Samsung’s been going a bit mad with the tablets, and we love them for it. Not content to have a 10”and a 7”, they’ve also introduced a 8.9” tablet, also known as the Portfolio. Slightly bigger than the Tab 7” and sporting Android Honeycomb instead of Gingerbread, the Portfolio also has something the Samsung Galaxy Tab doesn’t — TouchWiz.
How well does this middle child fit into the Tab lineup? Let’s see.
Part I: Look and Feel
At just 8.6mm thick, this is an insanely thin tablet, and that’s apparent right out of the box. After using a TouchPad regularly, it was like night and day. I honestly kept thinking that I had forgotten the Portfolio at home. The Portfolio actually isn’t that much smaller than the Tab 10, but it manages to feel like it is.
Tab on Tab action
Like the Galaxy Tab 10, the 8.9 is clearly meant to be used in a landscape orientation. This was mostly annoying except for when trying to read comic books. It just feels weird.
Another oddity is the volume slider. Assuming you have the device in landscape, then pressing the left part lowers the volume, while sliding to the right raises it. However, if you’re coming from an iPad, iPad2, TouchPad or even most cellphones, this is a reversal. In the three weeks that I had the Portfolio, I constantly had to correct myself about this.
Also, the Portfolio kept teasing the TouchPad about its size
The screen was easy on the eyes when indoors, and despite being a tad glossy for my taste, it was usable out of doors. Sound with headphones was great.
Part II: Getting Started
Of the three tablets I’ve used, the Portfolio wins points for being maybe the easiest to setup. Startup time is minimal, and it’s just a matter of clicking a few things to get going. There’s less to enter than with an iPad or iPad2, even under iOS 5 and you don’t need a desktop. Lacking Synergy, it’s much snappier than an HP TouchPad. Boot time is quicker than both devices.
I may need to officially dub the Galaxy Tab 8.9 a “dive right in” device. My hat is off to them.
Part III: What I Liked and Disliked: Samsung’s TouchWiz-ified Honeycomb
This is actually the first Honeycomb device I’ve used, so it was a bit tricky to know what bits of it I didn’t like because it was TouchWiz and which bits I didn’t like because it was Honeycomb. In case I am being unsubtle, I didn’t like the OS experience on this device.
The multitasking, which I do know to be Honeycomb, is easier than in Gingerbread. However, I would like to be able to close some of those apps right from the little scroll thing. I can easily access a task manager through a nifty mini app tray that Samsung includes, but (a) I shouldn’t have to and (b) I then get annoyed because the mini app tray would be amazing if I could customize it.
Moving notifications to the bottom worked better than I thought, but moving apps to the upper right totally threw me off. I honestly just dragged the apps I use to the home screen and didn’t bother clicking it.
Almost all of those could just be widgets. C'mon.
One thing I did like was Samsung’s resizable Live Widget feature, widgets that keep updating. This is great for say, SocialHub, Samsung’s Social Media Widget, but because they only cover three social networks, it’s a tad limited. Still, it was a neat solution.
Part IV: Unexpected Delights
The inclusion of a GPS chip in this device is a masterstroke. Using a 10” tablet as a navigation device may seem unwieldy, but at 8.9” this baby was just about perfect. With Google Navigation a reliable and free solution, this was a lot easier to use than my phone.
Battery life is impressive as well, with it usually going a day and then overnight until I need to charge it, with light-to-moderate use.
Samsung suggests using Google Earth to test how well the Tab handles graphics intensive apps, and it does a bang-up job.
Part V: Stuff That I Didn’t Test
Samsung bundled a lot of apps for music and videos that just don’t interest me. I also didn’t mess with the camera much, because I find cameras on tablets to be something of a waste.
Part VI: Wrap it Up Already! Geeze!
I’m more and more convinced that I’m just not an Android person. I like Gingerbread up to a point, but found Honeycomb to be too jarring a change. I hope Ice Cream Sandwich can change my mind.
As for hardware, the Tab 8.9″ may be the perfect form-factor for the casual tablet-user. It’s light enough to throw into your bag and forget it’s there, but powerful enough to be of actual use. At almost $500, the price is a bit of a sticking point though, especially in the era of the Kindle Fire and the Lenovo IdeaPad.
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