Samsung Galaxy Tab review roundup: Video, Android, iPad, price, specs

Galaxy Tab reviews are all over the map: 7 inch Android tablet more wieldy than Apple iPad, but inherently imperfect.

iPad now has its first credible competitor ... a good-looking slate ... vivid color screen ... can handle many of the tasks typically performed on a laptop ...  can run a wide variety of third-party apps.
...
But it has major differences ... Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon ... AT&T also. ... Features missing in the iPad: a camera (two in fact) ... Adobe’s Flash software ... multitasking ... removable memory card ... It is also a tad thinner. It weighs less than a pound. It easily fit in one hand. ... While its screen is smaller, it has almost the same resolution.
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I like it. It’s a serious alternative to the iPad. ... The Tab is attractive, versatile and competitively priced. ... It’s different enough from the iPad, yet good enough, to give consumers a real choice.

The Tab feels like a grab bag of neglect, good intentions and poor execution. ... There is no way to not feel like a total dorkface while typing on this thing ... like tapping on a massive, nerdy phone. ... The faux-realness of the ... apps feel like Chinatown knockoffs of Cupertino software.
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It's like a tablet drunkenly hooked up with a phone, and then took the fetus swimming in a Superfund cleanup site. ... The worst of a tablet and the worst of a phone ... like a compromise's evil twin. ... An awkward first attempt ... wait for somebody else to do it better.

For all its faults, the iPad is still the tablet to beat. ... Galaxy Tab takes direct aim at iPad’s shortcomings and does a credible job at addressing nearly all of them.
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The Galaxy is considerably smaller ... However, the Tab’s 1024 x 600–pixel resolution makes this less of a big deal than you might expect. Considering the iPad’s 1024 x 768–pixel resolution, you’ll find the Tab nearly as spacious. ... It feels snappy enough, but longish load times can ... be tiresome, and webpages invariably loaded more slowly than the iPad.
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The base unit is $400 with a new or upgraded two-year contract, or $600 without. ... Data costs extra: $30 a month for 2 GB of service plus unlimited messaging, or $60 a month for 5 GB and unlimited messaging [Sprint pricing].

There is no doubt the Samsung Galaxy Tab packs a beau­ti­ful dis­play. It prob­a­bly isn’t as good as the 9.7-inch IPS LCD used in the iPad.
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Apple chose to rid its iDe­vices of Flash. Maybe Samsung should have done the same.

I can’t recall a device where the reviews have been so divided. Some are saying it’s good, and a credible iPad rival. Others are saying it’s garbage.

So feel free to jump right in if the idea of waiting for a Super AMOLED version, a 10.1-inch flavor, or a tablet-tuned Android release sounds like crazy talk.

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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com.