What will you pay for an Android tablet? Wrong answer: $499

Best Buy will reportedly sell the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Wi-Fi version, for $499.

Pocketables.net highlights some leaked Best Buy signage showing the Tab going for $499.

The pricing instantly got me and Jason Perlow bickering. For starters, I'm not paying $499 for a 7-inch Galaxy Tab. To me, Android is the value play. It's not the equivalent of an iPad in the tablet market. You have an unknown horse for $499 and a proven winner for the same price. What are you going to go with?

I need the Wi-Fi Tab to be $399 to even start the discussions.

Now before the techies in the house jump down my throat, I realize the following:

• Samsung's 7-inch screen could be as sharp as the iPad's 10-inch screen.
• There are two cameras.
• Memory is expandable.
• The Tab has Android 2.2 and the apps that go with it.

As Perlow noted: "There's a lot of freakin hardware in that device."

My reply: "Yeah you tell that to the average consumer."

You can talk resolution, AMOLED screens and all sort of good stuff all day, but the iPad will wow you just as much as the Tab. And frankly, the Tab has to do more. The iPad to the tablet market is the same as Kleenex in tissues. Or Xerox for copiers. The iPad says premium to the consumer. Android says value.

I need the value. And at $499 the Tab is a tough sell.