http://cdn.cbsi.com.au/story_media/339305766/SamsungGalaxyTab_1.jpg
The size is in-between the iPhone and the iPad. The OS is a little rough around the edges and nothing feels as smooth as iOS (animations, icons, buttons etc.), and unfortunately apps from the app store can't be zoomed in like the iOS allows you too. Not only does this mean you'll get smaller game resolutions, but also, that the controls will be awkwardly moved to places harder to reach.
For surfing the web, the iPad is much superious, due to its size, much better colors and contrasts when viewing from the side (putting the Galaxy on the table means the colors will fade from your view, as you're not looking at it directly anymore), scrolling smoothness, and perhaps also the way the browser wraps text. For instance I tried to surf Reddit with the Galaxy but it was such an unpleasant experience, whereas it works great on the iPad.
However, the Galaxy Tab with Android and the Android Market Place beats iOS when it comes to running all kinds of emulators, like SNES, NES, Gameboy Color and others. You can download hundreds of these old games and play them rightaway for free (once you grabbed the paid emulator, like SNesoid + Rom Gripper). The controls are dynamically fitting to cover the whole screen, so you won't have any problems reaching them. The smaller display size works well on these older games as they were in smaller resolutions to begin with.
One thing I wanted to check was how two-player same-device gaming could work on the device (I've got some for the iPad at http://versuspad.com). I'm not sure yet, the fading display when viewed from the side makes it harder (the iPad size is also much more optimal). To access the Market Place from China I had to go through the trouble of setting up a VPN (Witopia PPTP) though, perhaps related Market Place domains are blocked here. Once that VPN is set up, watching YouTube videos also works well (YouTube is blocked in China).
Generally the size of the Galaxy is a bit odd; the iPhone fits in the pocket, the iPad fits in a bag, whereas the Galaxy doesn't fit into small pockets yet also doesn't use the full room of a bag. If you were to carry a bag anyway, the iPad is the nicer alternative. Still, the Galaxy fits into certain jackets, and is of very great size for gaming. If only they'd allow you to zoom in on Android apps, they'd have a terrific gaming device. Perhaps this goes to show that when OS maker and Hardware maker aren't one, the result can't take a perfect/ holistic approach, and will have some usability fails... like this very important one. Maybe an update to Android that allows zooming in (or is there such a feature already?) would solve this? |