Christmas is near, and the holiday season means there will most likely be good sales on computers and accessories. Since mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are becoming more popular in both today’s business and personal environments, they will make good gifts this season. If you are looking for a tablet as a gift or for yourself, this review compares the Samsung Galaxy Tab with the iPad2.
LCD Display
The 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab has an LCD screen that supports a 1280 by 800 pixel screen which shows off a beautiful color display. Gorilla glass covers the screen which can be bent and dropped without breaking. The iPad2 has a 9.7 inch display supporting an LCD screen display of 1024 by 768 pixels. The screen is made of dragontail glass which can be dropped without breaking. The dragontail glass on the iPad2 can be broken but only if bent more than 2 inches, which is still quite good since I don’t think any of us will be taking out the glass cover and bending them. Both of the glass types for the tablets are scratch resistant.
Back Covers
The back covers on these tablets are different. The iPad2 has an aluminum back which makes it pretty sturdy and light. It weighs about 1.3 pounds which is one of the lightest tablets out there. The downside is that the aluminum back makes the tablet somewhat slick if sitting on your lap or even holding it. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a plastic back which would be more likely to break if dropped. The plastic back does keep the weight down, but I would purchase a protective cover as an add-on for the Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet.
Tablet Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a 2 megapixel, front-facing camera for video chat or for taking pictures of yourself. On the back of the tablet is a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, which is a nice feature. The iPad2 has a 0.7 megapixel, front-facing camera with a rear-facing camera of 0.93 megapixels, basically a one megapixel camera without any flash. If you are into taking pictures, videos, or doing any type of video chatting with a tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab wins out in this category.
Other Tablet Features
Both of the tablets are about the same size. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a little bit longer which makes it a little better for gaming, surfing the internet, watching videos, and other similar types of activities. The iPad2, however, is a little bit wider so depending on what you are using your tablet for and how you hold it, the choice is really up to you. Definitely try the tablets out before buying one or the other as far as this feature.
Each tablet has a different operating system. The Samsung Galaxy is running Android 3.1, but Android 4.0 just came out so most likely the tablet will start shipping with the newer operating system. The current operating system allows the user to customize five screens on which widgets and apps can be installed. Android has it own marketplace where users can download free games and apps and purchase apps, get books, and rent movies. Since Android was developed by Google, the tablet also comes with the many Google apps including Google maps and Gmail.
The iPad2 is running the iOS 4 operating system which in my view is not as customizable as the Android operating system. The iPad2 also has it’s own market place where the user can download a variety of apps; some free, others for a price. In addition, the user can download books, movies, games and music from the marketplace. The iPad does come with a few pre-installed apps.
Both tablets have very good processors. The iPad2 has a 1Ghz dual core processor while the Samsung Galaxy Tab has the NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip. The Samsung seems to be a little slower than the iPad2 when it comes to gaming and watching movies.
Conclusion
From my perspective, for the money and features, I would go with the Samsun Galaxy Tab. I like Apple products, but, in this case, I like the price, abundance of apps, and the size of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The one thing I did not like was the cheap plastic back. The unit is not as sturdy as the iPad2; therefore, I would recommend buying a quality case for it.
Please leave a comment if you purchased one of these units and have additional input or insights to one or more of these tablets.
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