Sometimes I talk to myself because I have a penchant for intelligent conversation, you see. Just be careful if you see me arguing with myself.

This is for the UK'ers. Here's a guide containing the various prices of the Tab around the UK.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...ice-guide.html

Early access to Opera Mobile for Android!


http://an.droid-life.com/2010/11/08/...a-for-android/

The official release is tomorrow, but you can get it early!

Slightly odd. The article says "The two best value packages appear to be from Three and Talk Talk" and then doesn't list any of the TalkTalk options.

Here's a question to those that know better than me:

I listened (regrettably) to the Engadget Podcast, and the anti-android sentiment was very apparent when talking about the Galaxy Tab. They went on, and on, about how Android isn't ready nor designed for 'tablets' (ie. larger than smartphone screens). They mentioned that the larger problem with Android is that it's 'rough around the edges'.

What did they mean by 'rough around the edges'?

I've used iOS devices, and had brief bouts with Android and WebOS, and from what I could tell, they all seem rather similar. There are no glaring flaws in either system from the users perspective.

I want to know if this viewpoint is ideologically motivated (eg. notions of 'fragmentation', tablet UI musings, frequency of OS releases, etc) or based on something experiential. If it is the former, then I'm confident that it's a flawed assertion as their demonstrated understanding of tech is embarrassingly poor. If it's the latter, I'm interested to know exactly what separates these platforms experientially.

Anyone with experience care to help?

Here's the first video review of Opera Mobile beta for Android:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kktAP8cEflc&translated=1

It looks really, really smooth running on this HTC Desire but.....

It seems to have single tap to zoom. I DESPISE this 'feature' as sometimes it decides to zoom when you miss hitting a link, or tap the screen without scrolling. This happens all the time on my N810, and I wish that it could be disabled. Pinch/double-tap is enough for me.

This (from my perspective) is the first glaring flaw of the software, and reason why I'd likely avoid it. I prefer interfaces that I don't have to tip-toe around at the peril of producing unwanted results. I had thought that pinch-to-zoom would have replaced this feature.

I'm not the only one that thinks this is TERRIBLE. On the reputable quirksmode blog, he cuts into this issue (close to the bottom of the article), as being inane UI design:
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archi..._problems.html

Ah well. Here's hoping that the GL accelerated stock browser smooths scrolling, so I can wholly ignore opera mobile.

IMO that Engadget has a distinctly "fruity" bias..

I tend to read any reviews they do with my "applesauce" filter in place.

Kinda OT:
I got a chance to play with the Samsung Mesmerize (CDMA Galaxy S variant for USCellular), and I was pleasantly surprised by its' responsiveness. I hope to upgrade to this or the Tab (Yeah! USCelluar is actually getting it!) depending on the data only plan for the Tab.

Here's the famous 'one click lag fix' with support for the Galaxy Tab!
http://www.xda-developers.com/androi...g-tab-support/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=823501

It basically speeds up IO using a looped ext2 mount in place of Samsungs RFS -- or something like that.

Here is Android and Me, 24-hours with the Tab roundup.


http://androidandme.com/2010/11/news...ng-galaxy-tab/

Verdict? Awesome.

Quote from the site:

It looks as if the Galaxy Tab price has been set by Rogers.

http://mobilesyrup.com/2010/11/03/ro...cing-revealed/

$674 no contract
$599 one-year
$564 two-year

Yuck. It looks as if the price is the same as the 3G iPad. Almost a full $75 higher than my limit.

I wonder what bells prices will be. At these rates I may have to consider buying through a US contact.