7 Days Using the Samsung Galaxy Instead of the iPad

This is an update to my previous post on the Samsung Galaxy Tab where I was using it exclusively over my iPad for a week in my normal work day.  Now I'm not a professional gadget reviewer, but I'm a heavy user of technology and a developer of knowledge enterprise solutions for my clients. So being on top of technologies that help in my normal workday as well as ones that can be utilized in enterprise offerings is essential.


Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF):  The Galaxy Tab performed extremely well for me and I noticed no real loss of productivity when switching from the iPad.  Actually in some cases I preferred the Galaxy Tab over the iPad (portability, Google integration, typing blackberry style, double camera, and of course flash).  I will give my iPad its due when it comes to the screen size (reading and drawing/writing on the screen). So I’m now switching over completely for the next month to see how it goes.  I’ll report back in Feb.


One of the first things that I noticed was the size of the device.  It is small compared to the iPad.  Smaller than I thought it would be.  But I have to say that the portability of the device was a major plus throughout my day.  I can actually fit in my jacket pocket without any issue and it is large enough to use effectively.  The most surprising feature of the Galaxy Tab was the virtual keyboard which gets a benefit from the size of the Tablet.  The Blackberry is the gold standard as to how I rate keyboard use on a mobile device. The size of the Galaxy Tab affords the user a two handed thumb input like I use on the Blackberry.  It is truly more efficient to use than the iPad for typing – just shy of Blackberry efficiency.


One of the first challenges I faced with the Galaxy Tab was applications.  I’m very comfortable with my lineup of apps for the iPad (see my latest post on productivity apps).  Within minutes I was cooking with gas downloading some of my favorite apps like Evernote, ZumoDrive, DocsToGo, Yammer, Newsy, Pulse, Twitter, Dropbox, Movies, and Pandora as well as setting up apps that came with the Galaxy such as Gmail, Calendar, Voice, and YouTube to name a few.  Now I admit I’m a heavy Google user so the Android on the Galaxy Tab is just a natural fit and its integration on the device is much smoother than on the iPad.  One of the concerns I had for the Galaxy Tab was integration with pod casts.  iTunes and the iPad just work well with my media.  Google Listen fixed all those pod cast concerns.


In two cases I was not able to get the same app that I use on the iPad.  Those are Reeder and Instapaper.  But with both, there was a quick solution.  For Reeder I just downloaded Google Reader (which is my go to desktop RSS application) and InstaFetch which integrates seamlessly with my Instapaper account.  So with all the hype about there being more and better apps from the iTunes store it really turned out to me a non-issue for me.  I do have to say that I miss Flipboard on the iPad, but I can live with Pulse on the Android instead.


There were a couple new apps that I discovered that added to the usefulness of the Galaxy Tab (Fring, Chrome to Phone).  Fring is basically a VTC capability for the Galaxy Tab utilizing the forward facing camera.  You can get it for the iPhone but it doesn’t do much good on the cameraless iPad.  I’ve used it between other Android devices, the iPhone and between other Galaxy tab devices.  It works pretty well but requires a lot bandwidth to be effective. 


Another area where the Galaxy Tab really shines was with Flash integration.  No more web sites that don’t work.  Also this is a picture of me watching the Tuesday night NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings on the Galaxy Tab for free.  I couldn’t get that to work on my iPad.  Enough said.


One last comment on the comparison, reading on the iPad is far better than on the Galaxy Tab.  The screen size is far better for this function.  Magazines, articles, and even drawing on the iPad are more comfortable and natural.  I also haven’t found a comparable app to Penultimate on the Galaxy either. 


With a good initial experience on the Galaxy Tab, I'm switching over to the Galaxy Tab from the iPad to really kick the tires on it over the next month.  I've really seen no loss in productivity using it instead of my iPad and have found some benefits.  I'll report back in February on how it goes.  Probably just in time to be getting the new iPad..