Hey, guys.
Eric Franklin here from CNET and today we're a taking a First Look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7.
The tab's 7.7 AMOLED screen delivers gloriously deep blacks and super bright colors.
The tablet is the thinnest small form tablet yet and includes expandable memory and impressive games performance.
It also includes both a front 2-megapixel camera and a back LED supported 3-megapixel camera.
The 7.7 ships with Honeycomb 3.2 with Samsung's TouchWiz UI but neither Samsung nor Verizon has yet to officially announce a date for an Ice Cream Sandwich update.
The tablet also includes an IR sensor that turns it into a smart remote control using pill's Smart Remote App.
4G speeds fail to match that off dedicated WiFi but were still satisfyingly fast although not quite up to iPad 4G standards.
Unfortunately, there's no HDMI or USB port.
We looked at dead space in both the tab 7.7 and the new iPad.
While each version of the game appeared to be using identical geometry for models and the same level of effects complexity, the game on the 7.7 looked brighter and much more vibrant.
This vibrancy however is temporary by the fact that the texture color transitions of background objects are anything but seamless and unfortunately noticeably stand-out compared to the same art on the new iPad.
From strictly a design standpoint, the 7.7 is the tablet all other small form factor tablets should aspire to.
The lack of HDMI and dedicated USB is disappointing but not deal breakers.
Unfortunately, the price is for most.
$500 in addition to a 2-year contract is a lot to ask for especially when the tablet market is still in it's nascent form and no one really knows what the market will look like a year from now.
You could pop-down $700 for a non-contract version but no one should be paying $700 for an 8-inch tablet with 16 gigabytes o storage.
I don't recommend signing up for a 2-year contract for any tablet but if you really feel you just have to do it, this is the tablet you wanna choose.
Once again, this is Eric Franklin and this has been the First Look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7.
