Samsung: aimed directly at Apple

Samsung has recently released their new smartphones into the market and last night released the particulars on their newest product aimed directly at Apple: The Galaxy Tab. It seems that Samsung is positioning themselves to have a go straight at Apple, which many companies feign to do.

Samsung has products spread across the spectrum from TVs to computers to phones and now a tablet. With all these different products, Samsung is allowing themselves to be where they need to be in order to survive in this new digital culture: everywhere. With companies like Apple and Google creating TV services, it is only natural that one of the leading TV manufacturers got in on the action. With their choice of Android OS on their phones and now the new tablet, I think they just declared sides. With all these products, what will be the focal point of their product line? I believe it will be their Galaxy Tab.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab isn’t some new device, the likes of which you have never seen before. It is very similar in many ways to the iPad (e.g. 1Ghz processor and Wi-Fi), but with differences that may make it more appealing to those that aren’t sure if the iPad is right for them. First, my favorite part, is the 7-inch screen (1024×600) with 169 pixels per square inch (the iPad’s is 1024×768 and 132ppi in comparison). The 7-inch screen allows you to carry the Tab in ways you couldn’t carry the iPad, in a back pocket or in a jacket’s inside pocket. The Tab also has a 3.0 megapixel camera with LED flash, a front facing camera very similar to the built in webcams in notebooks (1.3MP), and will allow for 720P video capture.

Much like the iPad, there will be a 16GB and 32GB version but the device will allow for a 32GB MicroSD Card for a possible 64GB. With Flash support, Android 2.2 (Froyo), 7 hour battery life, and the usual assortment of apps (like Google Maps, eReaders, and the like).

Very unlike the iPad (and Apple) is the big news: If you want to use this device on any of the Big 3′s (Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint) 3G networks, you can. Live in NYC or San Francisco and the AT&T network in your area is terrible? Jump on Verizon’s and watch your bars climb. The first model of the Tab will have a built in 3G Mobile Broadband Card to allow for that freedom of choice.

All these things, 3G support and Flash, give it a leg up on the iPad but I believe there will be more to come. Enter: Samsung’s Media Hub. This service is designed to allow the Galaxy series phones and the Tab to rent or buy both movies and TV shows, similarly to iTunes. What Samsung’s Media Hub has behind it is an infrastructure of one of the leading manufacturers of TVs and Home Audio systems in the world. Imagine if the next LED TV or Blu-Ray player you bought had this service on it, as well as your tablet and smartphone. What this infrastructure suggests is that I may be able to rent a movie on my smartphone in the library, continue viewing it on the bus on my tablet, sit on the couch and watch it on my living room system, and finish it in bed on laptop. One can argue that iTunes can essentially deliver multiplatform viewing of media but it’s not unilateral. For instance, if you buy a TV show from iTunes, you need to have either Apple TV or a computer hooked up to your TV to watch it. What would happen if your Blu-Ray player you bought from Samsung had the ability already built in and integrated perfectly with your Samsung TV? You would essentially have the same ability with products you buy/will buy.

Apple, Samsung, and Google have finally realized how to get their products into more peoples’ hands: associate it with Americans’ favorite thing, the TV. Having a device that will not only connect with the other electronics in your home to share information and entertainment but will also make you more productive (put an appointment on the calender of your phone and the reminder pops up on the TV kind of thing) will bring people from the written calenders to the new age. Despite the grand products Samsung and the like have been making, some people will fight to keep from changing. All these companies have to do I show people how to make their life easier and more productive with products they buy anyway, they’ll by yours.

P.S. – This was written using OpenOffice, an open source and free software suite. Check it out and you might be able to boot Microsoft off your list of people to give money to.

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