For those of you who love the Olympic Games, the 2012 London Olympics are just under 100 days away. The International Olympic Committee just launched an awesome Olympic Athletes’ Hub which connects Olympic fans to their favorite Olympic athletes. It’s a searchable directory of both past and present Olympians that collects and displays posts from their Facebook and Twitter accounts. It strings in photos, videos, training tips and tons more from verified athletes’ popular social media accounts. Already, over 1,000 Olympians have joined and as you can imagine the number is continuing to grow. As the summer games in London begin, people can also live-chat with athletes directly from the Olympic Village and see real-time results from the competitions.
With special thanks to the International Olympic Committee, we have two Samsung Galaxy Tabs to give away, along with one autographed t-shirt from Michael Phelps, and one from Usian Bolt. We will pick two winners. → Read More
Even though we have to deal with 100-degree summers and 15-degree winters, hobos on the subway, and slow-walking tourists, sometimes it really pays off to be a New Yorker. Samsung’s highly anticipated Galaxy Tab 10.1 won’t hit stores nationally until June 17, but a few lucky New Yorkers, and possibly some smart-shopping tourists, will be able to pick up a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as early as June 8.
The 10.1-inch Samsung slate will only be available at New York’s Union Square Best Buy location, and according to Samsung, there will only be a limited quantity of the WiFi edition Galaxy Tab. Online and in-store pre-orders for the New York inventory will begin on June 8, as well. Unfortunately for the rest of the country, a plane ticket to the Big Apple will be your best bet to snag the early release Galaxy Tab 10.1. → Read More
The comments on yesterday’s post concerning the Xoom’s bungled launch stated loud and clear that people want inexpensive Android tablets — or at least that the high MSRP was the Xoom’s undoing. The thought is that if you’re going to spend over $500 on a tablet, the iPad is the only choice, which therefore makes the $800 Xoom a no-sale. I sort of agree with that even though I still feel the Xoom is a fantastic tablet. Still, I feel the poor marketing and product placement doomed the tablet rather than the price alone. Motorola never publicly justified the price. That said, the Xoom would be a similar, but still different fail whale even if it launched at $300. It wouldn’t be the same Xoom. The dual core CPU, lovely screen, and abundant amounts of memory would be the first options on the cutting board. From there Moto would have probably slash the build quality from solid to cheap along with opting for a weaker battery. A lower-priced Xoom tablet would not be a more successful tablet. The vertical iTunes ecosystem opens up a huge revenue stream that allows Apple to price products different than most Android tablet makers. It’s not fair, really. Still, it’s disingenuous to say companies are ignoring the low-end Android tablet market. It’s actually alive, well, and more than thriving. But please, don’t call the tablets after the jump iPad or even Xoom competitors. They’re not even in the same league. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth a look. → Read More
During CES, Samsung said the WiFi-only Galaxy Tab (P1010) would come out Q1 of this year. Well, Q1 is almost over and we haven’t heard, nor seen anything about a price or shipping date. Those across the pond have recently found the P1010 up for pre-order on Amazon UK with an estimated ship date of March 31 and price of $477.
What about the US? → Read More
Welcome to Death/Star, a new show we are testing on TechCrunch TV. It’s a product review show with a twist. My co-host, CrunchGear editor John Biggs, and I give our opinions on three hot products. In the inaugural episode we cover the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tablet, photo-sharing app Instagram, and the Boxee Box.
To spice things up, we try to go beyond the traditional thumbs up/thumbs down to predict whether each product will end up in the graveyard (in which case we mark it for death) or become a bona fide hit (in which case we give it a star). Hence, the name: Death/Star. A surprise guest appears at the end and punks Biggs (the look on his face is classic). → Read More
This is a quick one: The T-Mobile variant of the Galaxy Tab will hit on November 10th. Price? $400 on contract just like Sprint. There’s also a $35 activation fee and $200 ETF so that’s fun. → Read More
Can you hear that? It’s the sound of war. Better choose your side soon, too. The tablet wars are going to get nasty. Apple’s army is prepped, already backed by over 3 million zealous iPad owners. But the Google Android horde is quickly banding together and will soon offer countless weapons from several major CE houses and dozens of smaller camps. Google is also quietly forming the stealthy Chrome OS platoon that will likely enter the battle a bit late, but shouldn’t be forgotten, ether. Then there’s the suit & tie brigade with their trusty BlackBerry holstered on their hips, ready to be tethered to the coming BlackPad. Don’t forget about the wildcard: The HP-produced, webOS-powered PalmPad no doubt has a couple of tricks, enough to put up a decent fight. Then there’s the battle-tested Windows that might still be able to fire a few direct shots. The tablet wars are coming and not everyone is going to survive. There simply isn’t enough market share to support the five or more upcoming tablet platforms. → Read More
When we first heard about the Samsung Galaxy Tab, we had a great deal of excitement thinking of the features and UI and how useful it would be in the day-to-day. With all the great things the Tab will have over iPad (front and rear camera, smaller form factor, Froyo, massive 4,000mAh battery and a microSD slot), one couldn’t help await a test unit. → Read More
Oh boy. 799€ ($1030) for the Tab is definitely a whole bunch of money for something you probably don’t need. It’s still a better deal than $150 for the new Apple TV! You could also buy a mac and actually do stuff with it. Or netbooks for the whole family. → Read More
I’ll be the first to stand up and shout that hardware specs alone do not make or break devices — especially tablets. However, a rumor is circulating that states the Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet will share most of the same specs with the Galaxy S smartphone including the 1GHz CPU and screen resolution. That’s bad news bears. That would mean the 7-inch tablet would have a nasty 480 x 800 resolution. No one wants that and would spell certain doom for the first major iPad fighter from the house of Samsung. Good thing the rumor is being disputed with some proof that the resolution will be slightly higher. → Read More
Samsung is conducting a lesson in Brand Identity 101. The Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet is basically a gigantic Galaxy S i9000 in the same way that the iPad is an oversized iPhone. That’s a good thing.
We’re not entirely sure if the Galaxy Tab was supposed to go official yet, seeing as the pic and announcement came from the Samsung South Africa Twitter feed, but here she is. Seven inches of TFT fun. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
