New 8.9 owner

[emhardman]

Hello,

I am a Apple fan, but wanted to venture out and learn about android. I sold off my iPad, and tried several android tablets (Acer A100, Asus Transformer). I settled not he Samsung 10.1 as I liked the design style.

I had it for the past 5 days and today I was at Best Buy and traded it in for a 8.9 model.

So far I feel the 8.9 is an ideal size for what i want. I have a nook which I can now sale as I feel the 8.9 is a good reading size. Also the 8.9 seems to be more portable.

So far as a new used to the droid universe, I feel it is more capable than the apple system and I really enjoy going to webpages which actually work. I could all the apps I used on my iPad in the droid so the fact the number of apps is greater not he iPad side is mute to me. (how many fart noise makers do you need).

The only thing I find as s design flaw of the 10.1 and the 8.9 is the placement of the charging port and headphone jacket. They placed them on direct opposite sides. It seems if I wanted to watch sling box in bed I have to choose between listening through the speakers and charging, or using headphones and not charging.

Also I noticed some apps do not rotate which is ok except when it the case in a inclined position, I must change to position of the 10.1 in the case. I thin this was on my sling box app.

But overall love the droid universe and looking to getting a Galaxy S2 and ditch the iphone4

 

[elvisgp]

Nice comparison. Where did u pick up the 8.9 also how do u like honeycomb compared to ios? How about the design, visiuals, and performance of android honeycomb compared to ios on ur Ipad?

Sent from my amazing galaxy tab 10.1 which also eats ipads

 

[emhardman]

Well I was looking on the Best Buy website and noticed they were on pre-order with a sip date of the 25th. Did some internet research and others were mentioning this week.

Figured I would head down there and see what was up. They had one on display and I asked if they had any in stock. Salesman said they had one left. Asked him to hold it while I went to my car to erase my 10.1.

I think they must of had a certain supply in which most were reserved for pre-preorders,

Will answer rest of question later today

 

[elvisgp]

Well I was looking on the Best Buy website and noticed they were on pre-order with a sip date of the 25th. Did some internet research and others were mentioning this week.

Figured I would head down there and see what was up. They had one on display and I asked if they had any in stock. Salesman said they had one left. Asked him to hold it while I went to my car to erase my 10.1.

I think they must of had a certain supply in which most were reserved for pre-preorders,

Will answer rest of question later today

Ok. Thanks for the response, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on honeycomb vs ios.

sent from my Droid X, which also eats iPhones.

 

[emhardman]

Well here is a little more impressions of the 8.9:

1. DESIGN: Being an apple guy, I must say the design is fantastic. I was concerned about the device being narrower than an iPad, but I have found it excels over the iPad because of it. When I hold the iPad, my fingers do not go all the way across the back and therefore the weight is noticeable on the wrist. With the 8.9 my fingers go almost all the day across making the weight more balanced. This will be fantastic for reading. This is also true when holding sideways. I think the weight feels more balanced due to the smaller size

There are no physical buttons on the top, which adds a little nice look. however this was diminished with the name "Samsung" written on the top. However this also helps me remember that that is the left side of the device.

Screen: I feel the Samsung has a better screen, but not that significant. I pulled up ESPN.com on both devices and what is displayed on the screen is almost the same amount of data. The print size is smaller on the Samsung to make it fit, however even with my old eyes i could still read it with out any issues.

One flaw I do not care for on the Samsung is the location of the headphone jack and the charging port. For some reason they placed these on opposite sides (one on top and one on bottom). If one has the unit in the case it will be impossible to charge and use the headphones (watching videos in bed). I wish they would have more mimicked the iPad( hey what would another lawsuit) and placed the charging port on the side where you could charge in the case and use the headphone. Not sure how often I will be doing this but it is an irritation.

iOS or android: This is like asking if I feel Angelina Jolie or Megan Fox is more attractive. Both are attractive and will attract different types.

Being new to android I have not messed with customization too much, but customizing the screens was very straight forward. I also feel the notification system on the Samsung is fantastic! Having pop-ups telling me new mail has been received, pulse had new stories, etc is wonderful.

I also like the "widgets". Having a screen showing me all recent emails and with a tap seeking my other email accounts is nice.

Has far as System settings, I feel they are about the same, however I like the Samsung system where I have a quick systems menu which comes up where I can turn on/off wifi, notifications, gps, etc, as well as adjust screen brightness. I find the iPad is some what outdated with how it works.

As far as apps, I have found all the apps I used on the iPad in the android market and they all work really well.

I really like how the android allows you to get to all the open programs. Just either hit the backwards arrow or the "folder on folder" icon to see all open apps.

Again I feel the iPad with the double push on the home button is somewhat outdated. I also wonder how many pushes that button is rated for.

Also I like the fact that can browser is mush better than the Safari browser. For one the core browser allows for tab browsing so going back and forth is easier.

But the biggest thing I like is the fact that ALL webpages I go to seem to be able to play all the video and display properly!

One thing I would like to see is a screen wrap option where if I did zoom in text, it would wrap the full width of the story onto the screen

Price: ouch! To be honest with the 10.1 at $499 it was hard to justify $469 for the 8.9. however i figured it was the one I liked and I plan on having it for awhile so I put the pricing out of my mind. It might have made more sense to price them at $499 and $399, but I think they feel that could kill the 10.1 market.

Another thing I like of the android over the iPad is the fricken spell correction on the iPad! It seems like it would respell words which did not need correction.

Also the iPad, does not allow individual signatures for each email account. I use it for my work and personal email and I would love to have different signatures for my email. I noticed on the android email app I can setup unique signatures for each account.

Also the built on Navigation is nice to have.

As far as the on-screen keyboard, the Samsung keyboard seemed to lag, so I switched to the android basic one. (BTW another reason I like the Android over the iPad). One concern I had with the narrow screen on the Samsung was how much room the keyboard would take from what is seen on the screen. It looks like the Samsung keyboard takes u about 1/2 the screen. This seems ok if I was typing a letter or something, by sometimes I noticed where you enter password and username can not be seen.

I feel overall the Android is the better device that is overshadowed by a great marketing firm and the "cool" factor of Apple.

 

[elvisgp]

Wow. That's actually a very good non biased comparison. Sorry for all the questions, but how about the visiuals like the appearance of honeycomb vs ios?

sent from my Droid X, which also eats iPhones.

 

[emhardman]

Visuals HoneyComb vs iOS: This may sound strange, but I think Apple with iOS and the iPad has made the "computer tablet" appear to be a non computer to users. You pick it up and you forget that it is a computer device.

With Honeycomb, it has a nice feel and reminds you that it is a computing device.

The icons are very similar with Apple having more "easter egg" pastel color and over all feel. Honeycomb icons are sharp and vibrant.

For me I like the feel of the 8.9 as I like the feel of what the device is.

Now, I just held my wifes iPad and then held the 8.9. The 8.9 has a much better feel in the hand either in landscape or portrait mode. The weight just seems to me evenly disbursed on the device.

Hands down I am glad with my purchase and would recommend to anyone looking for a device.

 

[emhardman]

Just a few more important differences of significance between iPad and Galaxy tab 8.9

1. Amazon Prime video: I was very happy to see that I can access the Amazon Video player for my Prime Instant Video (Amazon version of Netflix). I and also able to watch rented content from there as well!

2. Battery life: Has been outstanding and on par with iPad. First day I had issues, but realized I had all my email accounts having email "pushed" every 10 minutes. I have about 5 accounts. I changed that to every 4 hours and no issues since.

3. Network shows. I missed some of the network TV shows. I was able to watch them on the 8.9 while iPad would not.

Again, The Samsung does much more than the iPad, hands down.

I was some what disappointed with the USB adapter. I bought it mainly to transfer movies onto thumb drive and then place on the 8.9. I am ok with this.
However I hooked it up to my printer and I got a notice saying "this device only supports Samsung printers". WTH...First I did not even realize Samsung makes printers and second, why can it not print to any printer...Almost thought it was my wires iPad!!!

 

[dhave]

As a new Android Honeycomb owner as well as an iPad 1 owner, I like what I see so far in the Gal Tab 8.9. My only complaint is that Honeycomb gets a little choppy when I navigate among panels, open new windows and so on. Have others noticed this? Is this something that should improve with future updates? My iPad's response is generally much smoother even though the CPU is lower powered.

 

[elvisgp]

As a new Android Honeycomb owner as well as an iPad 1 owner, I like what I see so far in the Gal Tab 8.9. My only complaint is that Honeycomb gets a little choppy when I navigate among panels, open new windows and so on. Have others noticed this? Is this something that should improve with future updates? My iPad's response is generally much smoother even though the CPU is lower powered.

There will be some lag but not much. Are you using a live wallpaper? If u are then that might be the cause for some lag. Using a static wallpaper(still wallpaper) will give u much better performance.

sent from my Droid X, which also eats iPhones.

 

[clubtech]

There is something funky about the 8.9. When it is in portrait mode there is no lag.
When it is in landscape mode it lags like crazy (on the home page when moving through panels).

 

[obionenairobi]

I am happy to see the first reviews for the 8.9 and most positive till now.

I have an iPad 1 that I want to hand over to the wife so that I can buy this new toy.
Even though it will only be out in the Netherlands in 2 weeks I plan to place a pre-order

Question :

On some of the Dutch websites there is mention of a micoSD slot.
Does it indeed come with this. Would be nice to extend the 16GB with a card

Which Android version did your Galaxy Tab come with ? 3.1 or 3.2?

 

[elvisgp]

There is something funky about the 8.9. When it is in portrait mode there is no lag.
When it is in landscape mode it lags like crazy (on the home page when moving through panels).

That's odd. It should be the other way around. Lol. Anyway, the only way I know of to fix it might be a factory reset, wait for an update, hard reset, or try a new launcher.

Sent from my amazing galaxy tab 10.1 which also eats ipads

 

[jrc7525]

Just a few more important differences of significance between iPad and Galaxy tab 8.9

1. Amazon Prime video: I was very happy to see that I can access the Amazon Video player for my Prime Instant Video (Amazon version of Netflix). I and also able to watch rented content from there as well!

2. Battery life: Has been outstanding and on par with iPad. First day I had issues, but realized I had all my email accounts having email "pushed" every 10 minutes. I have about 5 accounts. I changed that to every 4 hours and no issues since.

3. Network shows. I missed some of the network TV shows. I was able to watch them on the 8.9 while iPad would not.

Again, The Samsung does much more than the iPad, hands down.

I was some what disappointed with the USB adapter. I bought it mainly to transfer movies onto thumb drive and then place on the 8.9. I am ok with this.
However I hooked it up to my printer and I got a notice saying "this device only supports Samsung printers". WTH...First I did not even realize Samsung makes printers and second, why can it not print to any printer...Almost thought it was my wires iPad!!!

Emhardman - I'm confused about ur comment about the USB adapter. I thought the 8.9 had a standard USB port. If so, shouldn't it allow you to plug in a thumb drive containing video and play them or transfer them onto the 8.9?

 

[Daniel0418]

There is something funky about the 8.9. When it is in portrait mode there is no lag.
When it is in landscape mode it lags like crazy (on the home page when moving through panels).

This is what's crazy to me to because the galaxy tab 10.1 is the complete opposite. Laggy in portrait and smooth in landscape. I hope an update makes these both smooth in either orientation.

 

[elvisgp]

This is what's crazy to me to because the galaxy tab 10.1 is the complete opposite. Laggy in portrait and smooth in landscape. I hope an update makes these both smooth in either orientation.

My gtab 10.1 really isn't that laggy at all in both landscape and portrait, although landscape is relatively smoother than portrait.

Sent from my amazing galaxy tab 10.1 which also eats ipads

 

[esoh]

1. Amazon Prime video: I was very happy to see that I can access the Amazon Video player for my Prime Instant Video (Amazon version of Netflix). I and also able to watch rented content from there as well!

Are you doing this through browser or dedicated app? If there is an app, can you tell me where I can access it.

Thanks.

 

[emhardman]

JRC: I think early on reports had the 8.9 having a standard USB port and microSD. I think they removed them from the final released version.

But for transferring files and such it works fine.

Emhardman - I'm confused about ur comment about the USB adapter. I thought the 8.9 had a standard USB port. If so, shouldn't it allow you to plug in a thumb drive containing video and play them or transfer them onto the 8.9?

 

[emhardman]

I am doing from the browser. App would be nee but no such luck.

The player works for both free content and the pay content. Works very well

Are you doing this through browser or dedicated app? If there is an app, can you tell me where I can access it.

Thanks.

 

[emhardman]

I noticed some overall lag the first day I had it. I changed the keyboard to the standard droid keyboard and it seemed to run smoother