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Galaxy takes on the iPad ; What's the similarity between Keira Knightley and a tablet PC? Our girl explains all GUEST REVIEW [Mail on Sunday (England)](Mail on Sunday (England) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) When the Galaxy Tab arrived I was determined not to like it because it 'threatened' my gorgeous iPad, which I've owned for six months and totally adore. But it turns out the Galaxy Tab is smaller, lighter and easier to use - so now I'm torn between the two. I feel like I'm cheating on my iPad for saying that but I really do fancy the Samsung. As computer tablets go, it's so slim, neat and sexy that you just want to kiss it. When I'm away performing in the theatre or filming it's hard to keep in contact with people, and the big plus point of the Galaxy Tab is that you can actually make phone calls. OK, you might need to plug in a set of earphones but the phone is a key feature missing off my iPad. So, with the Samsung, I could dispose of my mobile telephone and have just one device in my handbag instead of two. It's got a camera. In fact, it has two: a threemegapixel one with a flash and a second one on the front, for video calling. It means I can video-chat with my boyfriend on screen using an app called Tango. We are currently looking to buy a place in London together. I search for houses on the Galaxy, then try to tempt him using photos in an email. I often find myself stuck in my dressing room between film scenes, and the Galaxy is brilliant for whiling away the hours. I like watching TV shows and video clips to take my mind off things. The Samsung has a 7in screen, as opposed to the iPad's 9.7in, but the picture quality is equally as good. You can pinch the screen to zoom in. I can also watch Adobe Flash movies on the Samsung, which is a big benefit. The battery life is about seven hours, if you are just watching films. It's unlikely I would ever download enough data using Wi-Fi or 3G to fill the 16GB memory of the Galaxy. I do know that you can retro-fit more memory if you want to increase the storage space, or add an additional 32GB memory card in the MicroSD slot. The Galaxy is about half the weight of my iPad, partly because it has a lighter, plastic casing. It fits in my hand easily and feels like a giant phone from the Eighties, rather than a small computer. I'm a bit of a bookworm and the Readers Hub feature has a massive library of two million books for e-reading. And because I am in my first musical production, I've also downloaded versions of the songs I'm performing from Samsung's Music Hub, which is the same idea as iTunes. You can use it for playing music in the background, while dipping into a separate application on screen. The nice thing about the Galaxy is that you just pick it up at your own pace. I'm sure there are dozens of apps I could download but surfing the internet and emailing are still the main functions I need. How do I rate the Galaxy? Well, I once went out for an evening with Keira Knightley and quickly understood why she lands all the dream roles. The Samsung is similar to Keira. It's small and light, smart but sexy. Me? I'm a bit like the iPad, neat but a bit chunkier and, perhaps, missing a few basic applications! TECH SPEC SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB Pounds 399, carphone warehouse.com Memory 16GB plus a MicroSD card slot OS Android 2.2 - allows access to over 70,000 apps Screen 7in TFT-LCD (1024 x 600 WSVGA touchscreen) Camera 3MP with autoflash, plus 1.3MP front camera for video calls Battery life 7 hours (c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |