AT&T and Samsung have brought forth a
tablet that adds to their set of sleek Android-based slates, this one
the first to work with the carrier’s 4G LTE network. Inside you’ll find
the rather powerful 1.5Ghz Qualcomm MSM8660 dual-core processor, Samsung’s custom user interface TouchWiz UX
made specifically for tablets, and either 16 or 32GB or internal
storage. You can take 3 megapixel photos and 720p videos with the
back-facing camera, slightly less impressive media with the front-facing
2 megapixel camera. As this tablet is thin, so is it speedy, and as
there are now more than four different models of tablet running Android
from Samsung on the market today, surely they’ve gotten the formula
correct enough to warrant such an array by now – wouldn’t you say?
Hardware
Like its predecessors the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 7.7, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is monumentally thin, and just as it was when we first laid eyes and hands on the pre-production build back at CTIA spring 2011,
this tablet is a winner when it comes to industrial design. It’s simply
lovely in its form, feeling like Samsung wanted to knock the tablet
game out of the park with a simple set of matte black plastic along the
back and silver plastic around the edge, with the entirety of the front
being a tough layer of glass and a 1/2-inch border of black under the
glass around the 8.9-inch display. This display is a PLS TFT capacitive
touchscreen at 800 x 1280 pixel resolution and the whole device sizes in
at 230.9 x 157.8 x 8.6 mm.
The display is no AMOLED, to be sure, but it is relatively bright and
will suffice for your everyday indoor activities. This tablet is in a
class with the iPad and the top-tier Androids when it comes to overall
quality, and you’ll know good and well where your $479.99 (with a free phone)
went when you’ve purchased it. This tablet is the ideal size for those
of you wishing for a tablet that’s both compact but not so small to fit
in your pocket, and certainly light and thin enough to keep in a purse.
You’ll want to think about purchasing a case for the tablet if you’re
carrying it around in your daily satchel, especially since you don’t
want the screen to get all nicked up by keys and coins.
Software
Again take a peek at our review of TouchWiz UX for the Galaxy Tab 10.1
to see what this device is running more in-depth, otherwise feel free
to see the hands-on video we’ve got here to check the size difference.
This version of TouchWiz is running a bit more smooth than it was on the
10.1 when it was first launched, and it’s certainly nice to have the
screenshot feature at the bottom of the screen, but that bar sitting
around at all times can get rather annoying. Where Android’s
tablet-specific operating system version Honeycomb and the soon to be
prevalent tablet and handset-based Ice Cream Sandwich both have the
feature where these buttons fade down to nearly invisible when you don’t
need them, Samsung has found it necessary to remind you that they’re
there at all times with a dedicated bar. This takes away a bit of your
screen space for taps as well as for viewing space, mind you, so you may
well want to consider this when looking for that perfect tablet.
That said, if you’ve never used Android on a tablet before, you’ll
probably not notice the difference as compared to even the most massive
smartphone, this display will seem like a monster. That’s of course also
assuming you’ve never held a tablet of any other kind either – you’ll
want to compare this tablet to a set of other Samsung devices to choose
your true size (for 8.9-inch displays and smaller, of course): Galaxy Note vs Galaxy S II vs Galaxy Tab 7.7.
For my own personal use, I’ll stick with the Galaxy S II unless I’m
playing some games, in which case I won’t need an internet connection
and will of course want the Wi-fi version of the 8.9 instead of this LTE-connected slate we’re looking at today.
Camera
The shooter on the back of this device is decent for the 3 megapixels
it packs. You won’t be collecting the same masterpieces your Galaxy
Note and your Galaxy S II are rolling with, but for Facebook images and
sharing on Google+, you should be ok. Have a peek at a couple examples
at 3 megapixels for photos and 720p for video below.
