A comparison: Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 and iPad 2

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Hands-on of the handheld touch goodness iPad 2:

My need for a tablet was growing by the day, and I decided to go get a hands-on of the handheld touch goodness that was on display in a nondescript corner of a largely-TV-dominated-electronics store.

Immediately, I asked the not-so-informed executive to point me to the iPad 2, a product that I had my mind set on for a while. Here’s why.

It looks and feels amazingly sleek when you hold it. As Steve Jobs pointed out at the launch event, the device is thinner than the astoundingly thin iPhone. Of course, it’s still not exactly light, weighing in at 1.33 pounds.

Apple has a new 1GHz dual core chip it’s calling the A5, which has more than enough muscle for graphics processing.

There’s 512MB of RAM, which seems on the low side. A device in this class should probably be sporting 1GB, though you won’t run into memory issues. On the specs front the iPad 2 feels very iterative. There's nothing here that is totally mind-blowing, but there’s nothing here that makes it feel far off from its nearest competition.

The iPad 2 cameras are pretty bad, though. They’re not unusable, but it’s clear that the sensors employed are not top shelf by any measure. But the App Store is the leviathan that separates the iPad from the rest of the chaff, and a deal maker if you compare it with any other device. There is absolutely no question about it.

If you want something done using a tablet, there’s an app for that, period. Verdict: No, there isn’t a retina display, and no, it doesn't have the fancy hardware to boot, and yes, the cameras are severely lacking, but it never feels like Apple made a compromise.

If you want everything to just work, be it the web, your books, your movies, or your games, feel free to take a deep breath and dive in — the iPad 2 is as good as it gets right now. And it’s really quite good.

Meet the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

Everyone was pretty excited about the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (renamed the Galaxy Tab 750 in India) when it launched worldwide earlier this year. Does the Galaxy Tab 750 live up to our long wait for serious competition toApple's iPad 2?

The Tab 750 is 8.6mm thick and weighs a mere 565g. That doesn't stop it from being one of the best tablet displays (if not the best display) available today and performance-oriented hardware. Watch a lot of high-definition movies?

Have no fear, Full HD video playback is here; and Samsung made sure that a wide variety of video formats are supported. The same goes for your music and the two in-built speakers on either side deliver a stereophonic listening experience.

On the communications front, you'll find support for 3G, Wi-Fi, GPRS and Bluetooth 3.0. Finally, we move to software. The Galaxy comes with Google’s Android Honeycomb OS, and you can optionally install Samsung's custom interface.

The multitasking is good, and you’ve got a host of Google services like Samsung Hub (stay connected, download music and e-books), and Polaris Office installed out of the box. Adobe Flash support is also a plus point.

It’s fully compatible with Windows, so adding files and music is as simple as copy-paste, with no extra software required. Verdict: To sum up, it’s a really good effort but there’s much more to be desired. The interface may feel unintuitive at times, the Android isn’t as mature as the iOS, so there are a few bugs and glitches here and there.

The Android Marketplace has limited apps available that take advantage of a tablet’s available resources, so I’d suggest you check if the apps you require are available.

Android is an open platform, so whoever knows how to write software programs may find it useful to make their own private apps. Hardware wise, Samsung really has put together a decent package, which I dare say is superior to the iPad 2.

FACTS SPEAK

APPLE IPAD2

Pros
* Superior market share, you'll usually find what you want and get support
* More mature OS
* Better for gaming
* Very responsive touch-interface
* Greater 3rd-party device support

Cons
* Inferior camera
* Screen resolution could've been better

MRP (for the 16 GB Wi-fi + 3G) Rs 36,990

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

Pros
* Superior display
* Better or equal hardware to the iPad 2
* Openness and flexibility of android
* Superior 2 and 3 megapixel cameras
* Very responsive touch-interface

Cons
* Occasionally unintuitive software
* Android bugs
* May need experience with software for getting some things done

MRP (for the 16 GB Wi-fi + 3G) Rs 34,000

Posted in: Reviews