The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a 7-inch Android-based tablet computer which, at the moment, is a direct competitor to the Apple iPad. Yes, iPad has a head start on all the tabs and is sleek and sexy, but I’m here to say do not write off the Galaxy Tab just yet!
As I listened to a speaker talking about mobile devices at the recent ASAE Technology Conference, it got me excited about all the possibilities that lie ahead!
As soon as the session ended I slipped the Galaxy into my back pocket and headed down the hall to my next motivational session. I don’t care how baggy your pants are, you can’t do that with an iPad! Next, I opened the Evernote note-taking, app. I prefer to hold the tab so I can type with my thumbs; the full keyboard is still a little odd for me (see picture below).
I used the factory-installed Media Hub app to rent and download “Robin Hood,” which is a great movie by the way, and had a nice evening watching a high definition movie in my hotel room. At the conference I used the front facing camera to video chat with my family and read the news through one of many news apps. Of course I checked my e-mail and sent a few text messages too.
There are so many ways to integrate this device into your daily routine I cannot possibly cover them all here. The fact is you have to ask yourself what you need the device for. I wrote this entire blog post on the Galaxy but a full-size keyboard docking station is available as well!
I am using the Verizon Galaxy Tab with a 3G data connection but even if you don’t have the data plan you can still connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi.
Here are some apps I enjoy on the Android-based Galaxy Tab (not all are free and most can be found on the iPad as well):
- Mint (finance app)
- Google Reader (RSS feed reader)
- Dropbox (access to files stored on the cloud)
- QTip (tip calculator)
- The Weather Channel
- Maps
- Navigation
- Scan2PDF (scans paper into a PDF file)
- Evernote
- LogMeln (Remote desktop control)
- Camera/video (works great!)
For more Samsung Galaxy Tab information visit Samsung
(These opinions and comments are the author’s and not necessarily those of the Illinois Association of REALTORS®).
