CTIA Hands On Extravaganza: LG Optimus 3D and G2x, HTC Flyer, HD7S, EVO 3D, and Galaxy Tab 10.1, 8.9
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 23, 2011 2:31 AM ESTGalaxy Tab 10.1, 8.9
Earlier in the day Samsung had mechanical prototypes of the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 8.9 on display behind glass cases. The functional prototypes of both tablets were thicker versions just designed to showcase the new tablet focused TouchWiz UI.
I finally got some hands on time with the mechanical prototypes of the new Tabs. While the devices were still not functional, they were of a representative size and weight to what will eventually ship this summer.
Galaxy Tab 8.9 (top) vs. the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 (bottom)
The new Galaxy Tab 10.1 feels great. It feels distinctly next-generation, similar to what we thought about the iPad 2 in our review. The next-gen feel really has to do with the thickness of the device, which at 8.6mm is as close to perfect as you can hope for in 2011.
The 8.9 is really what takes the cake in my opinion. The mechanical sample of the 8.9 is just as thin as the 10.1 yet much smaller thanks to its smaller (but just as high-res) screen. While I don't believe it's small enough to be as portable as a smartphone, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 sure feels small enough to genuinely challenge my notion of exactly how portable a tablet can be.
Ignore the SIM slot on the 8.9 prototype - the only versions that have been announced thus far have WiFi enabled. Kudos to Samsung for being aggressive both on pricing and dimensions with the new Galaxy Tabs. At this point I'm more curious about what the rest of the Honeycomb competitors will do. Is it possible that Samsung's competitors also had thinner contingency plans in place?
If you're wondering what will happen to the old, thicker Galaxy Tab 10.1 announced at MWC - it's going to Vodafone as an exclusive. All other carriers will get the new 10.1 as early as June 8th.
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Kaboose - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Looks like a good selection coming up.Trefugl - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
It is a good selection indeed.I do have a question about the HTC Flyer though. I was always under the impression that was using a pressure sensitive pen digitizer (similar to Wacom tablets) vs just using a "meat-stick" capacitive pen. This was a key feature to me as it brings real pressure sensitive input to a tablet device and could lead the way with Photoshop-like apps.
seanleeforever - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link
capacitive pen. unless the technology has changed dramatically, this will be a total failure due to 2 reasons:very low resolution. it is fine to draw circles, but to write words you need to have a digitizer.
you palm cannot touch the surface of the screen. or else it will be registered as another input and mass up the note.
ratbert1 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Nice preview. Not sure about your new nail polish though:)Azethoth - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Were you thinking "Harpy Black" or "Zombie Claw Green" instead? I vote black to go with the wrist hardware.Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Haha sorry, some of those products we weren't allowed to handle ourselves and thus the PR people at the companies were hand models :)Take care,
Anand
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
I'm guessing they've discovered that people like Anand and Brian can find out an awful lot regarding the internal hardware in a few minutes and are a little worried about early benchmarks and such. Or maybe they just don't want Anand running off with their products? ;-)tigger2u - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
I believe these were "mechanical prototypes" which means that they were non-functioning "dummy" units.It is interesting to see how quickly Anand & Co. can get benchmarks loaded onto these devices (were the LG Optimus 3D results obtained with LG's blessing? http://goo.gl/EXovr )
I'm hoping they get a little quality time with the EVO 3D to see how well the MSM8660 is fairing in that unit.
Brian Klug - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
We actually have an MDP8660 with us that we'll be posting some benchmarks from later this week. :)-Brian
liem107 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
I noticed the info posters only indicate "1 ghz dual core application processor" .i hope the y will use their exynos instead of tegra2...