Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung's super-sized Galaxy Tab 10.1 sports a display a full 3.1 inches larger than the previous generation. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Due in stores soon, Samsung’s newest Android-powered tablet is bigger, faster and cheaper than its predecessor, and Wired.com had some time to test one.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been something of a tease since we first heard about it. After announcing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 earlier this year, Samsung decided to go back to the drawing board when the company saw how thin Apple made the iPad 2.

Finally, the newer, cheaper Tab is redesigned and ready to launch in about a month. And lucky attendees of Google’s I/O developer conference in San Francisco were given an early limited-edition version of the tablet. My first impressions: It seems cool enough, and in certain aspects the tablet feels like an Android-powered iPad.

When first picking it up, I immediately noticed how light the tablet was. Measuring 10.1 inches diagonally, Samsung’s tablet is bigger than the 9.7-inch iPad, and it’s actually one-tenth of a pound lighter. It’s also 0.34 inches thick, just like the iPad 2.

The new Galaxy Tab has another thing in common with the iPad 2: Both their cameras suck. Many photos taken with the Galaxy Tab were either washed out, grainy or not at all crisp. In reviewing Apple’s tablet, Wired’s Brian Chen said “Apple took some shortcuts [with the camera], presumably to keep the costs down and to make the device thinner.” Could that be the same case for Samsung?

And have we mentioned how weird it is to take pictures with a tablet? Because it is. Maybe we’re used to one-handed Instagram shots on our phones, but using both hands to point a slab of glass and plastic at something to take its photo just feels inorganic.

Just like all the other recent Android tablet releases, Samsung’s offering is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual-core processor. Swiping my way through Honeycomb’s five home screens is a breeze with the mighty chip.

But there are at least three tablets on the market right now running on the Tegra 2: It’s become an Android-tablet industry standard. Still, the Tegra 2 is a powerful processor, and in smoothly running a 3-D game like the bundled Need for Speed HD app, Nvidia’s muscle certainly shows.

I also tested how the Galaxy Tab handles Adobe Flash, the plug-in famously missing from the iPad. Alas, Adobe has only released a beta version of Flash for Android version 3.0 Honeycomb tablets, and it certainly shows. YouTube videos stuttered often enough to be noticeable. Moving into 1080p only made things worse, as playback choppiness was a fairly common occurrence.

Flash is supposed to get better when the Honeycomb version 3.1 update is pushed out widely over the air in the next couple of weeks. We’ll have to wait and see about that.

We’re glad Samsung went with side-facing speakers instead of some of the back-facing ones we’ve seen on other Android tablets. The sound wasn’t anything spectacular — nothing like the excellent front-facing speakers on BlackBerry’s PlayBook tablet — but it wasn’t terrible either. Side-facing speakers seem to be a compromise between keeping the tablet’s face clean and uncluttered, while trying to keep listening quality high by avoiding back-facing placement.

For the most part, we’re OK with that. But honestly, if you’re using a tablet in public and don’t want to be obnoxious while listening to media, you’ll probably be wearing headphones anyway.

Some glaring omissions: no HDMI output, no USB ports and no SD card reader. Aside from the headphone jack, there’s just one other external port (for charging and file transfers). If you care about things like HDMI mirroring or hooking up peripherals to your Android device, you might miss these important ports. And with Honeycomb version 3.1 supporting Android’s new Open Accessory interface, you’ll be missing out on a whole new wave of connectible devices.

All in all, you’ll be sacrificing a lot of external-interfacing options for a slimmer, sleeker Android tablet if you go with the Galaxy Tab 10.1. If you don’t care about hooking it up to a big screen to watch your video, or increasing storage capacity with a larger SD card, this may not bother you. But knowing how open-minded (so to speak) Android enthusiasts tend to be , we think Samsung’s relatively closed-off direction on this tablet may turn a number of people off.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits U.S. shelves in early June, with a $500 price tag for the 16-GB version, and $600 for the 32-GB version (Wi-Fi only).

Well, it looks like the LG Revolution won’t be the first Android phone to get Netflix after all. The app has just hit the Android Market and is currently available for the HTC Incredible, Nexus One, Evo 4G, and G2, plus the Samsung Nexus S. As you might expect, there’s not a lot of surprises in terms of functionality — you can resume watching where you left off on your TV or computer, and the app will allow you to manage your instant queue in addition to letting you simply browse movies. On its official blog, Netflix explains that while the app is currently limited to phones with “requisite playback support,” it anticipates that many of the “technical challenges will be resolved in the coming months,” and that it will be able to “provide a Netflix application that will work on a large majority of Android phones.” That’s some curious wording, to be sure, and a notable change from earlier talk that suggested only certain Qualcomm processors would support the necessary DRM for Netflix. Also not supported at the moment: Canada. If none of that precludes you, however, you can hit up the Android Market link below to try it out for yourself.

In other Netflix news, the company has also rolled out a little gift for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users — the iOS app now finally boasts support for subtitles.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Netflix releases Android app for select HTC phones, Samsung Nexus S originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After rolling out the world’s first GLONASS-enabled smartphone, Russia is thinking bigger — it’s tablet time. This 7-inch Froyo-powered panel runs on a 800MHz processor, and sports 512MB of RAM, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and support for both GPS and GLONASS navigation. Russian provider Skylink hopes this new Android tablet, called the Xpad, will set a trend for future navigation devices — utilizing data from both satellite positioning systems for increased accuracy in urban environments. The future of enhanced navigation hits (Russian) shelves for 14,000 Rubles in Q4 2011; that’s about 500 greenbacks, if you were wondering.

[Thanks, Yakov!]

World’s first GLONASS-enabled tablet unveiled in Russia, plays nice with GPS originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 09:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cisco’s Cius hopped on Big Red’s bandwagon a few months back, and now it’s bringing its high-def corporate communications skills to AT&T. And not only will Ma Bell be selling the seven-inch slate, its AT&T Foundry division will make business-friendly apps for the device. Don’t go bugging the bossman for one just yet, however, as the Cius won’t be riding AT&T’s waves of 4G HSPA+ until this fall. PR’s after the break.

Continue reading Cisco Cius on AT&T: crystal clear corporate communication coming this fall

Cisco Cius on AT&T: crystal clear corporate communication coming this fall originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 05:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that Ava telepresence bot that we were gaga over at CES? Well Google has decided to lend iRobot a hand in getting the tablet-topped automaton rolling with some Android apps. The two companies have teamed up to create Ava specific programs that can be run from an Android slate perched on the extending neck of this silicon-brained companion. Apparently any ‘ol tablet will do, so you’ll still be able to play Angry Birds, but where’s the fun in that? The exciting stuff will be apps that can communicate with the robot and pass it directions, meaning we need to figure out what our new, mechanical best friends should do for us. We’ve already got plenty of options for killing and beer serving — how about one that folds our laundry? Oh, wait. Well, we’ll think of something. While we ponder you check out Ava’s cameo at Google I/O and the PR after the break.

Continue reading Google and iRobot team up to put Android apps on Ava telepresence bot

Google and iRobot team up to put Android apps on Ava telepresence bot originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 03:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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