I’ve been using the device for a few days and I’ve gotten a good sense of what it does well and not so well.  It’s the first Android tablet to hit the market and at pace of change in mobile hardware, this review will be out of date in the hour it takes me to publish it.

The Galaxy Tab is very similar to android smartphones.  In fact, really,  it’s more smartphone than a tablet.  If you’re familiar with Android you will have no problem getting around the Tab.

One for the ladies?

I’ve been trying to figure out who this device is for.  Reviewing the Samsung website provides some clues - there are six faces on the webpage and all of them are female.  Is the Galaxy Tab intended to be a lifestyle device?  When compared to the somewhat geeky interface of the Motorola Droid and slightly more geeky Droidx interface, the Tab seems simplistic.  Perhaps it’s a difference in design and style ethos between Motorola and Samsung, but the difference is striking.  A friend of mine who recently converted from a Blackberry to a Droid commented on how small the font was and wondered if she could change it.  Well, the font on the Tab is so BIG it reminds me of large print books intended for seniors and those with poor eyesight.  Essentially, apps designed for smartphones with 3″ or 4″ displays are stretched to 7″ on the Tab.  It’s great because the text is easy to read, but the space could be used to maximize user experience.

What worked:

• Let’s clear up any confusion, it’s not a phone
• The device is attractive and felt comfortable in my hands.
• The Galaxy Tab is spry. I found it to be very responsive, easily on par with the iPad performance
• The 7″ form factor makes sense as validated by the numerous ereaders on the market
• Calendar app is pretty great.  It’s appropriately built for the 7″ format and it easily combines my corporate and multiple Google calendars.  My only gripe is I would have liked control over the colors of the calendars so I could distinguish one Google calendar from another.
• Daily Briefing app pulls together: schedule, Accuweather, Yahoo stock watcher, AP news
• Finally an Android that does screenshots without rooting!

Didn’t work for me:

• Apps that are built for the 7″ format looked great (Daily briefing, WSJ, Calendar), but most apps are not written for the 7″ tablet.  It’s the same problem the iPad faced when it first launched.  The question is, will developers embrace the 7″ format.  The answer is far from certain.  This is the biggest challenge (and biggest opportunity) regarding UX.
• Display auto dimming is mindnumbingly useless.  It just never worked right.
• Happened upon first use – battery went from ~40% to 0% in what seemed like a moment.  The problem did not reoccur.
• The order of the main buttons (menu, home, back, search) are in a different order than Motorola’s Droids.  More of an annoyance, but some standards here would be nice.
• Other editions of Android (Droid, Droidx) have an integrated inbox.  The Galaxy Tab does not appear to have that functionality out of the box. Jumping between the corporate, Yahoo and Google e-mail app is an unnecessary problem.

In the end, my conclusion is the device is most suitable for lifestyle activities such as reading, listening and watching.  The hardware really works well.  The size seemed just right and not as awkward to use as a 10″ tablet.  However, the lack of apps developed to take advantage of the 7″ screen is a major drawback.

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Photo credit Ambro @ freedigitalphotos.net

If you’re on the market for an ebook reader then the iPad is a strong candidate.  I guess having an ebook would be cool, but I’d end up breaking that beautiful screen 5 minutes after getting it out of the box.  (It looks super-fragile.)  If I didn’t break it, I’d leave it behind on a train or plane.  You do that with a book and you’re out $15.  Do it with an iPad and your out $500-$800.

Nonetheless, I will admit to a slight bit of screen envy.  But iWon’t.  Will you?

Recalling a conversation I had with a friend our answer was: retail.  The tablet has an opportunity to make a big impact on how retailers interact with their customers.  Let’s look at how the device could change how customers interact with the retailers before, during and after the sale.  For purposes of discussion I’ll use Home Depot as an example.

Normally before I head off to Home Depot I (hopefully) grab any returns I have and scratch out a list of items I need (along with measurements).  Once I’m there wait in the excrutiatingly long line to make my returns and then I set off into the huge maze of football field length, sky-high aisles – hoping to find the products I need.  Once I have the items I need I either stand in a long line with a human clerk or battle with the self-checkout system.  In general, it’s a largely unpleasant experience that is replicated in some measure at many other big box stores (Walmart, Target, Lowes, Sports Authority, etc).

So what could a tablet do for the customer?  Before I leave I pull up the Home Depot app on my Apple tablet and it reminds me that I have items in the garage ready to be returned.  It tells me that with the holidays over, I may want to look at some new storage and organizations products to make better use of the space in my home.  It has some routine DIY project videos along with step by step instructions in case I’m trying to fix a leaky faucet or install an eco-friendly rain bucket.  Lastly it allows me to enter in the items that I need either by typing them in a tradition shopping list and/or by searching and selecting products from their catalog.  Now I’m ready to head off to Home Depot.

Once I show up in the store, a Home Depot sales person greets me.  They know that I have a lot of items on my list and that I’m working on a big kitchen redesign project.  They also know how that I’ve spent a lot of money at their stores in the past 18 months and that they’d like to help me spend more of my money at Home Depot, not at a competitors store.  As the sales person helps me find things, I’m scanning their UPC code and updating my total bill for the visit.  With all my shopping done I say goodbye to the sales person and I’m ready to head to the door.  My order is automatically charged to my credit card so I do not need to stand in line to check out.  But before I get to the door I remember that I need some nails.  I can’t remember where nails are in the store so I type in nails into my Home Depot tablet application and it provides walking directions to the hardware section of the store that has nails.  I purchase those and I’m out the door.

Once home I am able to check the rewards points I earned, rate and review the products I purchased and mark any products for return in case they need to go back.

Apple’s tablet provides retailers, especially big-box retailers, some opportunities for innovation, to provide differentiated service and to build stronger bonds with the customer.  The larger screen has the potential to be the tipping point that brings about several evolutions in software design and ultimately consumer experience.

What do you think the tablet’s killer app will be?