Vanilla, official Android please - this is what's important to me. I don't want to worry about my hardware vendor deciding that they don't want to update the OS any more, and I don't want to worry about using an unofficial unaudited built of Android.
Does anyone know if this device can run vanilla android?
It seems too small to me. Even being very negative about Apple, once I played with an iPad I was quite hooked. It is of perfect size for reading, browsing and what interests me most, social gathering around it, be it gaming or reading with 2-3 people.
Pretty much the only reason I would imagine myself getting a tablet, would be for "enhanced boardgames" and then the size must be as big as possible.
This is definitely an issue, though it seems Samsung are pushing for something that is more easily holdable in one-hand - compare to a paperback book or a Kindle.
I haven't used one yet, but I can see this being a lot easier to hold with one hand and type with another, when in a crowded tube or train, for example.
I think the iPad's form factor makes it a nice sofa device. To be truly portable it should've been slightly smaller. There's no way—I think—to hold an iPad with your hands and use both of them for interacting. One needs to support it with one's legs to fully use both hands.
I guess it depends on your use case. My primary use would be reading and watching videos while on the move. For that the iPad as always seemed slightly too big, and this looks like a much better size. Most people I know who own an iPad generally leave it at home and rarely carry it around with them. For me that would defeat much of the purpose of buying a tablet.
If the price is right I'm interested. There's only one thing that concerns me. Can anybody explain why companies insist on making super glossy screens? Is there any good reason why they can't make tablets with nice matte screens so that I can see what's on the screen rather than my own reflection.
On matte? I have a matte screen and can touch it here and there's no fingerprint linger. On my glossy-screen Macbook at home the screen looks like an oily mess (and all I do is sneeze occasionaly!).
There must be a middle ground: a screen that is visible without looking at ourselves, as well as a screen that doesn't resemble a minor environmental catastrophe.
Are you talking about the screen ratio being standard 16:9/10 widescreen rather than following the Apple iPad 4:3 setup like on old non-widescreen TVs?
I'm guessing most of them are just re-using existing netbook screens, just as the original netbooks re-used portable DVD screens.
Being close to the same ratio as most videos and android phones probably makes it a sensible choice. On the other hand you'd hope Apple had more than just aesthetics in mind when it chose the iPad screen ratio.
There's plenty of 10" Android tablets being displayed at IFA currently e.g. Archos 101, Toshiba Folio 100, Viewsonic ViewPad 10 etc. (Dell is supposed to do a Streak in 7 and 10 inch sizes too)
I've not seen any substantially bigger than the iPad (which is just under 10") yet, but it wouldn't surprise me.
That's good to hear. I just don't understand why they all launched 7'' tablets first. Maybe they wanted to fail, in subconscious conspiracy with Apple.
Does anyone know if this device can run vanilla android?