Samsung just made me excited about tablets again!
As soon as last week I was writing that I did not need a tablet. Well, today, Samsung announced the 8.9 and 10.1 tablets at CTIA. I've got to say, those tablets are pretty sexy pieces of hardware!
The first thing that stands out is thickness. They are the same thickness as the iPad2 (actually 0.01 inch thinner, but who's counting!). The 8.9 is really the one that caught my eye. Running this device with Android Honeycomb (3.0) plus an added TouchWiz (which all of a sudden does not look bad!) makes it attractive. I can see myself in the car tethering off my Galaxy S hotspot's 6GB of data. The idea does not seem far fetched. The Xoom had potential, but seemed to fail performance-wise. Of course I'll wait for some reviews before even considering an 8.9, but at first glance, this thing may be the first tablet to start the iPad decline. I might be wrong, but it seems manufacturers have caught up, and like the iPhone, devices will start to be on par and even better than the iPad. Widgets on a tablet just make sense to me and unless Apple changes it approach, it will never get my money for that reason. Speaking on money, the pricing is now on par (and better in the case of the 8.9 at 469$) and from past experience, they might drop after a few months giving Apple something to think about.
There is a concern though. Samsung's TouchWiz, although improved, means that Android upgrades will have to go through Samsung before being pushed out. We've seen this problem before with the Galaxy S series. Sure it took some time, but in the end I got my Froyo and it's been a smooth ride since the second upgrade (gulp). I wonder if these devices will get Gorilla glass like the Galaxy S. I've been pocketing my phone with no protection and the screen is absolutely intact.
So I'm back with one foot on the tablet bandwagon. I can't say that Sammy will be getting my money just yet, but they've got me interested. I'd really like to see a 350$ tablet with comparative specs as the 8.9 but I know that won't happen just now, why price it low when it will sell higher... but maybe they would sell more if they were priced lower... hmm.
The first thing that stands out is thickness. They are the same thickness as the iPad2 (actually 0.01 inch thinner, but who's counting!). The 8.9 is really the one that caught my eye. Running this device with Android Honeycomb (3.0) plus an added TouchWiz (which all of a sudden does not look bad!) makes it attractive. I can see myself in the car tethering off my Galaxy S hotspot's 6GB of data. The idea does not seem far fetched. The Xoom had potential, but seemed to fail performance-wise. Of course I'll wait for some reviews before even considering an 8.9, but at first glance, this thing may be the first tablet to start the iPad decline. I might be wrong, but it seems manufacturers have caught up, and like the iPhone, devices will start to be on par and even better than the iPad. Widgets on a tablet just make sense to me and unless Apple changes it approach, it will never get my money for that reason. Speaking on money, the pricing is now on par (and better in the case of the 8.9 at 469$) and from past experience, they might drop after a few months giving Apple something to think about.
There is a concern though. Samsung's TouchWiz, although improved, means that Android upgrades will have to go through Samsung before being pushed out. We've seen this problem before with the Galaxy S series. Sure it took some time, but in the end I got my Froyo and it's been a smooth ride since the second upgrade (gulp). I wonder if these devices will get Gorilla glass like the Galaxy S. I've been pocketing my phone with no protection and the screen is absolutely intact.
So I'm back with one foot on the tablet bandwagon. I can't say that Sammy will be getting my money just yet, but they've got me interested. I'd really like to see a 350$ tablet with comparative specs as the 8.9 but I know that won't happen just now, why price it low when it will sell higher... but maybe they would sell more if they were priced lower... hmm.
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