For “work purposes” I needed a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 [did I ever tell you how much I love my job?] so today I finally took the plunge [HP TouchPad is next, maybe]. I absolutely love Honeycomb and the Tab reinforces that love in many ways. It isn’t all a love affair though. I’m pretty disappointed in Samsung for a few things as they relate directly to the Apple lawsuit.

I have upgraded the Tab to the TouchWiz version and WOW! McQueen [my XOOM; get it…zoom…fast…Lightening. Nevermind] might get replaced as my main tablet, which wasn’t my intentions at all. Here are a couple of goodies I’ve enjoyed in my first few chances to play with the Tab.

Adobe Flash

Of course testing Flash was top of my list and here are my full thoughts:

AWESOME performance!

I seriously don’t know what @gruber, etc are talking about. Can someone please tell me how Flash performance sucks on mobile? I’m in no way saying it is perfect but I’d rather have 80-90% of all Flash work than none [leaving 10-20% for apps requiring keyboard input and really intense apps like old school 2Advanced typed stuff]. I’m mainly a Flash video guy than a Flash games guy anyway so even if that is only 40% of all Flash content…I want my 40!

One thing I notice about most posts downplaying Flash performance is lack of video. They poorly explain the experience. To avoid my love for Flash being a reason for readers to assume I’m speaking well of performance, here are some videos [aka proof].

TouchWiz

There have been plenty of detailed TouchWiz reviews so I’m not going to go through every feature but I did do a video of my initial experience with TouchWiz and compared it a bit with my Motorola XOOM in a few ways.

Buying Experience

Despite what I’ve read recently, the salesman at Best Buy said they haven’t had an issue with returns. What struck me as really interesting was his push to drive me away from buying an iPad, without me even asking for a comparison. I didn’t say anything about my knowledge of Android/tech, to not taint his responses either. I just listened.

His points for me not buying an iPad were, in this order: Adobe Flash, customization [he talked for a few about the stale look of iPad apps in direct rows], widgets, and comparable speeds. I asked which he thought was faster and he said:

“I’d say they are about the same. I couldn’t say either was faster than the other.”

I was pretty shocked by his “iPad is our biggest seller and Samsung is #2” statement followed by a “do not buy one” pitch. This isn’t the first time I’ve been pushed away from iOS. When I bought my Evo 3D they did the same at Radio Shack, prior to me asking about either.

Final Thoughts

After seeing accessories like the keyboard dock case, enjoying the light/thin feel of it, the cleanliness of TouchWiz, amazing Flash performance, etc, etc, and….etc…I believe this will be my #1 tablet and my XOOM will be my #2. We’ll see. I’m in a bit of tech overload right now but I love it. 😀

Issues with Apple

Recently @tipb posted a story titled Apple granted preliminary injunction, Samsung barred from selling Galaxy Tab 10.1 in most of European Union and, as I regularly do on @tipb, I commented on the article. I was annoyed at Apple going after Samsung like this because it seemed utterly unfounded. Well, I stand corrected…sort of.

There isn’t anything major but here are some things I did find some things familiar to iOS devices. Maybe because they aren’t exact clones is why Apple is pushing the “market confusion” angle. Judge for yourself below.

30-pin Connector [see here]

Seriously? 30-pin? You couldn’t go micro-USB like almost all non-Apple manufacturers? Weird. Even take a look at the wall socket plug. It is an oddly shaped iOS-like device charger. :-/ Tsk tsk.

 

Packaging

I didn’t get reminded of Apple packaging when unpacking the Tab but in a side-by-side they do look similar. Is it enough to go legal? Nah but I’m sure it is a notch in their belt.

  

Low Battery

This was the biggest one that got me, after the 30 pin. It isn’t exact but still…you could have chosen something different Samsung.

Seriously?

Apple should be ashamed but that rant is for another time. 🙂 Everything else about the Tab is amazingly different. By “amazingly different” I mean in all of the great ways the iPad is lacking: Flash, customization, widgets, notifications [iOS5 to resolve this], etc.

Samsung should be able to get around these preliminary injunctions. I can only hope so because this device rocks!