back to article Samsung gives sneak peak of iPad basher

It's official: Samsung will unveil its would-be iPad beater, now called the Galaxy Tab - sounds like a fizzy drink - just ahead of the IFA consumer electronics show early next month. Samsung Galaxy Tab According to a vid just posted on the Samsung website, the 7in Tab will run Android 2.2, do video calls - though the only …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Allshare

    If implemented correctly, this will provide a decent step up from the ipad - the ability to stream from your home media library. A serious omission by Apple IMO, and one I suspect they will have to close if the rest of this package is competitive.

    1. Elsie
      Happy

      Ah, but you can stream!

      @Allshare

      There is a (recently released) app called Air Video for the iPad / iPhone / Touch which allows you to stream media from your home PC, even encoding it on the fly. I've installed the app on my iPad and can watch virtually any movie stored on my home network, including MKV's. Admittedly, this should have been incorporated by Apple from the start and I hope that Jobs and his goon squad police don't remove it from the app store.

      As for the arrival of this Samsung, I hope it's the start of some great non-Apple tablets in both Android and Windows forms. Whilst I love my iPad, I'm looking forward to getting another pad of my own and leaving the Apple device with my wife and kids. I just hope that the Android / Windows devices are as user-friendly, long lasting, reliable and wonderful to use as the iPad.

      We shall see!

    2. chr0m4t1c

      Alternatively...

      It might not stream media from your home network, but it may be a server - allowing you to stream media from the pad to your (Samsung) TV.

      It's also possible it will do both, of course.

      Mind you, one of the myriad of servers I have set up on my home network will happily stream stuff out to pretty much anything with a web browser including my N97, my wife's iPhone, PSP, laptop, etc., etc. It picks up the device type from the browser string and re-codes stuff on the fly for the device as necessary.

      I'm sure an iPad wouldn't have any trouble either, but it's not exactly "out of the box" functionality like it might be on this.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Camera and GPS

    Can't these be optional? Phones already have this stuff, I don't need it on a fancy ebook reader too.

  3. famousringo
    Alert

    Sept. 2 launch?

    Do you mean Sept. 2 unveiling? If this thing were hitting the shops in two weeks, I think Samsung could tell us more about it than just its OS and screen size.

    Nice to finally see an iPad competitor that isn't complete vapour, though.

  4. Rimpel
    Go

    Galaxy Tab - sounds like a fizzy drink

    "suddenly everything is clear..."

    :-)

  5. JaitcH
    Pint

    iPhans eat your hearts out - your pad is old technology!

    IPhans who lined up outside Job's chapels tp buy the latest Apple toys are about to learn what REAL pads/tablets are capable of doing.

    And given the recent advances in rooting Android, with V3 about to be released, the Apple product will suddenly appear to be even more sadly lacking.

    So much for early adoption!

    1. Dan 10
      Stop

      Wait for it...

      There's still a load of rumours online about the resolution being 480 x 800, so I wouldn't start gloating yet. There's another school of thought that it will be 1024 x 600, but that's the point - this is still rumours. At least the iPad is real, and is selling by the boatload *in the real world*.

  6. Blain Hamon
    Unhappy

    For crying out loud. Ship already!

    Anyone else getting tired of companies announcing their tablets months and months into vaporware territory? Kudos at least go to Archos that actually shipped a direct competitor to the iPad, and honorable mentions go to Acer's touchscreen laptop and Dell's oversized android phone.

    But that's about only one tablet-ish-thing reviewed a month compared to the scads of announcements. Sure, it's great fun* to have reasons for more Apple-related flame wars. But for all the bluster, mentions of iPad killers sort of vanish once they actually ship and numbers come in, thus my mention of JooJoo last time.

    So I say this to big multinational companies whom are unaffected by my opinions: either make awesome systems that truly, actually have the power to at least make a decent showing in sales, or stop announcing them ages before they ship. Actions speak louder than words.

    *not actually fun nor great.

    1. Daniel 1

      Your ship, Sir

      Except that the article says this one will launch on the 2nd of next month. That's eight days away. Soon enough for you?

      1. Blain Hamon

        Launch == unveil or sell?

        I didn't notice the next week time frame, admittedly, but the key word the article used -what prompted my diatribe- was 'unveil', not 'ship'. Apple 'unveiled' the iPad months before actually shipping. Ballmer 'unveiled' the HP Slate at CES, and it's still not shipping. The Crunchpad was 'unveiled' as far back as July 2009.

        Is Samsung going to make it possible to purchase the device in 8 days? In stores? WIll there be reviews beforehand? I would love to be proven wrong, but I am skeptical that next week will hold much more than the formal announcement, price and specs, and perhaps pre-ordering.

  7. Colin Hillier

    Fatal error...

    I can't access the site on my iPad, so how will they ever tempt me over?

  8. Giles Jones Gold badge

    A bit too small?

    It looks nice, but 7 inch screen? a bit small.

    If you are pitching a device between a smartphone and a laptop then halfway in terms of screen is a good bet.

    Halfway between a 3.5 inch smartphone screen and a 15 inch laptop screen is 9.25 inches. Close to the iPad screen size.

    You can already get a Archos media tablet with a 7 inch screen.

  9. Rattus Rattus

    Finally!

    This is the kind of tablet I've been waiting for since the iPad was announced - basically a Nexus One writ large. I can't believe it's taken manufacturers so long to realise nobody's going to buy and Android 1.5 or 1.6 device. Now to find out what they're going to charge for it - no I am not willing to pay iPad-style prices.

  10. Goat Jam
    Badgers

    The Devil

    Is in the apps and the OS updates.

    If Samsung expect to push this out and then move on to the next project (this is the status quo for 99% of CE manufacturers unfortunately) then it will fail or, at best, be a niche player in a market dominated by apple.

    I have yet to see any signs that any non-fruity CE manufacturer gets this yet. Time will tell I suppose.

  11. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh....

    Want.

    At least, I do if the screen resolution is higher than 800x480, otherwise there doesn't seem to be much advantage over my current Galaxy S phone. I'd like to see at least 1280x768, but 1024x768 would probably do.

    As I've been saying for a while, it's going to be an interesting 12 months.

    GJC

  12. James Hughes 1

    If its a sensible price

    That looks pretty funky. Been waiting for an Android one for years, and the media streaming would fit in well.

    Better be cheaper than the iPad......

  13. Arnold Lieberman
    Stop

    Screen res

    If it's 1024x600 or more, I'm interested. 800x480 or 800x600 and I think I'll wait.

  14. Daniel 1

    My God, it's full of stars

    Well, look what Samsung have dug up on the moon. It looks interesting, but at 7", it falls between the iPhone and the IPad, in size. This does mean that, if they've kept the weight down, it could address the problem that the iPad is too damn big for some people to carry around, comfortably, for prolonged periods, but it does not deal with the "yes, but what's it for?" factor.

    It needs to be full of Apps - Apps that make a lot more sense, on a 7 inches display, than they do on a phone - in order for it to make sense, as a product.

  15. Lottie

    Nice, but

    ... I fail to see the real market. I know it'll sell well, but really for what purpose?

    Much like the iPad, the apps idea works for phones, but this is too much like a net top/ tablet PC for something so restrictive.

  16. Aaron 10
    Jobs Halo

    Price, Price, Price

    Why is everyone so fixated on price? Have you not noticed the absolute shite coming from China? Yes, it's cheaper than the iPad, but it has a terrible screen, old version of Android, a resistive touch surface, etc.

    Samsung is a great company and won't likely make a crap-quality device. Just don't expect it to be significantly less (or less at all) than the iPad.

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