Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, November 24, 2010, Page 5, Image 5

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    Fortiani» (Obstruer
November 24, 2010
Page 5
î-technology
Samsung Tablet Competes with iPad
T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon Wire­
less and coming soon from AT&T,
costs $400 to $650, depending on
whom you buy it from and whether
or not you agree to a two-year con­
tract. It runs Google's Android op­
by R achel M etz
erating system, which is mostly used
AP T echnology W riter
for smart phones.
When Apple released the iPad in
The Tab I tested, which worked
April, it set a high bar for tablet over Sprint's cellular network and
computers. The first real competitor Wi-Fi, had a bright and brilliant
has arrived in Samsung's Galaxy Tab. screen. That makes it well-suited to
With a touch screen that mea­ surfing the Web, watching videos
sures 7 inches diagonally, nearly and reading e-books with Amazon's
three shorter than the iPad, the Tab Kindle app.
Review rates it
good, but not
good enough
computer.
A number of apps I downloaded
The device has a speedy proces­ from the Android M arketplace
sor and sensitive touch screen, and looked fine on the Tab's screen, but
it is suited for the typical Android they don't all magnify to fill up the
layout of having several hidden available space. •
home screens that you swipe to see.
I thought that having a cam era
These home screens can fill up with on the back of the Tab would be
applications and widgets that let useful, but it ended up being a
you do such things as check the throwaway feature — partly be­
news or weather.
cause I felt so awkward and silly
holding up the clunky Tab to take
photos as I w andered around.
Thanks, but I'll stick with my smart
phone and point-and-shoot cam ­
era for now.
My time with the Tab was fun,
but it just never got me thinking, "I
want this." And if somebody was
kind enough to give me one. I'd
probably exchange it for an iPad.
‘Now is the time to switch
to compact fluorescent
light bulbs.”
4 Samsung Galaxy Tab is demonstrated during a product review
in San Francisco.
is good — but not good enough.
The Tab is nearly the same size as
A m azon's K indle e-reader but
slightly thicker. It's a bit more por­
table than the iPad, but has a smaller
screen to play with.
For me, this in-between size —
bigger and heavier than a smart
phone, smaller and lighter than an
iPad — made for an in-between ex­
perience. It was more engaging than
playing around with a phone but
less immersive than what I've felt
with the iPad.
The Tab, currently available from
But when I bought and down­
loaded an episode of "Law & Order:
SVU,” I found I couldn’t quite lose
myself in it as I could when watch­
ing videos on the iPad. The Tab's
screen simply felt more appropriate
for media snacking than gorging.
The Tab runs the most recent
iteration of Android, version 2.2,
which means it can play Flash vid­
eos — a trick the iPad and Apple
Inc.'s iPhone haven't learned. This
came in handy when surfing the
Web, as it let me watch videos I
usually can't access unless I'm on a
Welcome to another
episode of
“ This Old Light Bulb.”
Woods: ‘I like this Twitter Thing’
(AP) - Tiger Woods took his
Twitter account for a spin last week,
trying out the social networking site
and deciding "I think I like this twit­
ter thing".
Woods, who is coming up on the
one-year anniversary of the myste­
rious car crash that led to sensa­
tional revelations of marital infidel­
ity and a spectacular fall from grace,
apparently has decided to take an­
other step to get closer to his fans.
"What's up everyone. Finally
decided to try out twitter!" tweeted
Tiger Woods
Woods, who has had the account
since 2009.
"Yep, it's me. I think I like this
Woods then confirmed he was twitter thing. You guys are awe­
tweeting himself.
some. Thanks for all the love."
Compact fluorescents draw about one-quarter o f the energy o f a regular incandescent
bulb. They also last seven to 10-times longer. You can save $30 o r more in electricity
costs over each bulb's lifetime, so they more than pay for themselves. Plus, you'll be doing
something to reduce your carbon footprint. For more energy and money-saving answers,
go to pacificpower.net
PACIFIC P O W ER
Let’s turn the answers on.
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