US Edition The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 went on sale in Britain earlier this week. If you want a 3G model then you’ll have to wait another couple of weeks but the Wi-Fi version is on the shelves now.
Would-be buyers in Australia have not been so lucky. The imminent launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been postponed there because of a dispute with Apple. Samsung has been accused of “blatant copying” of Apple’s iPad in the latest round of a global legal battle between the two tech giants. Apple sued Samsung in April this year for infringement of patents and trademarks; a few days later, Samsung issued a counter-claim.
Patent law is not my purview but after a couple of days with the Galaxy Tab 10.1, it’s hard to ignore the similarities. Like the iPad 2 it’s exceptionally thin and unlike some competing tablets I’ve seen, its edges are not cluttered with ports and buttons. There are some tastefully-designed controls on top - a sleep/wake switch, volume controls, a SIM-card port and a headphone socket - a charging socket underneath and a speaker on each side. It’s also slightly lighter than the iPad 2, thanks to its largely plastic back.
The back houses a 3-megapixel camera, though the Galaxy Tab 10.1V has an 8-megapixel camera. The front is all screen - there isn’t even an iPad-style button - and the front-facing camera is positioned in the centre of one of the long edges, making clear that this is a landscape-first device, unlike the iPad.
Inside, it offers higher specs than Apple’s tablet. It has 1GB of RAM - double that of the iPad 2 - and a slightly higher screen resolution. It’s a powerful and very nicely designed tablet computer.
If I seem to be overly concerned with how this compares to the iPad, that’s because it’s the iPad that leads the way. The BlackBerry PlayBook and the HP TouchPad can’t hold a candle to the iPad 2. The good news for Samsung, however, is that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 also comfortably beats the tablets from RIM and HP. It falls very slightly short of the iPad, though.
The weakness, which isn’t entirely Samsung’s fault, is Android Honeycomb, the operating system that powers the Galaxy Tab 10.1. It has two very noticeable problems.
The first is the responsiveness of the operating system itself. It’s easily demonstrated by holding the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in one hand and the iPad 2 in the other. When rotating them between portrait and landscape positions, the iPad 2 reacts immediately, almost as if the contents of the screen are being tipped and poured into the new position. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 takes a moment before it responds. It’s not a delay that makes the device unusable but it is noticeable and it detracts from the experience of using the tablet.
The success of the iPad 2 is that it feels as though you are manipulating the content directly with your finger. The operating system is almost invisible. On Samsung’s device, it’s impossible to ignore the OS. While Android fans or those who really don’t like Apple will tolerate that, casual users will find it off-putting.
The other problem is with apps. The iPad has a head start here, admittedly, but there are still too few Android apps. A few minutes browsing in Apple’s App Store will leave you almost overwhelmed with choice. The Android experience is, sadly, underwhelming.
Prices for the Samsung Galaxy Tab are identical to those of the iPad. The entry-level model, Wi-Fi-only and with 16GB of storage, will cost you £399 - matching the equivalent iPad. And a 16GB, 3G version starts at £499, also matching the equivalent iPad.
This is the question the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has to answer: with £399 to spend on a tablet computer, why would you buy this one instead of an iPad? The only answer I can think of is because you don’t want an Apple product. Fair enough, some people feel that way. If you want an Android tablet, this is the best one I’ve seen to date.
If you want the best tablet, however, the iPad 2 remains the one to beat.