This probably isn’t a good time for Android tablets in general. At most, a couple of tabs running Google’s OS have even been considered as competition for the Apple iPad 2 so far.
Now with the launch of the new iPad, the beleaguered tablet manufacturers have even higher standards to live up to – a Retina display, powerful innards, LTE connectivity, great battery life, and, most importantly, a huge content ecosystem.
Samsung had announced the Galaxy Tab 7.7 quite a few months back, and a lot of people were impressed by what they saw.
However, it was caught in the legal crossfire between Apple and the Korean giant and got a delayed launch. The global HSPA+ edition was introduced about a month back as well, for that matter, and it’s only now that the Big Red has decided to bring in the tab into American shores, albeit in an LTE flavor.
The big question is – was it worth the hype?
Plenty of reviewers were raving about the 1280×800 non Pentile SuperAMOLED Plus display of the international edition at its launch. But the new iPad has launched since then, and the folks at Engadget aren’t quite as enamored by the Galaxy Tab 7.7 screen as they were before.
In their words, “When we first reviewed the Tab 7.7, this was one of the best tablet screens we had laid eyes on; it’s still as brilliant as it was before, but it’s no longer the bar-raiser.”
The thin profile and slick metallic finish wowed David Pierce of The Verge. The 7.87mm thickness makes the Tab 7.7 the thinnest slate around, and it looks great. Engadget’s tests showed that the benchmark scores of the Tab can compete with the best tablets around.
Even more impressive is the fact that this slate has absolutely the longest running battery life in the market. A whopping 13 odd hours are what you can squeeze out of it, and that blows even the iPad battery out of the water.
The flipsides start off with the usual buggy nature of Android Honeycomb.
Most reviews have concluded that only Ice Cream Sandwich may bring out the best from a tablet as powerful as the Tab 7.7. In any case, the dearth of quality tablet optimized apps for Android may just make it a case of much ado about nothing. The Verizon subsidized price is an absurd $499, just $200 less than the unsubsidized price.
All in all, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 is undoubtedly an interesting device (to say the least), and a great Android tablet. It is seriously expensive though, and one can only wonder whether a customer would want an Android tablet at a price point where he/she can get the new iPad.
[via Engadget, The Verge]
