10:00 PM
The Mobile
Tablets are now available in all sorts of shapes; it’s no longer just 10-inch or 7-inch options to choose from.
One company that has been doing a lot of experimenting with tablet sizes is Samsung, and one of their newest offerings is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, which as you might guess features an 8.9 inch screen.
I recently spent some time with the tablet, which is being offered by AT&T and is compatible with the network’s 4G LTE network, and I’ll give you a full report on how it fits in the tablet marketplace.
Looks
For starters, let’s get the obvious out of the way and say that this is a unique size for a tablet. It’s smaller than the traditional 10-inch screen on the iPad and the full-size Samsung Galaxy Tab, but it’s bigger than the 7 to 8 inch models offered by Samsung and other tablet makers trying to grab a piece of this new market.
One benefit of this slightly smaller size is that it’s a little lighter and more portable than some of its tablet competition (It’s slightly less than a pound, which is basically nothing). Even though it’s just a little smaller, the difference is clear when you look at it. I really do like this size, as the smallest tablets really do seem too small to me for most uses, and this is a happy medium.
Exact weight on this tablet is 15.9 ounces, and exact size is a compact 9.09 x 6.21 x 0.34 inches. In terms of thickness, the design is very thin, attractive and sleek; which can’t be said of all the Android tablets that have come o ut.
4G
The Galaxy Tab 8.9 does have access to AT&T’s 4G LTE network, which is starting to spread around the country. It isn’t quite yet in my area, so I didn’t get to test it out, but the speeds I encountered for downloads on AT&T’s HSPA+ 4G network were still very fast, and did not leave me waiting for long. Those in LTE areas will have even snappier responses, as the network has been getting favorable reviews.
Operating system Continued...
You’ll get the Android 3.2 operating system on this tablet, and as usual it offers easy multitasking, simple customization and even a computer novice will be able to figure out how to operate it. The Android Market is huge and continuing to grow, and more and more apps are being optimized for tablets. Games can be played more vividly on a larger screen of a tablet, as opposed to a smartphone
A helpful “apps†icon on the top right of the tablet will get you access to all your apps, and the system for placing them on your various home pages is a breeze to use. Just hold and drag.
Processor, storage
Even if you put high demands on this machine, it will operate smoothly. The big reason for that is its Snapdragon 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. This puts it among the top of the list in terms of overall capability for multitasking on a tablet.
There was a 16 GB hard drive on the Galaxy Tab 8.9 I tested, but you can also opt for a 32 GB hard drive if you want more space to store media.
Screen
The 8.9-inch touchscreen features a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. This is a solid number, though its shy of the brand new iPad’s “Retina Display†with its 2048-by-1536-pixel resolution . Still, that doesn’t mean that images are not bright and vibrant, quite the opposite. They’re just not the absolute brightest out there. Honestly, most people probably won’t care too much, as the images are not disappointing.
One thing you want in a tablet is a responsive screen , so you don’t have to push extra hard to do everything and maneuver around the device. That’s definitely the case here; as I never had any issues in this category. You have multi-touch, so you can pinch to zoom, or hold one finger down, then zoom in and out by moving the other finger.
One thing I did notice is that the screen is a fingerprint magnet, but that is pretty much true for every tablet.
The screen does rotate from horizontal to vertical, depending on how you are holding it, but I did notice that the rotation speed was slower than some other tablets. Continued...
Battery life
I found the Galaxy Tab 8.9 to have a pretty impressive battery life from its 6,100 mAH battery. Tablets are usually better performers than laptops, and since you probably won’t have your tablet powered on all day, it was pretty common for me to get a couple days life out of this thing before having to charge. That’s because I wasn’t using it constantly. If I did, that length would obviously shrink.
Ports
Some other tablets have ports like usb or HDMI on the device itself, but that’s not the case on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 due to its thinness. You’ll have to use a dongle to connect in this way.
Camera
I’ve never been a huge fan of using cameras on a tablet, as they’re nothing that great. Same thing with this one; You get a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat purposes, and a 3.2-megapixel rear camera with LED flash.
Nothing great, but it’s nice to be able to grab a quick snapshot in a pinch if you don’t have a better camera available.
What do tablets do best?
Like most tablets, the best thing you can do on the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is media viewing â€" such as surfing the web, watching videos and playing games and use other apps for work or pleasure. Also like most tablets, it’s not ideal for typing. I’ve never been a fan of typing on tablets, unless it’s a simple message. Long writing projects aren’t ideal unless you have a docking station with a keyboard, and in those cases you might as well just get a small laptop
Bottom line: If you’re going to do more creating and less viewing, I would probably steer clear of tablets altogether. But if you’re all about viewing and don’t write much, tablets are tailor-made for you due to their light weight and portability. Continued...
Price
AT&T is offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab for $629.99 without a contract, or $479.99 with 2-year contract. That’s too much in my view; and pricing needs to come down by Samsung and across the tablet market if they are to truly become a computer of choice for the majority of people. In my view, tablets are still a secondary device for most people.
Of course, the contract will require a data package; which means a minimum $35 per month data plan. Without a contract, you’ll have to rely on Wi-Fi.
Bottom line
There is a ton of competition right now in the tablet market, and Samsung is trying to cover all bases with its many, many sizes of the Galaxy Tab.
And of course the elephant in the room is the new iPad, which has more name recognition.
Based on my experience with the Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablet, I can say that it had impressive specs and performance and is a worthy competitor to its tablet rivals and a strong addition to the Galaxy Tab lineup.
But with so many tablet choices right now, Samsung’s best hope for success is that people will want to slightly smaller size tablet and venture toward this or one of their other tablet offerings.
It won’t be easy, but with an aggressive marketing strategy (and it wouldn’t hurt to have a lower price) Samsung might be able to chip away some iPad sales between all their various size offerings.
If you’re considering a tablet, I would recommend checking out all the offerings, from Samsung’s lineup to the iPad and offerings by other makers like Motorola, and seeing what operating system, size, etc., fits your needs best.
For more information on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, visit www.attwireless.com.
Matt Myftiu can be reached at matt.myftiu@oakpress.com or 248-745-4617. Follow him on Twitter @MattMyftiu or become a fan of the Facebook page “OPTechTime." Check out his blog at realtecht ime.blogspot.com.
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