So this device just came out this morning, and I hadn't planned on buying it but I was down at my local best buy store and played with it just to see what it was and loved it! Let me say I used to have all apple stuff, apple computer, iphone, ipad, etc. Over the last year my apples have rotted, went bad and needed to be replaced. Instead of paying high dollar for all new apple stuff I went back to a windows PC, an Andorid Galaxy S2 phone, still had the iPad but it was in need of replacement.
So I got to Best Buy they didn't have these out yet but they pulled one out and let me play with it while they set up the are for the demo unit to go. I liked it, very snappy, great screen. The device comes preloaded with ICS on it, it's VERY snappy with zero lag so far.
The screen while not a retina display like the iPad is still clear enough for me. After all I'm not holding this inches from my face. if you do you get a chance to play with 1 of these before you buy go to the movies app on the device and play the life demo to see how clear and crisp the display is.
It quickly synced up with my Google account and I was already able to start downloading apps from the play store within minutes of getting it turned on.
So far this device is excellent. It feels like it's built well, the back is not as fancy as the Galaxy S2 phone however I plan on getting a case for this so the back battery panel to me doesn't matter much.
I'll update this later after I get more time to play with it, so far though for $250 this is a great deal. I also played with the Kindle Fire and the Blackberry playbook both which were available for $199, but I opted to spend the $50 more for the Samsung as I've been impressed with Samsung quality over the years. (Currently my TV's, blu ray players, computer monitor, phone and now tablet are all samsung brand. They make good products in my opinion.)
--UPDATE 8 hours later--
I used the GPS on this earlier and google navigation/maps to get me to the hardware store. Ok I didn't NEED it but I wanted to test it out. I found that you MUST have internet for google maps to give you directions, I had a hotspot in my car so I turned it on and navigation worked perfect. If you don't have wifi you can still use GPS, it does lock on fast however it can't query to get you directions. If you used an offline GPS program like navigon or something that would do the trick, but YES gps is accurate and fast.
I also used the bluetooth on this to stream music from the Tab 2 to my car, quality was excellent.
Apps and stuff, so far every app I have tried is compatible with the exception of one, and I can't remember what that one was so it was one I really didn't use much at all I guess. I have put a few games on to test it, so far so good and still no lag.
Hows the keyboard? It comes with stock ICS keyboard and it works well, if you start typing fast there is a tiny lag between hearing the click of the feedback and seeing the character appear, however all letters make it without any vanishing. I am looking for another keyboard though as spelling isn't built in it appears... I am probably switching to Swiftkey or swype both which appear compatible with the device.
Also, the IR Blaster = awesome! I was going to buy a $100 harmony remote for my entertainment system, well this Galaxy Tab 2 has an IR blaster built right in and the application for it is simple to configure. Less then 3 minutes I had it set to turn my TV on, control my bose sound system and also control my Tivo HD and Blu Ray player. Very slick!
More to come, if you have questions on how this works please leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them quickly. Also, if you find this review helpful please make sure to mark it as such!
--UPDATE--
Morning after, do I regret buying it? Nope, still a fantastic device and I'll tell you a few more things I found out.
1. I use Dropbox on my home computer and put the app on this tablet. I also use a tivo at home and thought about how could I get my shows on my tivo to my computer then to my tablet? Well I use TivoToGo to transfer shows to my computer, then I place them in a drop box folder and they sync automatically to my dropbox account. I then on the tablet have an app (free and paid versions) called "Folder Sync" and I have that set to every hour check my drop box Tivo folder and download any latest tv shows my computer has copied. This means that in the morning when I leave for work my tablet has all my shows from the previous night I didn't get to watch on it so I can for instance watch one or two on my lunch break, without having to have a wifi connection at work!
2. Need to make a phone call? Unfortunately this device doesn't have phone support. However Skype works great with both video calls and audio calls. You can pay for a phone number from skype (it's cheap if you wanted it) and actually treat this like a phone assuming you have wifi wherever you are. I did try google voice app, that will not allow you to make calls and use the tablet as a handset, it instead asks you what phone in your account it should call.
---UPDATE 2/20/2013---
I see a lot of activity on my review, big thanks to everyone that found it helpful and I love the activity. I wanted to provide an update. While I really liked Galaxy Tab 2, I did make the jump a few months back to the Google Nexus 7 and have to say that tablet has taken over as my primary device. The Galaxy Tab 2 and Nexus 7 ARE similar, however I really like the pure google/android experience that the Nexus provides. If you are on the fence, I would recommend going with the Google Nexus over the Galaxy Tab 2 at this point.
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