Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

I *just* got an email from Bell stating that the Tab would be launching TOMORROW!

The price is $599 after a $50 'bill' credit. I suppose this means that you need some sort of a plan to get this $50. It would be nice if I could use the prepaid data as the bill-credit, as then I would only have to pay $599 (plus data I was planning to purchase anyway). If not, the price will be $649.

It looks like Bell is the winner. Sorry Rogers.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Great news for those of us with that "other" US carrier USCellular.

Due out Nov 19... $399 (after $100 rebate) w/2 yr contract.... data plan only

Have to read the fine print to make sure the $15 / 200mb can be used, even though I'd probably have to get the $55 / 5Gb plan at some point...

Quandary: Do I get the Tab w/ data and keep my "dumb" phone

Or Upgrade my phone to the USCC Samsung Mesmerize....

Tab is looking better all the time....

.... can I "live" with 200 mb/month?aaaaargh!

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Here's a talk with Google's Eric Schmidt at the Web 2.0 summit. He talks [very] brieflyabout Gingerbread but more about Google's services.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKOWK2dR4Dg

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

It goes to show how far optimization will take you. Look how smooth the HTC HD2 runs PSX emulated games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfGoa6jmTFk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohs9FhchFlc

The HD2 features a Snapdragon @ 1GHz ala the Nexus one/EVO. This processor doesn't hold a candle to the Hummingbird, though the FPSECE emulator runs FAR smoother than PSX4Droid on the same platform.

Here's PSX4Droid runnning on the N1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYeqMahKyls
It's certainly playable, but the HD2 is *much* smoother.

It would be nice to see a port of FPSECE for Android or at least some more optimization in PSX4Droid. I would love to see FPSECE level performance on the Galaxy Tab for PSX emulation. There really are a boatload of great games that put many modern mobile games to shame.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Here's a video of the Galaxy Tab doing BT keyboard and mouse!
http://www.androidcentral.com/enhanc...oard-and-mouse

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Here's a question for the Tab owners. Is there a landscape keyboard that doesn't hijack the entire screen? It would be nice to have a keyboard that lets you view some of the page -- similar to portrait mode.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Andy the Android stars in his first video! It's seriously creepy.....

http://an.droid-life.com/wp-content/...ky-600x244.png
http://an.droid-life.com/2010/11/16/...bot-in-blinky/

Maybe it's his brother?

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Gingerbread should be here in the coming weeks.Here's a question for you all.

What changes/updates would you like to see in the OS?

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

It seems that there's a patch to the Linux Kernel that greatly improves desktop UI performance:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...37_video&num=1

Comparison videos:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...37_video&num=2

I wonder how far reaching this patch goes, and what exactly is changed with the 'auto-group' scheduler. Could this further improve latency with the Android UI?

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

I've only used the stock keyboard, and in landscape it fills the bottom half of the screen. You can see much more then then with the N900 on screen keyboard. For the most part though, the screen dimensions feel much more comfortable in portrat mode, so I enable the screen lock. The accelerometer is quite touch and will flip orientation at very inconvienent times.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

But as I understand it, the landscape keyboard features an input field that takes up the top half of the screen, no?

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Rogers has the Tab on the front of the site! Lists it as an HD device :)

http://www.rogers.com/cms/images/en/...ge_Banner1.jpg
http://www.rogers.com/web/content/hd..._HOM_PRE_slot1

And here's the official page for the Tab:
http://www.rogers.com/web/content/hd..._HOM_PRE_slot1

Good job's Rogers! Now get to work lowering those prices!

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Best android live-wallpaper ever?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7i75rj6J2s

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Just some musings about Android development.

I've been very interested in having a pen app for Android and have been looking into the API to see if this sort of thing is feasible. My intuition says that it is, but it doesn't hurt to learn a bit more.

It seems that there's a class for touch events (duh) called Motion Event:
http://developer.android.com/referen...tionEvent.html

This class allows for absolute touch events and 'relative' touch events which are of interest.

What I'm gunning for is a way to differentiate capacitive-stylus input from other touch (ie. the pad of the hand) for comfortable paper-like writing -- rather than resistive-style hovering.

It stands to reason that the capacitive tip will have a very constrained 'pressure' based on the fixed size of the tip. For light touch, it will be close to 0, but even for heavy pressure it is likely to be far less than a full on touch with a fat finger or pad of hand. However, light touch may certainly mimic the stylus tip, which would be undesirable for unwanted input (eg. the moment the pad of the hand touches the screen).

Further, in the event that that there are multiple objects touching the screen, and you are expecting pen input, it should be easy to discern (again by pressure) which is the capacitive stylus and which is the pad of the hand to be ignored. As soon as this is detected, all other drawn strokes from input should be rolled back and only the pen tip should be allowed to draw. Additionally as soon as a touch point breaches the threshold, it should be flagged as non-pen and rolled back.

Further, with each new multi-touch event, the pen tip should be 'discovered' if and only if it has been previously lifted. If it has not been lifted, then all other touch events should be flagged as non-pen and simply be ignored.

As a further method of differentiation, priority can be given to the top and/or leftmost point touching the surface as being the pen-tip (top and/or rightmost if you're right handed) with a pressure below the pressure threshold. This may require some calibration upon first use -- ie. touching the pen to the screen and asking whether the user is left or right handed.

Using these variables, it should be easy to track the tip of the pen and exclude other unwanted input that may be touching the screen with a high degree of reliability. In this way, the Tab (or any android device with sufficiently high input fidelity) can reliably behave like an active digitizer for pen input (minus the tilt found on dedicated devices -- eg. Wacom).

Further, we can also include gesture support: pinch to zoom, single/double finger scrolling, as it is now easy to differentiate pen input from finger.

The next problem is to optimize the input stroke to be fast enough to provide low latency between input and drawn stroke. In order to do this, the drawing routine should be fast, extremely fast (eg. wu-lines or some built in primitive). This can perhaps be optimized by a very simple line-drawing routine for immediate on-screen feedback, and a de-prioritized (threaded?) stroke 'class' for fancy stroke effects (ie. calligraphic pen, dotted lines, variable thickness, neon glow, paintbrush, pencil-like stroke, etc).

Add in an unobtrusive UI to select pen type, colour, eraser, background medium, etc, create flexible PNG/JPEG/PDF import/export filters, and you have one heck of a useful application for pen input!

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Here are some details about the imminent Android Market overhaul:
http://images.androidcentral.com/sit...et-changes.PNG
http://www.androidcentral.com/androi...n-new-graphics

It seems that the market is getting high-resolution artwork to depict the app as well as the ability to add a youtube video for previewing.

All in all, in combination with user ratings, this should definitely help separate high quality apps from the low quality apps.

Now lets hope that it's easier to *find* applications in the market as well (as I've heard this can be troublesome)!

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

According to the leaked OfficeMax add, on black friday, you can get a Tab for $399 w/ plan on Sprint ($649 w/o plan). Quick check reveals 3G data only, 2gb monthly for $29.99.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Here is the Unity3D Unite keynote!
http://unity3d.com/images/front/unit...ynotevideo.jpg
http://unity3d.com/unite/keynote-video

Very nice. They mention that the have over 1000 iOS games developed in Unity (17 top-ten games), and around 20 Android games so far with 13 that were concurrently released with iOS :eek:! The word on the street is that it's very *easy* to port games. What's even more exciting, is that they're selling 1/3 as many Android Unity as iOS. Expect Android games to pick up in a major way very soon.

Almost as exciting is that Unity3D is supporting Chrome's NaCL very shortly, so you'll be able to enjoy all of this gaming goodness in the browser. He also hints that this will be rolled out to 'tablets' as well. Could this mean Android is getting a NaCl port?!

Stay tuned, it's getting very interesting.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Hmm if I wasn't religious fellow that would certainly be my wallpaper. Would look great on a 7 inch screen.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

That whole lust thing is a tricky one... ;)

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

The Tab keeps getting better and better! It's now possible to edit Google Docs directly on your handset.
http://images.androidcentral.com/sit...ocs-mobile.png
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAr5VoYdVBo
http://www.google.com/mobile/docs/

This should be FANSTASTIC with the Tab. It's now looking more and more like a netbook replacement. With a BT keyboard this would make a very competent replacement (assuming network connection, of course).

It also allows for voice input which is tremendously powerful in a office suite. Very nice.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

At long last, here's the Galaxy Tab on Bell!

http://www.bell.ca/web/wireless/all_...axyTab-lrg.jpg
http://www.bell.ca/shopping/Samsung-...b_160910_TM_EN

The tablet costs $649 off contract.

But that's not the best news. The best news is the plans:
http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpWls_tabletPlans.page

rate plans:
$20/mo for 500MB data (includes $50 credit or 0.75 months of wireless after activation fee -- automatically moves to $35 if you go over!)
$35/mo for 5GB data (includes $50 credit or ~0.5 months of wireless after activation fee)

There's a one time activation fee of $35 (ballz), so the bill credit is more like $15 after everything, or $5 less than a month of free service. Still, assuming you can cancel anytime, it's better to get 1 month free and pay $655 than to get no months free and pay $649.

prepaid plans:
$15 per 30 days for 250MB data
$35 per 30 days for 5GB data

This is REALLY comprehensive, and a great rate for wireless. I think I'd be willing to part with $20/month for wireless access especially since it automatically goes up to 5GB if I go over at a rate of $35.

It looks like Bell wins my dollars.

I think the Bell Galaxy Tab is the one for me!

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Hahahah.. On the rogers site, they have 'OVI' beside the Galaxy Tab android apps:
http://www.rogers.com/web/content/hd..._HOM_PRE_slot1

This should enrage a few Nokians.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

The new low price for the Samsung Galaxy Tab!

Verizon Galaxy Tab for $589 from Costco.
http://phandroid.com/wp-content/uplo...co-550x412.jpg
http://phandroid.com/2010/11/17/veri...co-for-589-99/

How low can it go? Perhaps we'll be seeing it for $549 in the coming months. Amazing!

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Here's an interesting article. It's the US price breakdown for the Tab across different carriers.
http://common3.ziffdavisinternet.com...=280185,00.gif
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372723,00.asp

What's interesting is that for 2 years 1GB/mo sprint offers the best price by a LONG run. In fact, if you plan to use data at all, it's worth consideration.

Of course in 2 years the Tab is going to be looking extremely old.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

And the thing is accurate.......i rarely have to repeat myself!

Swype kicks *** to......sometimes I half know the spelling of a word and swype will give me what I was thinking!'.......:D

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

It seems that Android OEMs are under fire. LG and Samsung are both being sued by Vertical Computer System for patent infringement.

http://moconews.net/article/419-anot...mputer-system/

The infringed patent?
"system and method for generating Web sites in an arbitrary object framework".

I admit I know very little, but these patents seem so vague as to be laughable. I suspect that Android's growth is reason for its being targeted, as I'm sure nearly any software project that implements any type of web-page authoring infringes upon this particular patent.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

It's been such a slow news week for the Galaxy Tab, and all the Tab owners seem to have left this thread (having fun with their Tab's no doubt). But here is some great news!

It seems that Ubuntu has hacked its way onto the Tab:
http://www.xda-developers.com/wp-con...ntusetup10.png
http://www.xda-developers.com/androi...on-galaxy-tab/

Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAM4o4QcHT0

Can you say 100% win? With a BT keyboard and mouse, the Tab suddenly becomes a reasonable netbook replacement. Though you're likely only to dip into Unbuntu for very specific apps, its nice to know that you can.

The weak link in this chain is the Hummingbird SoC -- while fast for a mobile proc, it's still slow compared to even an ATOM. With a faster processor, this could actually be 100% replacement for a netbook, but next years processors should allow for this.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

What's interesting about the video above is that the web pages load like LIGHTNING. Even if the page was cached, it is drawn remarkably quickly (8m:30s). Apparently, mobile browsers (like the Android browser) could use some tweaking when it comes to page rendering considering that this is run through a VNC emulator and coded for an OS other than Android.

Here's hoping for an Android chrome port!

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Hahaha... Here's the Galaxy Tab being offered on the Home Shopping Network:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPwc19HbkVQ

It only costs $399... I wonder what the catch is? Perhaps some type of carrier subsidy.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Hahah.. I watched the whole thing. These people are really excitable. I can see this selling a TON of people, though.

A couple of points:
1) The $399 is with the Sprint subsidy
2) The screen is arguably not the 'industry best' as the iPad panel is higher quality (though lower density).
3) The woman keeps saying 'g3' when she means '3g'

Other than that, a solid sale for the gregs.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

This is a really cool demo of the FXUI API, by DitigalAria, on the Galaxy Tab:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vglhgyL0iCk

I like external APIs as they decouple the UI from the OS, can improve compatibility across multiple OSs, as well as offer new features not included in the stock UI.

Here's the official FXUI site (click english in upper left, then view FXUI-3D under 'solutions'):
http://www.digitalaria.com/


I'd love to see some apps written using this API.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Here's another ULTRA COOL FXUI demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NLLu...eature=related

It's of a pop-up book. This would be a HIT for children. Amazing.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

I was about to be impressed but it's basically Easy Debian minus the local X server, using a loopback VNC instead. For a moment I thought someone had Ubuntu running natively on the device (albeit without hardware 3D.)

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Same here - was excited but then it hit me - running via VNC. A ntive port would be pof cpourse faster then this VNC crap. Maybe someday we will see it.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

One word - amazing !

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

I too would be far more impressed with a local X server/client for Android, but I suppose it's only a matter of time before someone attempts a port of the X server and writes a display driver that a client Android app can work with.

Again, at this point, the CPU/RAM are the weakest link. Though, the system is functional, the CPU will prevent useful interaction with modern, bloated, linux GUI apps. However, for quick compatibility, this could be somewhat useful.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Isn't it? I'd love to see more UI projects pop-up, as they can offer interaction above and beyond the stock Android UI, without sacrificing cross-platform compatibility.

FXUI is an interesting project indeed! Here's hoping that it shows up in some applications.

PS. It would be better if it were OSS.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Galaxy Tab black friday deals are here! The new low price? $349 on Sprint's subsidy.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/21116..._revealed.html

With their $30/mo data plan (2GB/mo) that's $1070 for two-years of connectivity. Put another way: the all-inclusive monthly costs is ~$44. Not bad at all.

Remember, you can tether with your notebook as well.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Some possible info on the successor to the Tab. May use a dual core Orion processor. Not sure what that is but it sounds pretty pacey.

http://www.intomobile.com/2010/11/19...axy-tab-orion/

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab Info Thread
 

Mobile processors are going to get amazingly powerful in the coming years. In a year the Tab and Tegra2 devices will be old-hat, and a new wave of mobile devices with Tech like Orion, Tegra 3, Mali, Adreno 3 series, etc, will match and replace our laptops and desktops in functionality.

This is certainly exciting stuff!