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Topic: Mobility

Samsung Tab now available

Summary: The long talked about Samsung Tab is finally shipping on T-Mobile, with Verizon and Sprint coming in the next week.

Joel Evans

By for The Mobile Gadgeteer |

T-Mobile is now the first on the market in the U.S. with the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The carrier is offering up two different options online: $399.99 with a two-year contract, and $599.99 with no annual contract. Regardless of the option you choose, there are two data plans to choose from: the $39.99 per month webConnect Overage Free Plan, which includes 5 GB of data per month, with unlimited T-Mobile HotSpot; or the webConnect 200MB Plan, with 200MB of data and unlimited T-Mobile Hotspot for $24.99 per month.

If you don't want to go with T-Mobile, tomorrow Verizon is expected to start offering up its Tab for $599 without a contract, and then Sprint will jump on the Tab bandwagon on November 14 with a $399.99 offering with a two-year contract.

All the deals above sound pretty decent, but I'm holding out for the rumored $499 Wi-Fi only device that BestBuy.com apparently leaked a little while ago. For that price point, it competes head-to-head with the iPad, and the only downside is that you have to bring your own network.

There's a lot to look forward to with the Tab. First off, native Flash support. Second, front and rear-facing cameras. Third, 7" instead of 10". Forth, Android OS. The list goes on and on. Are you going to get a Tab? If so, which one and why? If not, why not?

Topics: Mobility, Samsung, Wi-Fi

About

With more than 15 years of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently the VP of Strategy Integration for Mobiquity, an enterprise-class mobile solutions provider.

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7 comments
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  • RE: Samsung Tab now available

    Nook Color is better for reading than iPad and better for everything else than Kindle. Nook Color is better for $249. Nook Color screen is supposed to be better (less reflective) for reading than iPad thanks to new LG screen with anti-reflection coating. It allows to watch videos, listen to the music, view Office documents and PDF's. The Nook Color will not run apps straight out of the Android Market, but that does not mean it cannot run them. In fact, they have done a lot of tests on apps from standard Android smartphones and they pretty much run on Nook Color, which has Android 2.1 under the hood. (The Nook native interface and apps are just standard Android application layers.) Barnes & Noble special Nook SDK runs on top of the standard Android one and gives developers access to exclusive extensions and APIs for the Nook and its interface. So porting Android apps is not difficult. B&N says it is more like optimising them for Nook than porting them. If you prefer e-Ink screen, the original Nook is still available from BN.
    eco733
    Reply Vote

    • SuperAMOLED is the only type of screen that can compete with Apple's IPS

      in iPad; <b>Galaxy Tab screen is two degrees lower</b>: it is not "Super" and not "AMOLED".

      "Galaxy Tab" has common non-IPS matrix (bad for reading since that matrix kills contrast even with slight change of viewing angle), with three layers of screen glued with spaces (contrary to iPad's close glueing).

      Also if one would read actual reviews, then it would be obvious that the device is just too small as tablet and too big as giant phone.
      DDERSSS
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Samsung Tab now availablen from Verizon Wireless

      They are AVAILABLE as of TODAY from Verizon Wireless (not next week as this states) ...I just picked one up.
      douglas.mcmahan@...
      Reply Vote

  • Screen size should help...

    Regardless of your preference, I have a feeling that as we hone in on whatever becomes of the tablet "mainstream", if there REALLY is to ever be such a thing, we will begin to see the 7 inch form factor emerge as the most versatile. <br><br>I have now owned no less than THREE iPads, of which the previous two were either returned or re-sold and this last one was just too tempting a deal from a friend. No matter how hard I try to appreciate the benefits of such a form-factor, the 10 inch size is just too bulky to enjoy carrying. Add in the availability of an 11 inch Air and it leaves you scratching your head as to why you'd want a halfway crippled computing device that isn't much smaller, and doesn't weigh a whole lot less. Even tech oldie Leo Laporte (granted, he's notorious for going through a new Apple toy every week, if not every day some weeks) who hearkened the iPad as some kind of new era of computing and couldn't keep his hands off the thing for the longest time, admittedly has all but abandoned it in favor of his 11 inch Air. Unlike other Apple propelled phenomena, this whole tablet movement seems to still ring a bit "hollow" to me, and I think most people are going to end up at this same juncture. At least with something that large anyhow.<br><br>That said, I'm an Apple guy myself, but I DID enjoy my brief time with an Android device (Epic). I'll be watching to see how things shake out with the Tab, and may well dump my 3rd iPad for this thing. Having my iPhone to use most days, along with the Tab to tether to it on occasion, really does seem like the perfect "happy medium". Of course, a 7 inch "iPad 2" with dual cameras and something approaching a Retina Display would throw a wrench in the works all over again...
    Playdrv4me
    Reply Vote

  • These are truly exciting times and Samsung innovates like no other

    nt
    Dietrich T. Schmitz, ~ Your Linux Advocate
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Samsung Tab now available

    I already ordered one from t-mobile yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, by then they were already saying 3-5 days before shipping, and the SF bay area didn't get any units in stores for yesterday. Do I have to wait. Probably a good thing, as I have a lot of work to do.

    I chose t-mobile because I figured it would be most world-capable. I do wish it was LTE-capable :;.
    kevinsneel
    Reply Vote

  • NO cell PHONE

    What a stupid idea ! I wanted this tab so bad and now i hear there is no cell phone!!!!
    I cant understand what they are thinking,,,,I already have a G1 phone and i thought for my older eyes the tab would be great along with T-Mobiles carrier for cell phone usage it would have been a no-brainer for me....basically a large, G1,,,,which is what i need as an older person.
    SO. I am VERRRRRY disappointed, to say the least.
    Didnt Europe have the phone with cell service????
    I am at a loss.....somebody please tell me i read something wrong annd it does have cell coverage...
    i mean how stupid, it is already using T-Mobiles network---why not have the stinkin' phone in it!
    pkirkll@...
    Reply Vote
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