In 2007, Apple started the smartphone market by showing smartphone makers what they had to aspire to: The iPhone. The tablet market hasn't quite caught up to the iPad that created it yet, but Samsung's given us a date for when it thinks it will: June 8.
That's when the new Galaxy Tab launches. And Samsung's adding on to its lineup, with new 8.9 inch and 10.1 inch Galaxy Tab models to complement the old 7 inch. These tablets will have slightly smaller and slightly larger screens than the iPad 2's, respectively, but Samsung claims that they'll both be thinner and lighter (even though these claims are disputed).
So what do these tablets have going for them, and is there any reason you'd buy one instead of an iPad?
Design by checklist
The new Galaxy Tabs have all the right boxes checked off. Size? Thinner. Weight? Lighter. Their screens are sharper, their front- and rear-facing cameras have better resolutions, and they've got dual-core processors just like the iPad 2. They're seemingly designed to be its equal or better in every way, including price: The 10.1 inch model starts at $499, the same as an iPad 2.
After that, the Tabs toss in all the buzzwords that everyone's talking about. Android 3.0 "Honeycomb," the first version of Android that's designed for tablets? Of course. How about Adobe Flash? Sure, even though it works about as well as it does on other Android devices (which is not very well). 4G wireless speeds? Supposedly, once they're ready.
If a company got feature checklist dysfunction and decided it had to outdo the iPad 2 on everything, that's exactly what the new Galaxy Tabs would look like. And with the June launch date (for the Wi-Fi version of the 10.1 inch Tab, at least), they're only a few months behind. So is there anything they're leaving out?
"Experience" is not on the checklist
Let's start with retail and marketing. A lot of people think these are Apple's only advantages, and that they're unfair somehow. But whatever you think of Apple's ads, they have to be better than the cheesy, contrived "interviews" Samsung did to promote the Tabs, at the CTIA Wireless show. Besides pointing out how these "true-life stories" bore a striking resemblance to Samsung's marketing points, writer Harry McCraken also noted how the people being interviewed appeared to be actors.
So once these videos convince you that you need a Galaxy Tab, where do you get one? Not at the Apple Store. You'll have to look past the other Android tablets at the electronics store, each one a black and gray slate that runs basically the same software.
And what software do they run? Not any of the 65,000 iPad apps. They run Android apps, and precious few of those (besides Google's) have been optimized for tablets yet. Without apps, what's the point of having a tablet?
The Upshot
Samsung's made a heroic effort, and the new Tabs are striking hardware-wise. But the message it's sending is out-of-tune. It seems like it's hoping you'll forget that there's any way to judge between tablets besides raw checklists of specs ... sort of like how things are in the PC market.
But just like with computers, Apple's set itself apart in the tablet market that it created. And if no one can make something that's not "just like an iPad, but ... " then Apple's going to continue to dominate people's choices.
Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
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