It’s a tablet battle between two of the newest tablets out the HP TouchPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Hardware & Design
The Touchpad is a 9.7 inch portrait design tablet with a more thick and hefty build. It is all plastic but with its extra weight gives it a solid feel. The design is minimalistic in terms of buttons and ports with just one micro usb port and one 3.5 MM headphone jack. Buttons are just the volume key and power. There are 2 stereo speakers on theft side that are Beats Audio powered but is covered up if you don’t hold it in the right place when holding the tablet. There is a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for video chat with no rear facing camera at all which is a disappointment. There should have been an option for a version with a rear facing camera and one without it. Internally the processor is a 1.2 Ghz dual core processor with 1 GB of ram and runs the latest version of Web OS 3.0.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is landscape style tablet with a 10.1 in display with an overall thin and light build that feels solid even though fully plastic. Samsung went to create the thinnest tablet possible at just 8.9 mm thick. For ports you have a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a proprietary dock connection when you have to use their USB cable for charging and syncing and their accessories. On top there is a power button and volume key and on the side are stereo speakers. There is a rear facing camera that is 3 megapixel with 720p video recording and 2 megapixel front facing camera for video chat. Internally its running a 1.0 Ghz dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor with 1 GB of ram.
Neither device offers expandable storage which is lame but overall here Samsung comes with the better hardware and design. Thin and light tablet with great hardware specs. The Touchpad design would be good if it came out last year. It good construction just dated.
Software & Usability
HP TouchPad
The HP Touchpad is the first device to run WebOS 3.0, the latest version of the software. It offers a very elegant and professional look. It’s looks is much more simple that android 3.0 which could be more approachable for some. Opening apps is a simple as just tapping on it to open. Navigating through WebOS uses a lot of gestures. When you’re in an app and want to come back to the main desktop you just need to swipe up. When you swipe up you will be in the card system which is the way multitasking is done. You can stack apps on top of each other for better organization and to close an app you just need to flick it away or slingshot it up. The multitasking in WebOS is the most appealing feature and feels like it’s the way it should be on all devices.
You get your standard email, browser, contacts and multimedia applications. The web browser supports flash and had no problems playing flash content and loading up sites with a full desktop experience. The pinch, zoom and scrolling is ok but not as smooth as you would want it to be. The video player plays your standard formats and 720p content but 1080p will play stuttered and off sync. Video and images look fine on their but its nothing that stands out from the competition. The music app its pretty simple and not too fancy but has some bugs in it. Using the music app you will hear how good the speakers are on here are it’s the best set of speakers I have ever heard on a tablet hands down. You have to hear it to understand.
The app store is now lacking in terms of apps made for the Touchpad and even though you can download apps for the phone versions of WebOS they are emulated and not a very good experience. The isn’t much in terms of customization other than changing the wallpaper on the desktop and moving around apps in the main menu and shortcut bar. WebOS is a good OS but comes very buggy and there is a slowness to it on the Touchpad which they will be fixing with software updates down the road.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes with Android 3.1 which is the latest version of the software. You get 5 desktops to choose from and you customize them as much as you want from widgets and app shortcuts. You get your standard Google apps and email, contacts, browser and calendar applications. The browser suppose flash and loads sites up quickly and accurately. Flash content plays fine with a minor stutter here and there. Pinch, zoom and scroll work as they should without stutter. The Music app supports Music Beta By Google streaming. I actually like this app better than the one in the Touchpad as its faster, supports streaming and has a nice look to it. I will say the speakers are not as good as what is on the Touchpad. If you don’t keep the tablet head on when listening one speaker will drop out. The video player can play back 1080p and 720p video content with issue. Playback is smooth and audio is in sync. The screen on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 makes video and pictures pop out and look crystal clear.
There apps are a lacking still with Android tablets with just over 100 tablets optimized apps available. You would think by now there would be more out there but it looks like developers still need more time. The OS runs smooth on the device however it does have the same small bugs that Android honeycomb has.
Battery life on both tablets are on par with heavy usage you can get a full day of life out of it and with moderate users you can extend it to two. The slight edge here in software goes to the Galaxy Tab 10.1. I just had a much smoother experience with it over the Touchpad. I think because honeycomb has been on tablets longer they are a bit ahead of WebOS.
Overall
In this tablet battle the Samsun Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the winner here. It’s just a better design tablet for what is now out there. Great screen with solid hardware and an improved Android 3.1 puts it on top here. HP is a year late putting this out and will be playing catching up with the Touchpad 2. I know many see the potential in WebOS and I do myself but if your spending your hard-earned money it’s about now and now the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the better tablet to buy. Be sure to check out the individual reviews before of both tablets to form your own opinion.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Review
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