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Samsung Galaxy vs Apple iPad

Published:Sunday | September 5, 2010 | 12:00 AM
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Apple CEO Steve Jobs displays the new AppleTV at news conference in San Francisco.
A close view of the new Apple iPod Nano is displayed.
An Apple employee holds the companies new Shuffle, Wednesday, September 1, in San Francisco.
An Apple employee holds the new Apple iPod Touch, Wednesday, September 1, in San Francisco.
The new Samsung Galaxy Tab, a tablet computer in competition with the Apple iPad, on display at IFA, the world's largest trade fair for consumer electronics and electrical home appliances, recently in Berlin, Germany.
Journalists gather around the new Samsung Galaxy Tab (left), a tablet computer to compete with the Apple iPad (right), at IFA, the world's largest trade fair for consumer electronics and electrical home appliances, in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, September 2. IFA takes place from September 3 to 8, at the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. - AP
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Samsung Electronics Company unveiled a new tablet PC named Galaxy Tab as the latest device meant to rival Apple Inc's popular iPad.

The device offers users "a new galaxy of possibilities" with features such as mobile video conferencing and a video chat function, Samsung Europe telecom executive Thomas Richter said Thursday at Berlin's IFA consumer electronics fair.

The thin tablet device weighs 13.4 ounces (380 grams) and has a seven-inch (18-centimetre) touch screen, making it about three times that of an Apple iPhone, but roughly a third smaller than an iPad.

Richter said it comes with Google Inc's Android 2.2 operating system, which can run HTML5 and Adobe's Flash Player - unlike the iPad.

Samsung's announcement came a day after Apple showed off new and upgraded products.

On Wednesday, Apple unveiled a smaller, cheaper version of Apple TV, which connects to a high-definition television and can show rented movies and TV shows from Apple's own service, plus content from Netflix, photos on Flickr, YouTube clips, and more.

The new US$99 gadget marks a slight improvement over Apple's first television set-top box, which went on sale in 2007.

The original Apple TV had to sync with a computer, a concept most consumers were not ready for, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said at a media event Wednesday. It also did not record live television shows the way TiVo and other digital recorders did, at a time when that was becoming a popular way to watch TV.

Social media features

Jobs, who presided over a media event in San Francisco, also unveiled social media features for its iTunes software, a new line-up of iPods including a touch-screen Nano, and new software for its iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices.

Apple's new TV box, about four inches square, still does not record television.

The device lets people rent, not buy, content. Apple TV owners will pay US $4.99 to rent first-run high-definition movies the day they come out on DVD. High-definition TV show rentals will be 99 cents.

The Galaxy will allow users to browse the Web and check email just as on a regular PC, Richter said.

"The Samsung Galaxy Tab has been designed to enable consumers to maximise their online experience wherever that may be," the head of Samsung's mobile communications business, J.K. Shin, said.

The price of the device will depend on telecommunications operators through which it will be available starting next month in Europe and later in the fall in the US and Asia, Samsung said.

The device supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G cellphone networks, making it a combination of smart phone and laptop.

The tablet PC also comes with two cameras, one 3-megabyte digital camera with a flash on the back of the device, and a second camera on the front for video conferences - a feature the iPad lacks, but other competitors such as Dell's Streak tablet PC also offers.

The company said that the device's battery would support more than eight hours of continuous multimedia usage, or seven hours of video play.

The tablet also comes with Swype, a third-party application already found on Samsung's Galaxy 5 series phone and available for some other Android-based handsets, which allows users to type on virtual keyboards by simply swiping fingers around from one letter to the next, lifting only between words.

The application then uses an algorithm to determine the word that is intended, which the company says allows for typing speeds of more than 40 words per minute.