Google I/O Samsung Galaxy Tablet Review

Its been a month since Google I/O. I figured its about time to do a write-up about the Samsung Galaxy Tab that Google was so kind to give me at the event.

I've been using it since, and I will be keeping it as my primary tablet device. I even gave my IPad to my daughterkinlane-productions2

For me the Samsung Galaxy is more functional as an actual working device, than the IPad ever was.

To make work for me, here are the applications I use:
  • Google Apps
  • Evernote
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
That is all I need. All I really do on my tablet is consume information. I primarily use Google Readkinlane-productions2eUpon, and my browser as my information consumption tools.

However as I consume my feeds, I need to be able to bookmark, share and save things for reading later. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon do this for me.

While I consume my feeds it is also nice to be able to communicate and socialize with everyone in all my networks. I use Gmail, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for this.

Beyond that, the only creation I say I do on the Galaxy Tab is brainstorming and notetaking with Evernote. Evernote on a tablet is extremely useful, and I couldn't do without it.

Beyond that, the camera and gallery tool is fun to use. I know IPad 2 has a camera, so this one isn't fair. However the gallery tool sucked in all my photos automatically from Picassa, and I spent the next couple weeks browsing photos I've haven't looked at in years.

Also...I actually downloaded Amazon Kindle, bought a book and read it cover to cover. Wait can you still say that? Anyways, never did this on the IPad. Not sure why.

I feel the Android notifications keeps me plugged into my email, calendar, social networks and other tools, in a way that I feel still connected and monitoring my world in real-time. The IPad always felt I was off in left field, unless I made an effort to look at things. I didn't really flow between apps and the browser, staying in tune with multiple sources, on the IPad.

Two things I do not like:
  • Netflix - Netflix App doesn't work. Nuff said.
  • Google Reader - Don't like the Google Reader App, just use the web app.
Over all, the Galaxy Tab just works well for me. I'm not saying its for everyone, but as a tablet, I found it more useful than the IPad. It has proven to be a nice extension to my Macbook.

Thanks Google!