Battle of the Budget Tablets - Nook Color vs. Galaxy Tab
by Vivek Gowri on May 25, 2011 12:52 AM ESTRound 2 - Usability
This is an interesting one. We have two screens here that have the same resolution, but really don’t feel like it. One of the things that Samsung did with the TouchWiz UI on the Galaxy Tab is that they made all of the UI elements a lot bigger. It’s like taking Windows and changing the DPI of the icons to 120 or something. Side-by-side with the unchanged Nook Color, you almost feel like the screen resolution is significantly lower, until you put the same image or website on both.
It’s not a good thing or bad thing, it’s just different. I personally liked having the smaller icons on the Nook, but at the same time, the Galaxy had a larger keyboard that was easier to use, so it was a bit of a tradeoff.
The Galaxy was smoother to use than the Nook; the same stuttering and lost frame issues I saw in Nook OS were still there in Gingerbread. I’ve heard that a lot of that can be fixed through overclocking, installing different launcher applications, and the like, but I wanted to get a feel for how a quick root would be. And overall, I must say it was pretty good. I enjoy the stock Android UI, especially in Gingerbread. It’s a refreshing experience compared to some of the things that Motorola, Samsung, and HTC tend to do to Android.
With that said, there are still some bugs. I ran into a weird one where I locked the device, came back 10 minutes later, and the phone-menu-browser launcher at the bottom had somehow lost the phone and browser buttons. Not that I necessarily minded, since the phone part of it was completely useless to begin with. The weird part was that after I ran the battery life test and rebooted the device, the application menu button was gone too. Another lock/unlock fixed that, but it’s a little weird. Unfinished, probably, would be the best way to describe it.
Which is how most of these community projects go - if you follow the nightly builds closely, I’m sure a lot of these little things will be fixed. If you’re not on top of those things, you just have to learn to deal with those issues.
I did like that the Android community had seen fit to give the Nook ROM software buttons for menu and return (located in the right corner of the top bar in Android), but the lack of hardware buttons wasn’t necessarily optimal. You get used to it, yes, but compared to the Galaxy, it just feels unfinished.
Honestly, I like the stock Gingerbread ROM better than anything running TouchWiz, but for lack of polish, I think I’ll give Samsung the small victory here too.
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VivekGowri - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
It's got some issues, granted, particularly with the camera, but on a hardware/software/usefulness level, anything running Honeycomb at this point is a better bet than the Galaxy Tab, HTC Flyer, or the like, bugs and minor instability included.Heck, that $50 is worth it just for the jump to Tegra 2 and the better screen, if you despise Honeycomb that much you can see if you can get someone to release a Gingerbread ROM for it.
iphadke - Thursday, May 26, 2011 - link
Hey Vivek...How about adding the Adam in the mix? I think with that, we're getting something at a USD350 price point which will outperform both the Nook and Galaxy Tab by a hugh margin. No IPS panel, though plenty of usability...
Cheers
Neel
VivekGowri - Thursday, May 26, 2011 - link
I've been trying to get Rohan to send me an Adam review unit for literally 6 months now, nothing yet. They're still pretty hammered on filling pre-orders, so we'll see when/if I get one.softdrinkviking - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
"no it didn't" what? what didn't it do? i don't understand! who are you replying to??!?"filled with lies?" that's a bit harsh. i see your point with the tab roms, but that's hardly "filled" with anything. i think the editorial nature of this article was pretty well laid out from the beginning. he likes the nook for cheap, thinks the tab is better and doesn't need custom roms to be good but the nook does. what's a lie about that?
medi01 - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
He comes to the conclusion nook is better because, you know "40% higher price" and, you know, custom roms, that you don't need but could have with Samsung.And not that I would call Samsung Galaxy "a budget tablet" and not that I see a point in calling it "budget" besides somehow separating it from Apple's products that, you know, have very similar screen, less features, terrible restirctions in software, no rooting at all and a much higher price
Stuka87 - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
Your comparison to the iPad is a bit off.1: The 9.6" display is really nothing like the 7" display on the Tab. Their quality is kind of similar, but the 16:9 aspect ratio makes the Tab unusable in landscape mode (And I have one sitting right here).
2: What features are you referencing?
3: I wouldn't say terrible. They are somewhat similar to Google's store regulations, only Apple does its best to keep out Malware, which Google doesn't seem to care much about.
4: Who cares if you can root the device? You can jail break it if you really want to.
5: Sure, it cost 150 dollars more. But the hardware is so much faster than the Tabs its not even funny. Not to mention its much more comfortable to hold with it being much thinner. And the battery life is top notch as well.
VivekGowri - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
Did you not read the part where it said "In all honesty, the Galaxy Tab is the better device"?The Nook is a lot cheaper for something pretty close as far as usage model, simple as that. And if you look at the core hardware, the GT and NC are pretty similar, much more similar than the GT7 versus any one of the Honeycomb tablets. It's a better, more polished device as far as hardware and software, but that doesn't make it better value for money or a better buy, especially in light of some devices that don't cost a whole lot more and offer so much more power and functionality. Heck, just look at the 8.9" Galaxy Tab, if you dislike the Asus and Acer that much.
Lukemcd - Thursday, May 26, 2011 - link
Everyone just wants their favorite device to win. There's nothing wrong with this article. It made points for both sides.They're angry because they cannot make blanket "Your writing sucks" comments because it didn't. So they have to "rationalize."
Samus - Thursday, May 26, 2011 - link
I've had my nook color since january. Ever since CM7 went official with 2.3 last month its been super solid. Tethered to my phone for internet access when out and about, it's like having a 3G tablet and it cost me $200 bucks.I haven't held or seen the Galaxy Tablet, but it looks like its built like crap compared to the nook. It's thicker, the plastic looks korean and overall the finish isn't attractive. It looks like one of Samsung's cheap-ass phones that break the moment you drop them.
MonkeyPaw - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
I have the NC, and it is fun to mess with. I read this article with mine (using CM7. Beta 3.1), and I'm posting this with it. Been using it for over a month and love it. Sure, a more expensive tab has better specs, but lets be realistic, a tab is for casual use in an easier form-factor. I can do email, web, gReader, games on the NC, and I will go to my PC if I really need to get something done.Nice to see thewrote this. There's quite a community around the NC. There may be a real HC build if Google ever releases the source.