Samsung Galaxy Tab Mimics iPad in Concept, but Not All Details: iFixit

by Michelle Maisto

Two differences out of the gate: Samsungs Galaxy Tab runs the Android 2.2 operating system, and it will be available from Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and even U.S. Cellular. The Apple iPad runs iOS and is exclusive to AT&T. Both, however, are considered pricey. The Tab is $400 with a contract or $600 without one. The equivalent 16GB iPad with WiFi and 3G starts at $629.

While in this Samsung image the back panel is black, models for the United States feature a plastic back cover in white. The rear-facing camera has an LED flash but “is a bit-subpar for a device of this caliber,” wrote iFixit, adding that even a smartphone like the Droid 2 comes packed with 5 megapixels. (The iPad, however, has no camera at all.)

The battery is a 3.7V Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 14.8 watt-hours, says iFixit, which Samsung claims is enough for7 hours of movie watching. The battery makes up 55 percent of the Galaxy Tabs weight and offers 60 percent of the iPads capacity. (Image courtesy of iFixit.)

Highlights on the Tabs motherboard include, in yellow, its 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird multimedia applications processor; in red, 16GB of NAND Flash, from SanDisk; in teal, the Infineon HSDPA/HSUPA/EDGE modem; in purple, the RF transceiver, from Wolfson; and in orange, its power management controls from Maxim. (Image courtesy of iFixit.)

“Getting the Galaxy Tab open is quite a chore,” reports the iFixit team, which needed a heat gun and “some nervous prying” to separate the front panel from the chassis. Happily, the team found the battery to be user replaceable and all of the components to be accessible without soldering.

The Apple iPads display has a resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels, compared to the Galaxy Tabs 1,024 by 600 pixels. While the Tab offers more pixels per inch, iFixit still says this is “nowhere near dense enough for us,” adding, “We vastly prefer the iPhone 4’s 326ppi retina display.” (Image courtesy of Apple.)