Returning my Galaxy 10.1

[sdesocio]

Im gonna chime in, here in agreement that the ipad is a better use of resources. I had my 10.1 for 2 weeks and took it back the last day of my return. It was great. The evernote app was awesome. But when I spend 500 on a tablet I want the company to be seen as actively making sure its going to be a worth while product. I know that the ipad 2 will support ios5 there is no word if the 10.1 will get ice cream sandwich.
The other issue is that google shot themselves in the way that apps scale from the phone to the tablet. Most apps run within acceptable parameters. Devs see no need to make tablet specific products. Apple was smart, the scaling of apps looks like crap and it forces developers to work harder. I dont want to spend my time tinkering with apps and thats what I had to do with the galaxy tab.

I settled on an ipad 2 though my archos 70 is my favorite bang for buck tablet so far. For under 300 bucks Ill tinker but for the top of the line show boat it better just work.

 

[vinva]

So, one day into my ownership of a Galaxy 10.1 and I'm thinking about returning it. The hardware is great, but i am really dissapointed about the lack of apps. It's something that i knew about going in, but still, seeing the utter lack of real useful apps is pretty dissapointing. I've used my wife's ipad 2 a lot and the difference is pretty glaring. I really am hoping that some of what has been said in here is accurate about developer support increasing as ice cream sandwich is released, but im not sure I'm willing to wait that long with this tablet. I'll give it a couple of days, but I'm pretty dissapointed so far.

 

[falconeight]

Galaxy tab 10.1 is junk compared to the ipad 2. Its not the tab itself its gingerbread,gingerbread is sucking

 

[vinva]

Well, first off, the software is honeycomb, not gingerbread. And its not really the software...I actually prefer this software to the boring ipad ui. I like that i can have widgets. I like that i can set things up to look the way i want them to. I just don't like the lack of quality, useable apps.

 

[freddyc]

Since I have a iPod, I used iTunes and took a look at the app library for the iPad. Yeah, there's a LOT of them. Fortunately the only thing I miss having on my Tab is Netflix. Anything else I need I have. And that's the important thing: it's not that Honeycomb doesn't have 100,000 apps. Does it have the apps you need? If the answer is no, then I can't blame you. The iPad is a solid app machine with crazy developer support. It's not about what Honeycomb MAY have ONE DAY, it's what you feel you spent your $500 on being worth it right now. For me, I'm good. I love my Tab. I did feel a twinge of jealousy tip-toeing through iTunes. But only because at the moment the devs don't love my toy as much as I do ...

 

[rebornr]

Since I have a iPod, I used iTunes and took a look at the app library for the iPad. Yeah, there's a LOT of them. Fortunately the only thing I miss having on my Tab is Netflix. Anything else I need I have. And that's the important thing: it's not that Honeycomb doesn't have 100,000 apps. Does it have the apps you need? If the answer is no, then I can't blame you. The iPad is a solid app machine with crazy developer support. It's not about what Honeycomb MAY have ONE DAY, it's what you feel you spent your $500 on being worth it right now. For me, I'm good. I love my Tab. I did feel a twinge of jealousy tip-toeing through iTunes. But only because at the moment the devs don't love my toy as much as I do ...

I agree. I have an iPhone right now which I love but find myself wondering which of the apps that I have on my phone would I really want on a tablet? I can think of only 2 out of the supposed 100,000 apps: MLB at Bat and Netflix. That's it. All the other apps I use on my phone are there because when I am out and about I need quick access to their functions (ie. why would I need a tip calculator on my tablet?).

At the very beginning there were no apps (remember Jobs saying that web apps were the way to go when the iPhone was first introduced?). But when people realized how iffy internet reception really was they demanded real apps and the app market was born - ironically over Apple's initial objections.

But with tablets is there the same need for apps? Or does a better web browsing experience take care of those needs? Jobs might have been right but with the wrong product.

For me, a fully functioning browser on a tablet was more important than having access to 100,000 apps. As an example, tonight I was at the in-laws and decided to start looking up some restaurants for an upcoming vacation. Went to the Yelp app on my tab (which I know is better designed on the iPad but has the functionality I need) and looked up restaurants, went to their websites, saw menus, downloaded menus and went back and forth for about an hour finding everything I needed. I know for a fact that half the restaurants I went to would be unreadable on a iPad because of Flash. On the other hand, if I tried the same thing on my iPhone, even if it did have Flash, it would have been excruciating because of the size of the screen.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that FOR ME, a mobile phone and a tablet are apples and oranges. The need for variety of apps on a phone outweigh the need for a good browser. For a tablet it's reversed.

BUT, if you ask my son the need for games trump all and that I should've gotten an iPad. I told him that when he coughs up his own money he can get whatever he wants. In the meanwhile he STILL manages to monopolize the tab to play Fruit Ninja.

 

[werkx]

I'm still on the fence. not cuz of lack of apps. browsing is the main point, and it's not living up to it. have had to tried multiple browsers to accommodate this or that. power browsing is frustrating as it crashes too often for my taste.

 

[EggoEspada]

Im gonna chime in, here in agreement that the ipad is a better use of resources. I had my 10.1 for 2 weeks and took it back the last day of my return. It was great. The evernote app was awesome. But when I spend 500 on a tablet I want the company to be seen as actively making sure its going to be a worth while product. I know that the ipad 2 will support ios5 there is no word if the 10.1 will get ice cream sandwich.
The other issue is that google shot themselves in the way that apps scale from the phone to the tablet. Most apps run within acceptable parameters. Devs see no need to make tablet specific products. Apple was smart, the scaling of apps looks like crap and it forces developers to work harder. I dont want to spend my time tinkering with apps and thats what I had to do with the galaxy tab.

I settled on an ipad 2 though my archos 70 is my favorite bang for buck tablet so far. For under 300 bucks Ill tinker but for the top of the line show boat it better just work.

Same here. I loved the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Honeycomb had a lot of nice ideas incorporated into but the fact that there re virtually no apps really gave my tab less value and didn't offer much stability really turned me off. In the end the bad outweighed the good, so i returned it and got an iPad. I'm pretty happy with my decision, but I am completely open minded to future Honeycomb/Ice Cream Sandwich tablets. I also agree with how Apple handled the App Store for tablets compared to Google. Another reason these developers are developing much for Honeycomb is because consumers aren't buying them. It's a shame that HP launched the Touchpad a few days ago and it has a larger selection of apps than Honeycomb after 4+ months. And I'd like to point out that yes quality beats quantity, but right now Google's platform offer neither. I really do hope Android tablets take off like Android smartphones, but right now, I can't see myself using Honeycomb over iOS. Just my honest opinion.