Galaxy Samsung Tablet- Corporate Review
We bought one of these tablets earlier this year, and this is just a summary of my thoughts and experiences with the device. The tablets form factor is very pleasant on the eyes and reminds me in many ways of the Apple iPad, however, the device weighs in at 1.24 pounds while the iPad weighs in at 1.34 pounds, that tenth of a pound to me isn’t really noticeable. The physical appearance of the device is also reminiscent of the iPad with the brushed steel look.
However, physically the unit is very attractive and modern in feel, light weight and very thin. This thin and light sensation left me and other users in the company concerned about the durability of the units, they always seemed a hair away from breaking at least in the minds of me and my fellow employees at work.
The good things about this device that jumped out to me while using it was the overall snappiness of the android operating system. The device boots very quickly and the keyboard is very responsive both the software keyboard and the external keyboard we bought separately. The external Samsung branded keyboard is nice, however, the small form is both a blessing and a curse. The keyboard could be stuck inside the brief case of a busy executive and fit on an airplane, but I found myself missing the shift key when attempting to capitalize letters. I really wouldn’t suggest doing any extensive writing on this device even with the external keyboard.
The lighting on the device was also really nice and made the digital version of the New York Times look crisp and beautiful. Movies rendered on the screen always moved smoothly and looked really nice. The graphics processing on this little bad boy was very impressive. Paired with the dual speakers it could pump out sound surprisingly loud and create a very pleasant overall media experience.
The front facing camera for our internal staff wasn’t just a nice feature but a requirement on our part that we found to be more than adequate. One of our goals with these devices was to allow remote employees to do video conferencing, the device performed very well over the 4G network available in Raleigh with Verizon. The pictures on the 2 Megapixel front camera were as nice as to be expected, but weren’t nearly as nice as the pictures taken with the 8 Megapixel camera on the other side.
The con side of this device was its lack perceived lack of durability. Our users reported that the device was flimsy and this could be due to the plastic backing of the device, coupled with the plastic touch screen. Further, the accessories for the device couldn’t bridge enough of the differences between a tablet and laptop for our user base. We wanted a device that would survive well in a clinic setting or a field setting traveling between patient homes. This device didn’t feel like it would stand up to that level of abuse, additionally we felt that the accessories weren’t nearly as nice with this device as we would have liked.
Overall, we felt that the Galaxy Tablet was a nice device and very close similar to the iPad, however, we felt that the lack of ports on the device left it less flexible than what we as a company wanted. We also felt that the very thin form factor wouldn’t stand up very well to the roughness of day to day life.