Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 > Reviews (9)

Fantastic piece of kit

I had been looking into getting a tablet computer for some time ever since the Ipad came out. I have been into the shop looking at the Ipad countless times and weighing up the cost against the cool factor and trying to decide if it would be just another gadget that I would buy and use constantly for a week before the novelty wore off.
There was one other big problem with the Ipad for me and that is that no matter how desirable it might be I really didn't want to be trapped into having to use itunes again which I detest with a passion. I also wasn't overly keen on the size as I found it quite heavy and cumbersome when holding it.

As soon as the Galaxy tab came out last year it looked to be the ideal solution to my problems with the Ipad as it was smaller, more lightweight and ran on the Android operating system. however it was also extrememly expensive, more so than the Ipad so I immediately dismissed it. Just before christmas when I should have been shopping for my family I was browsing the technology section again and noticed that the Galaxy tab had been significantly reduced and was now a more realistic price so I decided to treat myself to one as a christmas present to myself.

Looks

I really like the look of the Galaxy tab and actually much prefer it to the look of the Ipad but this will be a matter of personal taste. The screen takes up the majority of the front with a black bezel which is about an inch thick going the whole way round. The back of the tab is completely white which I really like and the white is nice and shiny and really makes it stand out.
Unfortunately the white back is made entirely of plastic and whilst it is solid feeling and doesn't look cheap in the slightest for the amount of money Samsung are charging I feel like they could have used a little more premium materials.

Screen

The tab is 7 inches in size which may not seem much of a difference compared to the Ipad but in comparison the Ipad absolutely dwarfs it. Because of the bezel the screen isn't actually 7 inches in size and in an ideal world I would have liked that extra inch taken up by the bezel but the screen is lovely to look at and is large enough for most things.
It has a 1024x600 resolution and this shows up everything on it in gorgeous contrast. The colours are really bright and vivid and pictures and text show up really clear and in lovely detail.
The screen is responsive and scrolling and tapping is good and nice and qucik. I have only ever noticed a couple of times where I have had to press on an icon again to get it to open and the speed in which is opens apps is good.

Hardware

The tab comes with two cameras, one on the back and one on the front for video calling. Neither of these are particulary great though with the front one being 1.3MP and the back being just 3MP. There is a flash and whilst the pictures are not the sharpest it is nice to have the cameras even though I don't use them very often.
My one comes with 16GB of onboard storage but it also has a micro SD slot so that I can load on movies onto that instead of taking up onboard storage.

It comes with both WIFI and 3G and has 512MB of RAM.
The operating system is android 2.2 which is what is found on most new phones now. This was one of the things that initially put me off the tab as I had read that it wasn't intended to be used on tablet computers. To be honest it might not have been meant for tablets but I have barely noticed any sort of problems with it. Yes a couple of times I have downloaded some apps only for them not to stretch the full size of the screen but this is rare and the majority of them do strectch absolutely fine.

Apps

I am assuming most people will be buying a tablet computer like me for entertainment purposes instead of as a pc replacement and this is where the apps come in. Because it is android the galaxy tab has access to the android store where you can access literaly hundreds of thousand of apps. All the main ones are there of course such as facebook and twitter but there are also thousand of one's that you will never have heard of and these can be extremely helpful or absolute rubbish but as a lot of them are free there is no harm in downloading some and having a go with them to see what you think.
Most of them look great on the larger screen and playing angry birds for example on the bigger screen is much more enjoyable than on my phone.

My experience of using the tab

The tab is exactly the same size as my Kindle and I find it so much more practical for everyday use and it is light enough to carry around with me without being annoying.
I use it for the internet and apps mostly and for this I personally think it is fantastic. the internet is relatively fast and I find it so much more pleasurable to use than with my phone which I hate because of the small screen. It has pinch to zoom but I find that in landscape mode I don't really hve to use this feature much as it is large enough and the pixel count is high enough for me to be able to read everything fine. It can handle flash sites absolutely fine also and it is pretty much just like the internet on my laptop.

As I mentioned earlier apps all look much better scaled up bigger and facebook is so much better on the bigger screen. I have downloaded loads of apps and whilst some have been deleted because they were useless I have found that some are extremely helpful such as the one to find a near by takeaway or taxi firm etc. I have never been a huge fan of apps before as I just didn't enjoy using them on my small screen but I have now become a convert and can be found most days trawling the store looking for any new one's.

The screen is great for watching movies and playing games but one extra thing that I wasn't expecting was that it is absolutely fantastic at reading magazines. Magazines look great on the tab and flicking to the next page is slick and I now can't imagine going back to buying paper one's again. Travelling anywhere is never a boring experience now as there is just so much enertainment at my fingertips in one little tablet.

For those of you with a kindle there is an app where by you can read your kindle books on the tab and these look crisp and I actually enjoy being able to swipe to change the page.

However as enjoyable as this ebook app is I would never consider using it instead of my kindle as I really do notice the difference between the E-ink and the tablet screen and my eyes do start to tire after awhile.
Also the battery life on this can never compete with the kindle as it will only last about 8 hours before needing charged again but it is nice to have the option if I am only going to be gone a few hours and don't wan to take my kindle with me.

The best thing about the tab for me is that I no longer have to rely on itunes and the experience of adding content to my tab is so much easier and quicker than it was with my ipod touch. I loved my actual touch and it was a fantastic piece of kit but Apple just made things more and more of a pain it got to the point where I never wanted to use it again.
Samsung and Android have made the user experience one that is easy and enjoyable and anyone who has ever used an adroid phone will be able to get the hang of this straight away but even those who haven't should find it easy as the experience is quite intuative.

Of course no one who has a computer needs a tablet but they are fun gadgets to own and if you can afford one then I would say get it. Sure the galaxy tab isn't as desirable as the ipad but the size is much better for carrying around with you and for those of you who are sick to death of itunes then this is the better option.
The price has gone down from £700 to under £400 in the last couple of months so it is definately a good time to buy one but I have just found out that the release of the Galaxy tab 2 is imminent so if you like to have the latest version of things then you might be better to wait a couple of months before you buy it.