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Friday, May 20, 2011

Sony unveils flexible color e-paper, new glasses-free 3D LCD displays at SID 2011

We saw some fancy panels and flashy lights on the show floor at SID this week, but Sony decided to keep its latest display offerings tucked away in an academic meeting. We're getting word today from Tech-On!that the outfit unveiled a 13.3-inch sheet of flexible color e-paper as well as two new glasses-free 3D panels in a separate session at the conference. New e-paper solutions loomed large at SID, but we were surprised by the lack of flexible screens. Sony's managed to deliver both on a display that weighs only 20 grams and measures a mere 150-microns thick, a feat made possible by the use of a plastic substrate. The sheet boasts a 13-percent color gamut, 10:1 contrast ratio, and 150dpi resolution.

As for the 3D LCD displays, Sony joined a slew of other manufacturers in showing off its special brand of the panels. These new displays, ranging from 10-inches to 23-inches, apparently employ a new method for delivering 3D to the naked eye. This particular method uses a backlight positioned between an LCD panel and another backlight for 2D images, and can be easily be switched off for 2D viewing. Of course we would have liked to see these screens in the flesh, but alas, Sony decided to play coy. Hop on past the break for a shot of the new 3D panel.

Sharp shows off the world's first Super Hi-Vision LCD with 16x more detail than 1080p

While Japan's NHK has been working on the successor to HDTV, Super Hi-Vision, for years, there haven't been any direct-view HDTVs capable of showing its full 7,680 x 4,320 pixel resolution until this prototype unveiled today by Sharp. Its 103 pixels per inch may be just a fraction of those found in some of the pocket displays we've seen at SID this week, but that's still far more than the 36ppi of a 60-inch 1080p HDTV. If estimates are correct, we'll still be waiting until around 2020 for that 33MP video and 22.2 channel sound to actually be broadcast, although there's a possibility of some demonstrations happening during the 2012 Olympics. Skip past the break for the available specs and a video demonstration, or just head over to the NHK's Science & Technology Research Laboratories in Tokyo between the 26th and 29th of this month. 


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ThinkPad X1's keyboard is spill-proof, not flood-proof (video)

The ThinkPad X1 thought it was safe. It foolishly believed that, having reviewed it in full, we would spare it from further scrutiny at Lenovo's UK launch event this evening. We quite naturally did no such thing, poking and prodding at the slimline laptop -- which still feels supremely well built -- but we also went that one step further, by putting it through a trial we didn't dare subject our review unit to: a spill test. Well, it was a less a spill and more of a steady stream of water that we doused the X1 in, which might explain why it eventually gave out and shut down on us. Lenovo says that the keyboard tray can only handle 25cl of water before throwing a self-protect switch and turning the computer off. Given enough time to fully dry out, our unfortunate test subject might even have been brought back to life, but our efforts at restoring it were met with failure. You can see the H2O-based carnage after the break, though we should note that Lenovo managed to perform this test three times without taking the X1 out of commission... before we came along and ruined its spotless record.



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HTC Trophy officially set to launch on Verizon May 26th

HTC Trophy officially set to launch on Verizon May 26th
"Soon" just got a lot more explicit: May 26th. That's when the HTC Trophy arrives on Verizon Wireless, finally bringing some Windows Phone to the carrier and setting up for what will be a very busy day. Do you want some dual-core hotness in the Droid X2? Maybe some LTE lovin' with Netflix in the form of theLG Revolution? Decisions, decisions, but those who go the way of Microsoft will find themselves touching a 3.8-inch WVGA display powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 16GB of onboard storage. It's $149.99 after the requisite contract fuss and mail-in rebate, small price for a phone that's been officially deemed ready.

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HTC Trophy™ Brings Windows Phone 7 To Verizon Wireless

Combine Business and Play with a Smartphone That Lets Customers Do What They Love

05/19/2011

BASKING RIDGE, NJ - HTC Trophy™ is the first Windows Phone 7 device to come to Verizon Wireless, bringing a new dimension of gaming and entertainment to the nation's most reliable 3G network.

Windows Phone is the only phone that lets you play games with Xbox LIVE. Customers can sync directly with Xbox LIVE mobile to access their avatar, profile and gamer score to keep track of their wins. HTC Trophy also allows consumers to play by themselves or challenge friends in turn-based games. In addition to the many mobile gaming features, customers who buy an HTC Trophy before July 15 get a free Xbox 360 console game. Game enthusiasts can choose from Halo: Reach, Kinect Sports and Lode Runner – up to $60 value.

HTC Trophy features the Music + Video Hub, giving customers quick access to music and movies on their device. Customers can stream or download millions of songs with a Zune Pass subscription and access over 15,000 quality apps and games in Windows Phone Marketplace through the Marketplace Hub.

Additional features:

1 GHz Snapdragon® processor
WVGA 3.8-inch touchscreen
Surround sound through SRS WOW HD™
5-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
720p HD video capture
16 GB on-board storage
Wi-Fi connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n
Global ready - allowing customers to enjoy wireless voice and data service in more than 200 countries, with more than 125 with 3G speeds
HTC Hub-customization through downloadable applications that offer even more entertainment and productivity
View and edit Microsoft Office® documents, including Excel®, Word® and PowerPoint® with the Office Hub and data access on SharePoint® servers
Pricing and availability:

HTC Trophy will be available online at www.verizonwireless.com on May 26, and in Verizon Wireless Communication Stores on June 2 for $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
HTC Trophy customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a smartphone data package. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 for monthly access and an unlimited smartphone data plan is $29.99 for monthly access.
Verizon Wireless customers traveling outside of the United States should contact Verizon Wireless' global customer support team at 1-800-922-0204 before embarking on their trip to ensure their phones have the right features for global usage.
For more information about Windows Phone, visit www.windowsphone.com. For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's fastest, most advanced 4G network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 104 million total wireless connections, including more than 88 million retail customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 85,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative wireless devices that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play hits Verizon for $200 on-contract, in stores May 26th

It may not have been the first in the world to get it, but Verizon can now at least claim to be the first US carrier to offer the long fabled, oft-leaked PlayStation Phone, otherwise known as the Sony EricssonXperia Play. It will be available for pre-order on the carrier's website starting May 19th, and be available in stores on May 26th for the usual $199.99 on a two-year contract. That, of course, gets you the first PlayStation Certified handset with console-style controls -- a real D-pad and PlayStation face and shoulder buttons, plus a pair of miniature touchpads for dual-analog gameplay on the go. You'll also get seven games pre-loaded on the device (including Madden NFL 11 and The Sims 3) but, as we saw in our recent hands-on with the Verizon version of the phone, you won't get Sony Ericsson's custom skin -- the carrier has instead opted for a mostly stock UI with only some SE wallpapers and widgets. As Verizon also notes, those opting for the phone will have to sign up for both a Nationwide Talk plan and a smartphone data package as well, the former of which start at $39.99 a month, while an unlimited data plan will run you $29.99. Head on past the break for the full press release.
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Verizon Wireless and Sony Ericsson Take Mobile Gaming to the Next Level With the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY

The World's First PlayStation® Certified Smartphone Combines PlayStation®-Quality Gaming Experience with the Latest Android Smartphone Technology


BASKING RIDGE, N.J., May 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Take conference calls, send emails and win football's biggest game, all on one device. The Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY, for Verizon Wireless, redefines mobile gaming by combining all the features customers expect from a fully-featured smartphone with the ultimate gaming experience.

Powered by Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread, the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY will come pre-loaded with seven game titles, including Madden NFL 11 (EA Sports), Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior (Digital Legends), Asphalt 6: Adrenaline (Gameloft), The Sims 3 (EA), Star Battalion (Gameloft), Crash Bandicoot (Sony PlayStation) and Tetris. Customers can expand their video game library with more than 50 game titles available at launch for download via V CAST Apps. Customers easily become gamers with the slide out game pad revealing a directional keypad, dual analog touch joystick, two shoulder buttons and the four iconic PlayStation® symbol keys: circle, X, square and triangle.

Additional Features:
1 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon® II processor with Adreno 205 GPU
Adobe® Flash® Player
4-inch multi-touch display
5-megapixel rear-facing camera
VGA front-facing camera for still shots and video chatting
Support for Google Mobile Services including Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Talk™, Google Search™, Google Maps™, and access to more than 200,000 apps available to download from Android Market™
Mobile hotspot capability– share 3G connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices

Pricing and Availability:
The Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY will be available for pre-order online at www.verizonwireless.com beginning May 19 and in stores on May 26 for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a smartphone data package. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 for monthly access and an unlimited smartphone data plan is $29.99 for monthly access.

Game Developers:
The gaming experience can only get better as additional games are being created. Developers have the flexibility to focus on content and not worry about binary file sizes when submitting apps to V CAST Apps. Developers can visit http://developer.verizon.com/play for additional information about game development for the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY.

For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com. To learn more about the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY, visit www.sonyericsson.com.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's fastest, most advanced 4G network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 104 million total wireless connections, including more than 88 million retail customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 85,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson celebrates its 10th year as a joint venture between Sony Corporation and Ericsson in October, 2011. Over the years the company has brought together the best communication technologies with superior entertainment user experiences to create its Xperia™ line of the 'most entertaining smartphones' in the mobile handset industry. With its global corporate functions in London, Sony Ericsson has sales and marketing operations in all major regions of the world, as well as manufacturing in China, and product development sites in China, Japan, Sweden and Silicon Valley, California. For more information, please visit: www.sonyericsson.com/press.

Sony's Thunderbolt implementation hiding in plain (web)site, uses USB connector not Mini DisplayPort?

Look closely at that picture. See that Type-A USB jack? The one with the blue stripe sandwiched between the round AC jack (with its green light) and VGA and HDMI ports? Yeah, that's Sony's Thunderbolt implementation according to a trusted source. A bit of digging reveals that the "Ultimate Mobile PC" teased by Sony above is actually the same VAIO Hybrid PC leaked by Sony Insider back in March said to feature an external dock with one USB 3.0 jack, HDMI, Ethernet, AMD Whistler discrete graphics, and a Blu-ray Disc writer. Naturally, the dock attaches to the VAIO's Thunderbolt jack.

What we're trying to get our heads around, however, is Sony's choice for a USB connector instead of the Mini DisplayPort used by Apple's dual-channel 10Gbps Thunderbolt implementation. The decision to go USB was first brought to our attention by site Gula Digital. We've long known that Sony would be a Light Peak partner in some capacity. And the decision to go USB certainly echoes those first prototype interconnects demonstrated by Intel that combined a hybrid USB 3.0 connector with an optical interface and electrical connection to carry power. We also like the idea of being able to connect a USB 3.0 hard disk without first attaching an adapter. What troubles us, though, is a statement made by theUSB Implementers Forum last summer expressing reservations with Intel's proposed interconnect:
"USB connectors are not general purpose connectors and are not designed to be used in support of other technology applications or standards or as combo connectors."
Perhaps Sony has worked out a licensing arrangement with the USB-IF? We don't know. But we're told that Sony's Thunderbolt implementation is definitely using a USB connector and definitely not using Mini DisplayPort. But we'll wait until this thing ships before complaining about Thunderbolt fragmentation too loudly.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition review

It may be a bit difficult to pay attention to the spate of Honeycomb tablets that seem to be popping upleft, right and center -- you know, now that Ice Cream Sandwich has been officially promised -- but what's not easy to overlook is an 8.6mm slate. Checking in at a sliver of a pinch thinner than the illustrious iPad 2, Samsung's rethought-out, redesigned and definitely-not-renamed Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the first Android tablet to date that seriously goes toe-to-toe with Apple in both specifications anddesign. Granted, the consumer models aren't slated to ship out until June 8th, but given that Googlehanded us one last week during its annual I/O conference, we figured we'd spend the following weekend wisely. You know, photographing, benchmarking and testing this thing to the hilt. (Of note, the unit tested here was the Limited Edition model, devoid of TouchWiz, 3G and a microSD card slot, but is otherwise identical to shipping units aside from the design on the rear.)

The Tab 10.1 -- not to be confused with the older, since-relabeled Tab 10.1v -- weighs just 1.31 pounds (marginally besting the iPad 2's 1.33 pound chassis), and if looks could kill, few people would've made it out of Moscone West with all organs functional. But as you well know, style only gets you in the door -- it's the guts, the software, and the marriage of it all that makes or breaks the tablet experience. Hop on past the jump to find out why we think Samsung truly delivered on the promise of a Google-powered tablet, and why you should all seriously consider socking away funds as early June approaches.

Hardware and design


Zoinks! Jumpin' Jehosaphat! Go on and pick your exclamation of choice -- so long as it entails shock, awe, and pure jubilation, it'll fit the bill here. We'll just come right out and say it: the overall chassis of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is on par with that of the iPad 2, and from a handling standpoint, outclasses Apple's offering. Make no mistake, this marks the first time that we've been able to say that (without reservation) about any non-iOS tablet, and Samsung deserves a whole heaping of laud for doing what no one else seems to be capable of.


Allow us to explain. The 0.33-inch thick slate is a hair thinner than the newest edition of the iPad, and while that's all fine, well and good, it's the other aspects that truly push it ahead. Samsung uses a slightly larger 10.1-inch display (compared to the iPad 2's 9.7-inch IPS panel), yet manages to craft a slimmer / taller product that actually weighs less than its primary rival. The Tab 10.1 still comes out feeling astoundingly rigid, and while you could chalk it up to being a personal preference, we're a fan of the aspect ratio here. It's just easier to handle with a single hand, and the extra real estate proves even nicer once you have a gander at the 1280 x 800 screen resolution.


Our 32GB WiFi model sports an understated motif, and it's an appreciated step back from the gaudy accents that have flanked a few of those other tablets. The front panel is smothered in gloss, with the LCD flanked by a deep black bezel that -- unfortunately -- serves no other purpose than to give your fingers a spot to rest. Call us crazy, but we'd love if those touch-sensitive edges on the BlackBerry PlayBook were adorning this guy, too. The top bezel is dotted with a 2 megapixel camera, while the edges are surrounded by a matte silver finish. Flipping it on the rear, you'll get an 3 megapixel camera (capable of shooting 720p video), an LED flash and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The top left edge is home to a pronounced power / sleep button and a volume rocker, while the left and right edges are free of oddities outside of a small speaker grille on each side. The rear edge houses a microphone hole as well as Samsung's own dock connector input.


We're hearing that the 3G version will have a microSD card slot as well as a SIM slot, and of course, the rear will be a far more subtle black instead of the vanilla Android army populating our review unit. Unlike the G-Slate, the Tab 10.1 remains a bit too wide to actually wrap your hands around (Shaq notwithstanding), but it's balanced enough to handle in one hand and type with the other.

The plastic back on the Tab 10.1 is the only real design aspect that's somewhat less premium than on the iPad 2, but if that's what shaved the weight, we guess we can't kvetch too loudly. Still, our backplate remained in tact throughout a gauntlet of TSA inspections, and we've no concerns whatsoever about the build quality there.

Internals
While the pixel density lags just a bit behind the G-Slate, the 1280 x 800 resolution mates well with the 10.1-inch panel. It's glossy, sure, but what Honeycomb tablet isn't? Despite the shine, this is most certainly one of the nicer mobile displays that we've seen, with colors popping and viewing angles impressing all eight of our friends who gathered around to watch an admittedly bizarre Star Wars - Harry Potter mashup clip. You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone unsatisfied with the display, to be honest, and that's just the start.


The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is just one of the crowd when it comes to processing power; NVIDIA's Tegra 2 silicon is powering things, with a dual-core 1GHz clock speed keeping things on the up and up. It's worth noting that our Limited Edition unit has 32GB of internal storage capacity... and that's it. There's no microSD card slot, and we're anticipating that all WiFi-only models will ship as such. Sammy's yet to clarify, of course, but those requiring a way to add additional storage should probably keep an eye out for the Tab 10.1 3G.


Samsung's media connector is chock full of possibilities. The package ships with a simple USB adapter, but there's always the possibilities of enabling video out, audio out, etc. through optional dongles in the future. As for connectivity? Our unit was equipped with Bluetooth 2.1 and 802.11b/g/n WiFi radios, and we're still playing a wait-and-see game when it comes to 3G.

Performance and battery life
The 1GHz CPU found here may be ever-so-slightly dated compared to the speed demons found within superphones like the Galaxy S II, but it still runs circles around most everything within Android 3.0. A cold boot took under 20 seconds, and once the lock screen popped up, we were into the camera application and shooting 720p video in under three seconds. Anyone with a mid-range Android phone will attest to the presumed impossibility of that feat, but we swear it happened. Thrice.


The capacitive touchpanel was abundantly responsive, with both swiping and pinch-to-zoom actions being recognized immediately and accurately. As far as tablet touch experiences go, the Tab 10.1 delivers one that's world class. We struggled to find ways to slow this guy down, and despite a full day of multitasking, swiping through applications felt as brisk as it did after a fresh reboot.


Looking for hard numbers? We've got 'em. We tested the Tab 10.1 using the standard Quadrant benchmark that was also used in our G-Slate and Xoom review, and using an average of six runs, we landed at 1,970. That's a bit more than our in-house Xoom (1,801) and G-Slate (1,879), but somewhat less than the Iconia Tab A500 (2,228).


It's worth noting, however, that the Tab 10.1 did indeed soar beyond the 2,300 mark a time or two, leading us to believe that these guys are all performing right around the same, at least from a real-world, noticeability standpoint.


As for longevity, it's worth pointing out that the newly trimmed Tab 10.1 packs a 7,000mAh battery, which actually trumps the 6,860mAh battery found in the (now) Tab 10.1v. A slimmer shell with a more capacious battery? Sold! As with most of the Android slates out there, we had no issues getting through a full day of usage, with a healthy mix of TweetDeck checking, email sending, multimedia viewing and digging through the archives of Fail Blog and I Can Has Cheezburger.


When we sat down to our video loop test, with WiFi on and display brightness at about 65 percent, we scored just under ten hours. That's second only to the iPad 2, and by merely half an hour. Jack that brightness down a bit, and you could probably squeeze 11 hours out.

Battery Life
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.19:55
T-Mobile G-Slate8:18
Apple iPad 210:26
Apple iPad9:33
Motorola Xoom8:20
Archos 1017:20
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook7:01
Samsung Galaxy Tab6:09
Dell Streak 73:26

While inbuilt speakers -- particularly on tablets -- are rarely ever worth writing home about, we had to give these guys a shot. The Tab 10.1 has a single speaker on both the left and right edges, and while they were more than sufficient for emitting the standard array of bleeps and bloops necessary to alert of us what's going on, they're hardly headphone replacements. Using 'em to emit audio for a voice-driven movie is more sensible than using 'em for audio, but there's a reason Samsung tosses a set of earbuds in with the package -- they're the preferred method of listening.

Software
We mentioned earlier that we had a tough time getting this guy to stutter, and we're giving at least some credit to the stock v3.0.1 build of Android that's thrown on here. Not that we've got anything against TouchWiz UX, per se, but we've always been big fans of Google's untainted Android experience. If you'll recall, we heard back at CTIA that Sammy would be yanking TouchWiz "in select regions" -- we've a hard time believing that the US is included there, but at least on our LE model, there's only a few instances where Samsung's fingerprints are shown on the software.


Outside of the standard applications, we found a copy of QuickOffice HD, Amazon MP3, Amazon Kindle for Android, Movie Studio, Music Hub (a bit pointless given the introduction of Music Beta), Pulse (a feed reader / news gatherer with a rather impressive design layout) and Samsung Apps.

While this is most definitely cleared by Google for Android Market access, Samsung Apps is yet another venue for fetching programs for use on the Tab 10.1. It's highly probable that it's simply unpopulated due to us having this tablet a solid month before its general release, but either way, calling what we saw here "underwhelming" is quite the understatement.


Beyond that, it's the same Honeycomb we've grown to know and appreciate, at least for a few more weeks. Android 3.1 is already making itself comfortable on Motorola's Xoom, and we're told that this particular slate should see the same update "in the coming weeks." If you're wondering what kind of niceties that'll bring, we'd invite you to have a look at our video hands-on right here.

The stock keyboard, as we've mentioned before, is fairly spartan. We'd recommend swapping inSwiftKey as soon as humanly possible, but overall, Honeycomb's basic typing tools are still superior to those found in Froyo and Gingerbread. Of course, the dedicated Gmail app is nothing short of outstanding, and it remains one of the major reasons for heavy Gmail users to stick with Android over any other tablet OS.

Camera
As with the G-Slate, the camera performance on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 leaves a bit to be desired, but based on what we saw, we'd say it's a slight improvement. Colors didn't wash out as easily, and indoor performance is predictably marred by unhealthy levels of noise. The built-in flash aids in that to an extent, but let's not kid ourselves -- you aren't going to be proud of any of the photos you take on the Tab 10.1, you'll just be somewhat pleased that you captured a moment you may have otherwise missed. Have a look at the gallery below -- we'd say the results are on-par with a lower-level point-and-shoot camera, but actually snapping shots with a giant tablet isn't nearly as easy.



The 720p movie mode is markedly better, as proven in the video embedded above. Despite having reasonably nice results here, shooting video (and even still images) on a tablet still feels like a fool's game. We were constantly stared at while attempting to capture this footage as discretely as possible, and felt as if we were doing something inherently wrong all the while. Maybe we're just overly worried about our image -- but maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't be using a 10.1-inch slate to take photographs and shoot video.

Wrap-up
We know, we know -- it's starting to sound like a broken record around here, but would we really be making progress if it didn't? Without qualification, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the best Honeycomb tablet to date, and this time, it's by a country mile. There's simply not another Android 3.0 tablet on the market today that matches the Tab 10.1's style, placing it a lap ahead of the other, more cumbersome Tegra 2-powered alternatives.


It's quick, nimble, and easy to hold, and it's both thinner and lighter than the heralded iPad 2. There's no question that we prefer the handling of the Tab 10.1 over Apple's alternative, and with the improvements coming with Android 3.1 (and in time, Ice Cream Sandwich), it's going to be mighty hard to overlook this device come June 8th. The 16GB WiFi model will hit for $499 -- exactly in line with the iPad -- while the 32GB variant will demand $100 more (we're still awaiting word on 3G prices).


There's just no other way to say it: the iPad 2 finally has a real competitor. If Samsung could somehow undercut Apple by even $25 here, the choice would be obvious, but it's going to have a whale of a time convincing the masses that a Samsung device is superior to one Designed in California when prices are equal. That said, we'd still recommend the Tab 10.1 over the iPad 2 for heavy Gmail users and all-around fans of Android. And hey, at least this thing can take advantage of Music Beta, if you're into it.

Psst... Since this is a developer unit, not available for puchase, we chose not to give this a score.


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