Samsung unveils iPad competitor

by John Gillooly | Friday 3 September 2010

Samsung has officially kicked off the Tablet wars with the overnight announcement of the 7in Android 2.2-based Galaxy Tab.

Apple has had free reign over the tablet market since it launched the iPad in March. Since then we have heard a lot about plans for other companies to enter the tablet market, and seen some embryonic tablet devices like local manufacturer Pioneer’s ePad; but the only major manufacturer to have shown us a tablet in detail has been Dell with its 5in Streak device.

However none of the devices have taken Apple head on. The Streak is more mobile phone than iPad, and the ePad is heavily focused on being low cost rather than Apple-level flashy. This has changed, now, with the expected announcement of Samsung’s worst kept secret, the Galaxy Tab.

We have already seen numerous leaks of details about the Galaxy Tab, but with last night’s unveiling at Germany’s IFA trade show we now have solid details on what looks like a very stylish piece of portable computing.

The Tab is a 7in tablet with a 1024 x 600 16:9 TFT screen. It uses the same 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU and PowerVR SGX540 GPU combination that is found in Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphone. In terms of Operating system Samsung has sensibly settled on the most up to date version of Android, 2.2 or ‘Froyo’ with promises that it will be upgradeable to Android 3.0 ‘Gingerbread’ when Google launches this next iteration of the operating system.

It has both 3G and 802.11a/b/g/n wireless connectivity and is one of the first devices we have seen that support the Bluetooth 3.0 standard. It also supports DLNA, which means that it can hook into a home network for media playback.

Unlike some of the other tablets out there it is also an officially sanctioned Android device, with access to the Android Marketplace and other official apps (the Android OS is open source but the Market and other Google Apps need to be licensed from Google). Like the Galaxy S it also comes with the third party Swype keyboard, which allows for text entry by dragging one’s finger between letters on the software keyboard.

Software features also include support for Adobe’s Flash 10.1, which is a major strength over the iPad. The Tab also comes with e-reader software and is the first tablet to ship with DivX certification, both of which reinforces the media consumption focus of the device.

We have contacted Samsung locally for information about availability and pricing but for now all it will reveal is that the Galaxy Tab will launch in Q4 2010 with pricing announcements closer to launch.

The Galaxy Tab has similar stylings to the Galaxy S smartphone.

Comments: 27

petergaskin 5 September 2010	Tell me who buys the 7" netbooks? then tell me who will buy a 10" ipad competitor. apple must be laughing all the way to the bank! They aimed at the sweet spot of the current netbook market - and will win this war for some time! Comment made about the PC Authority article: Samsung unveils iPad competitor? Samsung has officially kicked off the Tablet wars with the overnight announcement of the 7in Android 2.2-based Galaxy Tab. What do you think? Join the discussion.
photohounds 23 September 2010	So? ... How hard is it to make it larger, add a few more features? It already has a major advantage (as a surfing toy) because it sports Flash, which we know it isn't very efficient. But ... it IS "here-now" and will help make this thing a winner unless Apple can convince everyone to spend the money to completely convert to HTML5 - right now. Not very likely ... and this can print. Has Divx, DLNA and power-saving Bluetooth 3, most wiFi and 3G. Not bad if it isn't too pricey. You can see the stats on how many businesses are still using XP elsewhere. Samsung probably have the 10.5" version in the pipeline and will be looking to start shipping that unit before you can scream "market share". Samsung could be laughing at the disappearing striped icon in the rear view mirror, soon too ...
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. 24 September 2010	Samsung do have a 10" version on the way. But since they're so out of touch that they expect people to pay a grand for the 7" version, I doubt anyone is going to buy it.
rubaiyat 24 September 2010	photohounds wrote: Samsung could be laughing at the disappearing striped icon in the rear view mirror, soon too ... IBM is making tablets?
blockcentre 24 September 2010	.:Cyb3rGlitch:. wrote: Samsung do have a 10" version on the way. But since they're so out of touch that they expect people to pay a grand for the 7" version, I doubt anyone is going to buy it. You're right, $999 is just crazy. I read online that US pricing for the 7" will be around the US$400 mark which is contradictory to the prices quoted in Aus.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. 25 September 2010	blockcentre wrote: .:Cyb3rGlitch:. wrote: Samsung do have a 10" version on the way. But since they're so out of touch that they expect people to pay a grand for the 7" version, I doubt anyone is going to buy it. You're right, $999 is just crazy. I read online that US pricing for the 7" will be around the US$400 mark which is contradictory to the prices quoted in Aus. That's probably subsidised though.
photohounds 2 October 2010	Samsung will make the price 'saleable', 1K is idiotid, $599 and they would start selling, $499 and they'd fly out the door... The local Telco was using tablets over 15 years ago, so it's nothing new - just making its way into consumer land. . . . and 10 (instead of just Apple) to choose from will drive them all down.
rubaiyat 2 October 2010	photohounds We'll have to start calling you Gunner. Gunner do this, gunner cost that, gunner be available, gunner be No 1. Gunner give us those links to back up your wild claims?
photohounds 3 October 2010	Many of these products are newly released, and v1.0 - apple's 1.0 is always perfect and never improved - right? History will prove me correct - is that what you fear, your flag-waving will not stop it. The Android avalanche? Openness about bugs (unlike apple and M$) does not "prove" ANY inferiority at all, and you well know that they BOTH hide the true extent of problems and are slow to fix. Ambit opening product prices are always high and will fall. History teaches us this time and again. You should know that if you are as omniscient as you'd have us believe.
rubaiyat 3 October 2010	photohounds wrote: Many of these products are newly released, and v1.0 - apple's 1.0 is always perfect and never improved - right? Wrong! I never buy v 1.0 of anything. I haven't even bought v4 of the iPhone because it doesn't do what I want. I'll buy it when it does or even an Android phone if it comes up with the goods. Quote: History will prove me correct - is that what you fear, your flag-waving will not stop it. History might prove you correct, but given your track record and inability to actually research anything, what are the odds? What on earth am I afraid of? I'm not Apple and have no investment in them. Frankly I don't give a stuff on this, except for my B.S. meter going offscale every time you spout another unsupported "fact". Quote: The Android avalanche? Openness about bugs (unlike apple and M$) does not "prove" ANY inferiority at all, and you well know that they BOTH hide the true extent of problems and are slow to fix. Ambit opening product prices are always high and will fall. And Apple's will not? They have done it in the past and will do it again. They have the room to move and have spectacularly slashed prices when they needed to. Quote: History teaches us this time and again. I doubt you learn anything from anything let alone history. You presume, guess and then take somebody else's word as gospel because you don't know any better. Quote: You should know that if you are as omniscient as you'd have us believe. I'm not omniscient. A mistake you make because you never check your "facts", no matter how easy that may be. But you seem to think you are prescient just because you have read a few magazine headlines, which have a spectacular failure rate at predicting anything. This is not a prediction, just observation, you are a windbag with nothing to back it up. If you are ever proved right on anything it will be pure blind luck. Now where are those half price/ 1/10th price phones you keep claiming exist?
photohounds 3 October 2010	the rule of ten was oft-quoted in elec manufacturing -'80s.
photohounds 3 October 2010	Here and elsewhere, ruby.. asserts: "there's no money in Android app development" presumably because people who like some free apps are thieves. To verify this claim, check : http://www.android.com/market I see 22 categories in free and 22 categories in pay-for apps. I see the range... You can even stitch photos on an Android device! I see app authors range all the way from individuals to well known banks and Canon, Adobe, Docs to go etc. etc. See the message and link at the bottom? "If you are a developer, learn about publishing your application here." No money? Pfffft. It's grown every time I have looked at it. ruby can't accept that his Android pooh-poohing is wearisome AND meaningless
rubaiyat 3 October 2010	photohounds wrote: the rule of ten was oft-quoted in elec manufacturing -'80s. This is your proof? Do you understand the concept?
rubaiyat 3 October 2010	photohounds wrote: Here and elsewhere, ruby.. asserts: "there's no money in Android app development" presumably because people who like some free apps are thieves. To verify this claim, check : http://www.android.com/market I see 22 categories in free and 22 categories in pay-for apps. I see the range... You can even stitch photos on an Android device! I see app authors range all the way from individuals to well known banks and Canon, Adobe, Docs to go etc. etc. See the message and link at the bottom? "If you are a developer, learn about publishing your application here." No money? Pfffft. It's grown every time I have looked at it. ruby can't accept that his Android pooh-poohing is wearisome AND meaningless At last REAL proof! You've quoted yourself in another thread!!!! ROTFL Hey, where are the cheap Androids? WHERE ARE THE CHEAP ANDROIDS? You seem to be hard of hearing. Edited by rubaiyat: 3/10/2010 07:42:10 PM
photohounds 4 October 2010	The rule of ten was that, given all the normal distribution channels and marketing costs, if you couldn't get ten times manufacturing cost at retail, you'd go out of business. This figure was discussed in the editorial forums of electronics magazines I used to read. I don't know what the accepted ratio is today but in the absence of evidence to the contrary. I certainly know that YOU possess no facts to the contrary.
photohounds 4 October 2010	Electronics mags of days gone by discussed the manufacturing to retail ratio at length. Ten was the number they saw as 'worth the effort' and was generally accepted by the participants (not me, presumably those actually making electronic equipment). I know for certain that YOU have NO facts to the contrary. ruby, you really can't accept that your spiteful little Android pooh-poohing campaign is wearisome AND meaningless and your personal insults reveal more about you than other participants here.
rubaiyat 4 October 2010	Proof requires proof, not the absence of anything to the contrary. Unless of course you say so! Then that's something completely different. So you are massively well-hung, as well as a software pirate (in the absence of any proof to the contrary). To get clear the mental processes of this massively well-hung pirate. You are accusing Apple of charging "enough" to not go out of business (with no proof that any of that is true). Then you are using this "fact" to announce that the "obviously cheaper" Android devices are not charging "the rule of ten"… um, because… Ipso facto, all the cheaper Android manufacturers are going to go out of business! Just for your benefit, in passing, I went into several phone retailers to search for these cheaper Android phones. (That's called doing real world research). It was an interesting experience. At Apple you walk in and there are stacks of iPhones that you can freely pick up and play with, with the buy price right next to them. Then you can talk to the sales staff about plans. Or go to any other iPhone retailer who will do you a deal. The other phone retailers took forever not showing me anything. I got passed one salesman to another. One showed me the box that the Samsung Galaxy comes in! Another showed me an HTC but it wasn't the latest model, he told me to imagine what it was like because "this isn't it". The closest I came was the last who showed me his own personal HTC Desire but I wasn't allowed to play with it. We discussed the various merits of the phones and compared them to the iPhone. I asked him what the main difference was and he said price, so I asked to see how much the Galaxy and HTC were. He pointed in the catalog which I noted had no phone prices just plans, which I immediately pointed out had exactly the same price for the iPhone, HTC and Galaxy. Interestingly he didn't seem to notice that he had it completely wrong. Well you don't, when you just know. Apple fanbois succumb to Steve Jobs' reality distortion field. PC users seem to have their own version of this where Apple's products are always way more expensive, even when it is clearly not true. No matter what it says right in front of them, in black & white. So you are not the only one to hang on tenaciously to a big fat lie, no matter what. I am puzzled at what drives you to keep on keeping on with the fantasy. Maybe the being massively well hung is tied into the fantasy and that also goes up in smoke if you face up to the real world evidence around you. But then the virtual world is whatever you make it. You are a 6' 9" chick magnet, hung like a dinosaur, able to bounce off (or through) solid objects and gun down hundreds of bad guys in one person shoot-em-ups just to get your hands on those cheaper, better, vaporware objects that prove your consumer manhood.
photohounds 5 October 2010	Here's just one - sure you could find more.http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Gallery/234284,samsung-galaxy-5-unboxed.aspx - not a cheap Android device??? Looks real to me not "vapour-ware" as you allege. Not hard to see what's happening.
rubaiyat 5 October 2010	Oh thank goodness photohounds. At last you've found one! Oh wait! It's still vaporware for another 2 weeks. Oh and it's far from cheap. Edited by rubaiyat: 5/10/2010 11:06:24 PM
photohounds 6 October 2010	"The Samsung Galaxy 5 is Telstra's second prepaid Android smartphone, with an impressive array of features for its $199 pricetag." That's not good value? http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Gallery/234284,samsung-galaxy-5-unboxed.aspx It probably does more than either of us would need. So . . . just how is it shoddy rubbish? Oh yes, no Apple logo ;) It's only the first . . . "the talk" hasn't been hot for that long and already a product that seems good value is forthcoming - WITH a price.
rubaiyat 6 October 2010	Telstra is showing nothing, we'll see when we see. It is no way a match for the iPhone4 which has been out for months: The Galaxy 5 has a tiny, inferior screen, slower processor, single 2mb camera, and only basic RAM that you'll have to cough up to upgrade. And it still isn't here. The Galaxy S is closer to the iPhone specs and it isn't cheap. http://www.cnet.com.au/samsung-galaxy-s-339302015.htm What you are saying is Apple should give the iPhone a lobotomy and sell it to you with extra for the fries, extra for the coke, extra for the gravy, extra for the sauce, extra for the credit card, extra for the support, extra for the on road etc etc, so you can feel like you got a bargain. And as usual because all you do is obsess about the cost of the initial hardware, never notice that the real cost is in the plan and your downloads. Edited by rubaiyat: 6/10/2010 08:18:47 PM
photohounds 7 October 2010	The Galaxy 5 is an entry level device and not a $900+ phone, which is what iphone costs outright.
photohounds 7 October 2010	Many people do not NEED all the extra fruit that top level devices come with. Just the phone and a few useful apps. Galaxy 5 seems to do that nicely. The obsession is all on the fan-boy's part. You seem to know the price of everything but little about value. 'Giving' me something I do not want or need is not 'value' - it is 'junk'.
rubaiyat 7 October 2010	Nothing wrong with people getting a cut down product. Judging by the large number who say next time they'll get an iPhone, it would seem they didn't know what they were actually getting. Many people think paying for lots of extras, which they can't add up because they can't do maths, is cheaper. Which is why bait and switch works so well on simple minds.
photohounds 9 October 2010	Seems there's a case for cheaper products? http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/234621,ipad-launch-boosted-ebook-piracy.aspx? Five per cent of visitors to the fake download site were using iOS devices, despite iOS accounting for only 1.18% of all web browsing share according to Net Applications. Hmm, implies that iPad users are 4.2 times as likely to steal books. Is that because they paid too much for their toys, or are they simply not as righteous as Ruby thinks all apple users are? - They obviously get the "right" products...
rubaiyat 11 October 2010	photohounds wrote: ...or are they simply not as righteous as Ruby thinks all apple users are? How righteous do I think they are? Or are you talking to yourself again? That voice you keep hearing in your head, it's not mine. Edited by rubaiyat: 11/10/2010 12:09:51 PM
rubaiyat 12 October 2010	Quote: While it may be encouraging to see that people are at least reading, the most searched for book to pirate was Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn, part of the Twilight series. Sadly as Apple succeeds in spreading its products out to previously PC users I have noticed a distinct dumbing down and ammoralisation of the Apple club. I'd be looking for lovestruck anaemic teenage girls with rich daddies and few scruples, based on the above evidence. If your guesses as to the future trend in eToys comes to pass we should see a radical jump in piracy from Android users targeting porn and and aids to innumeracy and illiteracy. If they are even aware of the problem, and can actually search the Internet.