While you were asleep this morning, Samsung officially launched Tab, its 7″ Android 2.2 tablet at the IFA show in Berlin. There’s lots of coverage from the likes of Endgadget, PC World, TechCrunch, Huffington Post, etc. Some are calling it a larger version of the Samsung Galaxy S, which to my mind is a compliment.
Last month, Dr. Smartphone and I went to Samsung’s retail store in New York City to visit with the Galaxy smartphone. We both came away feeling this was the device to give Apple’s iPhone a smartphone inferiority complex. We were completely blown to pieces by its fluid video playback of Avatar. It also seems to me that the Tab will be breathing down iPad’s virtual neck over the next few years—1024×600, 1GHz Cortex A8, HD replay, and many of the same Hub apps as the Galaxy. Supporting both 2.5G GSM and 3G HSPA, Tab will be released in Europe first, and then ultimately the United States.
The reviews were very positive, and I think the excitement is entirely warranted. What struck me was that many of the reviews disclosed the writer’s travel expenses had been paid for by the show’s organizers or Samsung themselves. This is clearly a consequence of the FTC’s new guidelines on “material connections.”Continue reading