Finger Pointing

My new Galaxy Tab 10.1 arrived yesterday and I've used it for several hours now.

Since most of the reviews I've read focus on processors, pixels, and applications I'll just write about my subjective thoughts about how Galaxy Tab 10.1 feels to use versus iPad 1.

The Galaxy Tab feels as well built as the iPad.  Both have the same solid rigidness of glass and metal. There are no creaks or other  warping sounds from either device when holding normally. In short, they both have the expensive electronic device feel.

My wife who is the primary user of the iPad commented that the Galaxy Tab looks and feels much smaller, thinner, and lighter than iPad 1. Though she also noted that you wouldn't want to fall asleep while reading something and have the Galaxy Tab bonk your nose.

We can't compare to the iPad 2 since we don't have one.

After holding and using the Galaxy Tab while laying down I noticed that it was harder to hold than the iPad. At first I thought the backing might be slippery. However, investigating more I realized that the black bezel on the iPad is larger making it require less effort to hold it steady with a few fingers. You really want to keep your fingers off the sensitive surface of the tablet so a larger dead space on the edges make it easier to hold steady.

After moving to the bedroom the lighting changed. The iPad handles this well by adjusting the screen brightness correctly. The Galaxy Tab did not handle it as well. I found that I had to hold it at the proper angle for its sensor to correctly detect the light. While it was perfectly usable it did feel awkward and a bit odd that i had to think about that.

Towards the end of the evening I could see some finger print shadowing on the Galaxy Tab screen. This has never happened while using the iPad.  This morning I took a picture of the finger prints on the one day old tab versus those on the never cleaned one year old iPad. I had assumed that all manufactuars would have the same technology for this fingerprint problem but thats clearly not the case. Finger prints really detract from the otherwise lovely tab screen.

Finger prints on Galaxy Tab 10.1 left versus iPad 1 right

I'm actually writing this on the Tab using the blogger web interface. The page is not rendering correctly. The buttons for "publish post", "save now", and "preview" appear right in the middle of my text entry box. Google do you test your own stuff? Since I've never done this much typing on any tablet I can't compare but I can tell you this,  it is not a pleasant experience. I'm going move to desktop to finish this up.

Overall, the Tab is solid however all the small misses on the details give the iPad the edge. Still, I love Andriod and the speed of the Tab. I wish Steve Jobs would take over Samsung so they could make Tabs with as much attention to detail as all the iDevices. I'm off to clean the screen on the Tab.

[Note: I've used the Tab for a week now. The biggest plus is the integration with all the Google cloud services such as Picasa, Music, Maps, and Gmail. It's amazing and makes the device feel very powerful and connected. However, the downside is the rabid power consumption of all these cloud service applications. Maps and mail kept running in the background like power leaches even when I put the Tab to sleep. Do people really want the Tab checking email when the screen is off as the default behavior? The easiest way to fix this power suckage is to have WiFi turn off when the screen is off but that wasn't an obvious choice. It also introduces some instability because the Tab can't always re-acquire the network on wake up. Anyway, at this point I am contemplating returning the Tab because of all the work I'm doing to keep the batteries charged. Grumble Grumble]