Samsung Galaxy Tab

Samsung Galaxy Tab - Samsung recently announced the Galaxy Tab, a 7-inch tablet running Android 2.2, that has widely been being talked about for quite some time now. Cashing in on the market created by the Apple iPad, the Galaxy Tab aims to take things further by including dual cameras for video calling as well as taking pictures and videos. There is Flash support for the web browser too.

When I showed the pictures of the Galaxy Tab to my sister, her first reaction was, "Wow! That's a big phone". When I informed her that the Tab is actually a tablet and not a phone, her reaction changed to "Wow! That's a small tablet". And that's what got me thinking.

There are people like me who use a smartphone to browse the web. However, I would love to have a bigger screen that would improve the browsing experience. A tablet would be a good alternative but then it would be one more device to carry around. It would be nice if that device could make calls as well. The Galaxy Tab does that, but unfortunately, it is too big to be used as a phone. I love the bigger display compared to my smartphone, but there is no way I can see myself carry that device with me all the time. So for people like me it will be too big. It cannot replace my smartphone - not that it intends to - but it would have been nice if it could.

Some may think that the Galaxy Tab is too small to be a tablet. The 7-inch display just won't be good enough for web browsing or other tasks such as eBook reading or video playback, something that people have become used to, thanks to the 10-inch display on the iPad. The Galaxy Tab may be smaller than the iPad but it still isn't as small as a smartphone, which you could slip into your pocket. So if you are going to carry something around in your hands, why not carry the iPad instead, which at least makes up for its bigger size?

Some, however, would think that the Galaxy Tab is just the right size. The large display on the iPad offers a wonderful browsing experience, but it also comes at the cost of a device that isn't so great to carry around. The Galaxy Tab on the other hand would be far easier to carry. For some a tablet would be the device they would use when they don't want to use their computers and when the smartphone is too small. If they wanted the full browsing experience they would rather use their computers instead of something like the iPad and if they want something more portable they would prefer using their smartphones.

The Galaxy Tab does not offer a computer like browsing experience but then again, most people aren't looking for that in a tablet. They just want something that would be better than their tiny smartphones and very portable at the same time. The iPad is excellent, no doubt, but it isn't very portable. In that aspect I think Samsung has nailed the size to performance ratio on the Galaxy Tab, and here I'm just talking about web browsing.

It's also a lot easier to type on the Galaxy S. You can hold it in the portrait mode just like a smartphone and type on it, something you cannot do on the iPad because even in portrait mode it is too wide. In fact the portrait keypad on the iPad is pretty much useless. You have to keep it in landscape mode if you want to type on it and for that you need to rest it on a surface.

So what do you think then? Is the Galaxy Tab too small or too big for your tastes? Or do you think this is how big all tablets should be? Do let us know in the comments.