhat useless metric like "perceived value" to judge these devices, but is also known for wildly miscalculating sales numbers and expectations for Apple products. In fact, Gene Munster should probably be close to the top of the most wanted list for irresponsible analysts. Some of his famous misses? Take the wildly speculative report that Apple would sell 5.6m iPads in 2010 (a baseless prediction which he quickly reassessed to more reasonable digits... the day after the device's launch), or the prediction that Apple would build its own search engine (so far so good!), and of course, Gene's news that Apple will have an HDTV on the market by 2011. Did we mention the $1,000 AAPL stock price call? No? Okay. So this latest report, in which Gene apparently just polled the families living on his block, seems beyond disingenuous. The margin of error on a group of 65 people is so high that it makes the results of the iPad vs. Galaxy Tab study all but meaningless, and further demonstrates the insidious, dangerous power of some analysts and their fantasy football stock manipulations. The moral of the story? Next time you see the names Gene and Munster in the same sentence, don't just take the news with a grain of salt -- use the whole shaker. Update: Piper Jaffray analyst Andrew Murphy (one of the other researchers on this report) got in touch and gave us some background on the sourcing and methodology for finding respondents. In his words: The respondents were chosen randomly on their way in/out of a large national retail chain. After spending time with each device, they were asked which they'd prefer and what a reasonable price for each would be. It's worth noting that that information is found nowhere in the report itself, nor is any other detail provided (type of store, geographic location, age / socioeconomic background, etc.), though this charming section is included: Research Disclosures Piper Jaffray was making a market in the securities of Apple, Inc. at the time this research report was published. Piper Jaffray will buy and sell Apple, Inc. securities on a principal basis.
The Engadget Show - 015: Sprint's Fared Adib, Google TV creator Salahuddin Choudhary, Galaxy Tab, Nook Color, and more!
Get ready humans, because we have an all new, amazing Engadget Show fresh out of the box. First up, Josh and Paul sit down with Sprint product chief Fared Adib to talk about the birth of the EVO 4G, what exactly defines "4G," where Sprint sees itself in relation to Verizon and AT&T, and why skinning Android devices might be a necessary evil. Next, Nilay goes hands on with the fully-automated house of the future at the Savant Experience Center in an exclusive new Engadget Show segment, then joins Josh on stage for a in-depth chat with Salahuddin Choudhary, a Google TV product manager who helped create Google TV in his 20-percent time. Then, Paul, Nilay, and Josh discuss all things tablets in a raucous roundtable featuring the iPad, Galaxy Tab, and Nook Color. To round it all out, exileFaker rocks the house with some killer chiptunes music with visuals by HN_i_C. What are you waiting for? Watch it now! Hit up the video stream after the break or download the show in HD below! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Special guests: Fared Adib, Salahuddin Choudhary Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Danny Madden Music by: exileFaker Visuals by: HN_i_C Savant segment music by: Kris Keyser and exileFaker Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Taped live at The Times Center Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 015 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 015 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show - 015 (Small) Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (MP4). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (MP4). [RSS MP4] Add the Engadget Show feed (MP4) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. [HD RSS] Get the Engadget Show delivered automatically in HD. [iPad RSS] Get the Engadget Show in iPad-friendly adaptive format. %Gallery-108045%
Samsung says it's sold 600,000 Galaxy Tabs worldwide
Samsung said it expected to sell a million Galaxy Tabs this year, and it looks like it may not be far off that mark, if it doesn't exceed it -- the company has apparently told The Korea Herald that it's sold 600,000 of the tablets worldwide so far, less than a month after launch. That includes 30,000 units sold in Korea since its November 14th launch there, but Samsung doesn't seem to be dishing out specific numbers for the rest of the world just yet. Of course, as impressive as that is, it may well be all downhill from here once word of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's frown gets around.
Russian president not fond of Galaxy Tab camera, <3s emoticons
Seems that Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, picked up a Galaxy Tab on his recent trip to Samsung's home country of South Korea while seeking investment and trade opportunities. Unfortuntely, he doesn't seem to be much of a fan of the GT-P1000's camera according to a recent tweet made from his certified Twitter account. Apparently, he prefers the quality of his trusty Leica M9 camera spotted in the EXIF of the images he posted from Japan just a few days prior -- the $17,500 Neiman Marcus edition, we presume. Proof once again that it's good to be king Президент. [Thanks, Oleg]
Samsung Galaxy Tab to ship with exclusive MTV content (update)
Looks like Samsung is hoping to tap into some of that magical magic that made Speidi and the Situation household names, and it's doing so by developing an app in partnership with MTV Networks International. Called Touch MTV, it will feature single episodes of various shows including The Hills and Jersey Shore, content from MTV Iggy, and regular updates that are sure to be of great interest to a certain "very lucrative and trend-setting audience." The app will be pre-installed on the Galaxy Tab, alongside games from Gameloft and more. Certainly not a bad idea, bulking up on the entertainment value of the device -- especially since there's at least one other tablet out there with a pretty big share of digital music and video sales. But we have one suggestion: someone, will you please bring back Ed Lover, Dr. Dre, and Fab 5 Freddy? PR after the break. Update: Since the deal was inked with MTV Networks International, it looks like the app's only being bundled with devices shipping in the Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, Holland, Hungary, and Poland for the time being. America, you're safe -- for now.
Samsung cuts Galaxy Tab prices in the UK, still more than AT&T
We've already shared some opinions on why Samsung's Galaxy Tab pricing makes sense stateside -- granted, that was before AT&T announced it would be charging $50 more than every other US carrier. After initially showing up for pre-order in the UK on Carphone Warehouse for £530 ($850) and for a Queen's ransom of £799 ($1280) on Amazon though, we're glad to find The Inquirer reporting that Tab prices on both Amazon and Dixons have dropped to £469 ($738) for a 16GB model with free delivery. Carphone Warehouse has also cut prices down to £489.99 ($784) for the 32GB version. Sure, that may still sound steep to us Yankees, but keep in mind it's now a good bit less than the basic 16GB 3G iPad which currently sells for £529 ($850). Whether these prices will slide even closer to Stateside levels is still obviously anyone's guess, but at this point we're sure those of you in the UK won't have an issue paying less for your tab.
Galaxy Tab now available for pre-order to Sprint Premier customers
It may not exactly be a huge lead time over the general release, but Sprint is now offer its Premier customers a special three-day pre-sale of the Galaxy Tab, which will let you order it now for $399 (on-contract) and skip the wait at the store on November 14th. Worried that you'll miss out 'cause you're not a Premier customer? Well, chances are you might be one and not even know it -- it more or less covers any Sprint customer with an account in good standing who maintains a plan of $69.99 a month, or anyone that's been a customer for at least ten years. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Samsung Galaxy Tab fulfills its destiny, now available on T-Mobile for $399
Nothing unforeseen here, folks, just a friendly reminder that Samsung's Galaxy Tab has kept to its release schedule and is now available to purchase from T-Mobile USA. $399 gets you the 7-inch Tab plus a two-year contract with the American arm of Deutsche Telekom, or you can pay the full $599 and make off with just the tablet itself. Or you can even wait an extra day for Verizon to start dishing Android slates your way as well -- the choice, as always, is yours. Just try not to think about that gorgeous 7-inch Super AMOLED panel that Samsung's busy showing off in Japan right now. [Thanks, Aaron]
Samsung expects to sell a million Galaxy Tabs this year, 40 million smartphones next year
We've already heard Samsung boast that it expects to ship 10 million Galaxy Tabs by next year, and the company's now back at the prediction game yet again, with mobile biz president J.K. Shin saying he expects the company to sell a million of them this year alone -- given that the end of the year is fast approaching, that translates to a million sold in just under 60 days. As if that wasn't enough, Shin also told Nikkei that Samsung expects to sell 40 million smartphones in 2011, which is more than double its projection for this year -- of those, it obviously expects the majority to be Galaxy S phones, but it has quite a way to go from ten million it expects to sell this year. Incidentally, Shin also dropped another hint that Samsung would "soon" be releasing a 10-inch Galaxy Tab, but he doesn't seem to have provided any more details than we've heard before.
Samsung Galaxy Tab can be made to run all apps in full screen, here's how (video)
You might have noticed in our Galaxy Tab review that a number of pretty significant Android apps failed to scale to fully utilize its real estate, leaving an unpleasant black border surrounding their content. Well, you can now take that issue off your list of cons for this otherwise delectable tablet as our buddy JKK has figured out a way to overcome the scaling problemo. Using Spare Parts, a free app available in the Android Market, and a couple of reboots, he was able to convince the Engadget app to run in full screen on the Tab. He's right in guessing that we'd be happy about that, though we imagine owners of Samsung's slate will be the ones with the biggest grins on their faces right now. See the how-to video after the break. [Thanks, Mani]
