Samsung Galaxy Tab deals & review

After the release of the Apple iPad many phone manufacturers and electronics companies have been keen to make a move into the new world of touchscreen tablets. While some of these offerings have come across as rushed or ill thought out, the Galaxy Tab from Samsung looks set to be a real contender. It already has many features that give it an edge over the iPad and is sure to attract many followers due to its use of Android as an operating system.

The Android OS has been modified slightly to run on a tablet but still offers the same great features that fanatics of the Google OS have come to love. You have access to Android Market and of course an extensive range of Google services. While apps like Google Maps are great for finding your way around, the world of handheld navigation is set to take another giant leap forward with the emergence of augmented reality (AR).

Using the tablet´s camera (a feature that is not present on the iPad), you can hold the Galaxy Tab up in front of you and it will locate local points of interest such as restaurants, hotels or train stations. As mentioned, the iPad did not feature a camera but the Galaxy Tab has got far ahead of the game by including two. The main camera can be used for the AR apps and general photography while the secondary frontal camera can be used for making video calls.

The Galaxy Tab is great for watching movies and can play HD videos to all their glory. The main camera on the Galaxy Tab can also record HD video at a very nice 30fps. A wide variety of music formats are supported making the Galaxy Tab the perfect entertainment device, and if you are alone you can pop some headphones into the 3.5mm headphone socket.

The 7" screen is ideal for watching movies, browsing the web or reading eBooks. This is smaller than the iPad´s screen by a couple of inches but there are a number of benefits to this. Firstly it makes the Galaxy Tab much more portable. Secondly, for all the avid readers out there, the Galaxy Tab feels a lot more comfortable to hold due to its being more similar in size to a paperback book.

Another advantage the Galaxy Tab has over the iPad is in terms of web browsing. This is automatically miles ahead of the game merely for its support for Adobe Flash, something that is sorely missing on the iPad. As a large proportion of the internet used Flash this makes the Galaxy Tab much more functional for web browsing.

The Galaxy Tab is certainly one of the sexiest touchscreen tablets on the market at the moment, and many would argue that is has a lot of advantages over the iPad. Flash support and two cameras as well as its state of the art AR apps are just some of the reasons that the Galaxy Tab should be a primary consideration when purchasing a touchscreen tablet.