The Galaxy Tab

From the Wall Street Journal:

After seven months of unchallenged prominence, Apple's hot-selling iPad now has its first credible competitor in the nascent market for multitouch consumer tablet computers: the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

The Tab is being introduced over the next week by three major U.S. wireless phone carriers at $400 with a cellular data contract, or at $600 with cellular capability but no contract. The iPad starts at $499 for a Wi-Fi model with no cellular-data capability or contract, and is $629 for the least expensive model with cellular data capability but no contract.

The Tab has a 7-inch screen versus the 9.7-inch display on the iPad. That may seem like a small difference, but the numbers are deceptive, because screen sizes are always described using diagonal measurements. In fact, the actual screen real estate on the Tab is less than half of the iPad's.

I love my ... er - Kristi's iPad. It can get a little heavy when holding it for long periods of time in one hand, but the screen size is perfect by my estimation.

But what makes the iPad simply amazing to me is how quick and smooth it is, and of course how intuitive it is to use. I'm not exaggerating when I say that my two-year-old knows how to use it fluently.

Any competitor to the iPad using a smaller seven-inch screen is going to have an uphill battle in a side-by-side comparison to begin with. But to make up for it, they'd better have a really quick, easy to use operating system. Is Android it? I don't know, but I can't wait to get my hands on one of these to try it out.