Samsung Galaxy Tab

For the past couple of weeks, I've been trying out the only real Apple iPad competitor: the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Overall, I think it's an interesting device that works pretty well on its own terms. Even though it doesn't make phone calls in most US versions, such as the Verizon one I've been using, it still feels more like a large phone than what I would expect from a tablet.

The device itself felt solid, and most of the applications ran fine. Most of the apps look the same as devices written for Android phones -- just somewhat larger. As a result, they don't really seem to take advantage of the extra space. Still, I was able to run things like the Fox News app, and the Huffington Post app, and they looked quite good. One minor nit was that even when I was looking at many sites while holding the tablet in vertical mode, the videos would play horizontally, so I had to turn the device. YouTube works the same way. Not difficult, but not as smooth as I would have liked.