Samsung Galaxy Tab: Android-Powered Slate

Apple has the uncanny ability to rally its cause into all sectors of society. I remember when I first clamor for an iPod, then comes the iPhone. And just as I already have a MacBook Pro, here comes another one to bite the dust in me. Apple iPad had gone from mere eBook reader to a handy entertainment companion.

Back when Apple brandished an almighty white product line, everybody goes white as well. When Apple lay grounds for the state-of-the-art touchscreen technology, every mobile phone manufacturers tried churning out theirs. And now that Apple revolutionized the ebook experience, everybody wants something of the same kind on their bench.

Ebooking has been in the midst since the time of Franklin Bookman. Sony, at the demise of their Clie, catapulted an eBook reader too into their product portfolio. Amazon took the same lead. Yet nobody, I think, does it better with the iPad in terms of marketing crescendo and brand sensationalism.

This time, Samsung, with the unveiling of Galaxy Tab, pursued to partake in the market dominated by iPad, squeaking itself into an almost saturated pie shared by Amazon Kindle, Barnes&Noble Nook, BeBook Neo, Sony Reader, etc.

Samsung has been known to produce products of impeccable quality and unparalleled elegance. Samsung is a rising giant that I'm sure can cleanly compete with other electronic juggernauts like Apple and Sony.

Let's check some of the bells-and-whistles the Galaxy Tab is bustling about:

A bit hypersaturated LCD screen is reminiscent to their Samsung Galaxy S AMOLED screen. It has an excellent feel of capacitive response and the Cortex processor doesn't have trouble keeping up with its interface(TouchWiz 3.0 layered). But at a 7inch screen, it is a bit thicker compared, say with the Amazon Kindle.

TouchWiz 3.0 has been a de facto standard for Samsung's Android phones(Samsung Galaxy i9000 and i5800). Now they are slapping it up into their first eBook iteration, powered by the Android Froyo 2.2. Although I find the interface frivolously kiddie, it is what makes it simple and intuitive.

For the CDMA countries, hold your horses yet as only GSM model has been released out in the shelves.

Now, given all the forays of readers out there(with Toshiba Folio 100 coming into the woodworks), would you want your reader 7inch? Or stay with iPad's 9.7? Or go for the Homeric 10incher in the Folio 100.

My full review as soon as Benjie, Samsung Electronics Philippines Marketing Director, (or any SEPCO executives) hand me a demo unit. :)