Samsung Galaxy Tab from Verizon (photos)

The Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet on Verizon is offered at $599 with two-year contract.

The Tab's 7-inch screen can be oriented in portrait or landscape, with the home screen quickly adjusting to any position.

At just under a half-inch thick, the Tab doesn't trump the iPad in the thinness department.

The back of Verizon's Tab comes in a textured glossy black, resembling fiberglass. A camera and flash are located in the upper-left corner.

For better or worse, the size difference between the iPad and Tab are dramatic, with the iPad offering nearly twice the screen real estate.

Both the iPad (right) and Galaxy Tab use a multitouch, capacitive touch-screen keyboard for text entry. With the Tab in landscape orientation and the iPad in portrait mode, the keyboards are approximately the same size with similar key width.

The Tab has two unique keyboard features that give it an advantage over the iPad. It includes Swype technology that allows you to slide your finger around groups of letters to quickly input common words. Also, it uses haptic feedback to give your fingers a reassuring buzz when you strike a key.

That said, typing on the Tab presents some ergonomic challenges. The space bar is small, making it easy to miss in both landscape and portrait modes. Held in portrait mode, it's easy to type with your thumbs (unlike on the iPad), but held in landscape mode, the larger keyboard isn't quite large enough to use comfortably with two hands--yet too large for comfy thumb typing.

Another screen size comparison shot, this time showing the 9.7-inch screen of the iPad (clockwise from left), 7-inch screen Galaxy Tab, and 5-inch Dell Streak.