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Thrive versus Galaxy Tab : my personal review

Fair view.

1. If you turn off the video enhancment on the Thrive, videos play back smooth. The option is silly to begin with, yet alone set to default. Seems pure marketing gimmick that hurts performance.

2. The display on the G does look better, but I do not see the mesh effect and find colors more natural on the Thrive.

3. The G has no microsd slot and has propreitary connectors. Seems a futile iPad wannabe effort IMO. Apparently Apple's too, due to the litigation going on ATM.

Summary: I will gladly trade a slightly lesser looking display for the storage options and no proprietary ports, any day :)
 
The lack of an HDMI connection on the Tab is also an issue, at least for me. Thrive's standalone capabilities make a clear winner for me and probably for most people who want to use their tablet for more than just fun and games. I plan to put mine to work.
 
Good information so far. it know leaves me with choosing between 3 tabs:-

Galaxy: Xoom; or Thrive (AT100 this side of the Pond).

Thrive edges it so far, in my humble opinion due to connection ports.
 
I'm on the bridge of these two.

Galaxy is lighter and thinner and established as being a good tablet.

The thrive has the rubber backing (great idea with my 4 year old daughter playing with it) and the SD card slots and last I looked, it was $100 less then the Galaxy tab.
 
I too am trying to decide between the galaxy and thrive. I was leaning towards the thrive but for the most part I will be using it for videos on a plane and the display on the galaxy is nicer. Also I didn't like the size of the charger, where as the galaxy has a small charger and can trickle charge over USB.

I am going with the 32GB option on them but it would be nice to have an SD slot. Although I'm not fully sure what I am going to fill the initial 32 GB with. I may just get the g tab with its SD card adapter as the only time I should need it is on the plane. My thought on HDMI is that I need a cable plugged in anyway so whats it matter if there is an extra short cable/adapter for HDMI out.

I figure after market accessories will be more widely available for the tab too because it seems to be more popular. the 3g/4g version being available from the wireless carriers and the wifi available at electronics stores. I've already found cheap external backup batteries for the Tab (less than the cost of a second thrive battery) and when the internal dies its final death, i will either just sell it by that point or buy an aftermarket battery replacement kit (similar to iPod/iPad replacement kits)
 
Pulled the trigger on the 32GB thrive. I didn't feel the weight difference was that much and I can deal with the extra thickness for the ports. I wanted the SD and didn't really want to have to have an adapter in the dock connector to use it. plus the thrive was less than the galaxy.
 
I bought one for my 11 year old daughter ....I can't wait for her to see it Christmas morning. Played with it at BB, seems like a very nice tab.
 
ExNusquam said:
>>I'm new to the board and the forum. Take this review at face value and do not read between the lines. Thanks.



Just thought I’d put this out there for folks to read if they desired…

I recently purchased both of these tablets to try out from Best Buy. I’ll see what’s what and then return one, likely. My purpose for buying was two-fold… I need a pair at work to help me communicate with clients at a certain satellite site and I wanted one to have at home to use as needed and to keep synced for on-the-road use. I looked at several different items during my brief review process, as you can see below. Feel free to chime in to correct or comment.

1. Style – A win for the Tab here. It’s sleek, light, svelt, and an easy competitor for the iPad2. Style is what this thing was MADE for.

2. Brawn – Tie. Both loaded up apps with similar speed, initiated video streaming similarly, and tabbed through apps easily with multiple apps running at once.

3. Video playback – Win to Tab. they both did pretty well, but the Thrive stuttered once in a while in videos – usually at very reproducible spots, for some reason. It was not a deal-breaker, but then again I didn’t sit and watch an entire movie. I suppose it could become annoying after a while.

4. Camera – Tie. Both did well and looked a lot like my non-software-optimized cell phone pics… better in bright light and never truly wonderful. I do not plan on taking photos with either one. Of note – camera placement on the Thrive could have used a little more forethought; it really is in the way sometimes, but seriously, just flip it the other way if you’re a lefty/righty and you’re good to go.

5. Music playback – Tie. Likely this is due to the fact that I don’t plan on listening to music on either device a lot unless headphones are plugged it… when headphones were plugged in, they sounded the same. Playback was flawless on each.

6. Skype – Tie. I WILL BE using Skype on one of the other when available; currently I tested voice chat with Google Talk and they both did fine. This is one of the MAIN reasons I want a pair of tablets, mind you. Both did well with keeping up and not stuttering, both were low-def, both were passably accurate at voice transmission. The Thrive was a little darker and did not auto-adjust to the ambient light. In a poorly lit area, the Thrive would fail me; in a brightly lit place (usual for my communications, thankfully), either one would suffice. Still though, due to the lighting problem, I favored the Tab… not a deal-breaker and otherwise a tie.

7. Evernote, Gmail, Calander, Docs to Go, etc. - Tie. I use these apps frequently and need them all. Both tablets did fine, as with most applications of this nature. Responses were quick, etc.

8. UI – Win to Thrive : after flipping back and forth to different home screens and opening and closing apps, etc., it became apparent (not glaringly so) that the Tab stuttered just a little tiny while the Thrive did not. This was not a deal-breaker.

9. Handling – win to Thrive: to each his own on this one. At least for my clients I need a tablet that is not slippery and/or breakable; out of the box, the Thrive has more weight, feels like a solid build, and has the rubberized backing which is a great touch. I think people will hold onto it more naturally than the Tab, which I think people will be worried about bending or breaking. That being said, the Tab is totally sleek and the lighter weight makes it more able to be held in one hand for a long time. The Thrive is either on my lap or held two-handed. I STILL liked the rugged and solid feel of the Thrive.

10. Ports – Ok, the Thrive wins here obviously; I like the ability to plug in an SD card and take a look at photos/docs/whatever without any difficulty or dongles. That being said I did not buy or TRY any dongles for the Tab; maybe they aren’t that bad? I wonder if I can boot Linux on my Thrive with a USB card? Maybe then I can run Silverlight on it…

11. Screen – Win to the Tab: People have talked about this already on different forums; the Thrive has sort of a “mesh” look to the images people say. I have them side by side in my lap and there is, quite easily detectable, a big difference in the brightness and look between the two, the Tab being much “nicer” looking than the Thrive. The best adjective to describe what I see is that the Thrive looks a little faded, more dull, while the Tab pops. They are both turned up to full brightness, btw. When they are not side by side, I have no problem with the Thrive. It is bright, it is clear, it is usable, it is totally fine and stuff looks fine on it. The Tab is brighter, clearer, and stuff looks great on it. The Tab has a little more red and yellow richness, sometimes too much but overall looks great.

12. Battery – Win to the Thrive: ok, the Thrive wins by default… truthfully I wonder if I will PERSONALLY want to keep the thing past 3 years or if I will, more likely, give it to a relative or sell it on eBay or something and buy something cooler, faster, etc. I have an unused extra battery for my last laptop. It died before I needed the battery. It is now a brick. You can see where I’m coming from. On the other hand… if it lasts, then by all means I will keep the Thrive till it rots on the BUSINESS side of things, and therefore it still wins on this category for my intended purpose.

13. Buttons – win to Tab: I agree with those that say the buttons are harder to push and find on the Thrive. Yes, this sounds dumb… the buttons on the Tab have a nice inaudible but feelable? ‘click’ to them. This is not a deal-breaker. I mention it because some people care to know about these things.

14. BUGS - The Tab is going wonky on my when I flex or hold the right side or right bottom corner to tightly. It’s not always reproducible, it’s very very annoying when it happens. Is this a bug on my unit? Does it happen a lot? I haven’t taken the time to look in the forums… The Thrive is waking up from sleep on its own when I’m not touching it; is this the “sleep bug”? Sorry, I haven’t read much up on that either yet. I can’t get the OfficeHD to “browse” the internal memory. It seems to be looking for an SD card… maybe “I’m doing it wrong”. You can’t judge a platform on unit-specific bugs, but I thought I’d mention them… I’m sure there are other weird glitches here and there – to be expected…



Overall…. The Tab: I like the look and the touch of the Tab in general, and it is a great travel companion. If the “hold the side” bug persists with a different unit, I will not buy the Tab – it is that annoying and problematic. the Tab is great for media viewing and the camera is passable, and it has a fine amount of horsepower. It has polish and looks zippy.

Overall…. The Thrive: I like the heft and the “grippyness” of the Thrive, and I don’t mind holding it in my 2 hands to get things done. The screen is completely fine when you don’t compare it side by side to the Tab and actually has more REALISTIC color representation than the overly vivified Tab. The USB will be fun to try out for me and the SD card reader is almost a requirement in some instances for me and is essentially a deal-breaker or almost so for the Tab. The camera needs a software revision to assist with dark-lighting adjustment and this would help me a little in some instances of video calling use. The ability to change the battery out is not useful likely for my personal unit in the future, but my business unit will likely get as much use as it will stick around for (hopefully 5 years+).

My Take…. I don’t love or hate Toshiba or Samsung. I buy exactly what I think I need at any time, no matter the producer, but I steer away from any Sony product that needs a proprietary memory card (but that is another post). I went into this thinking: “I like the Tab, but I want the ports of the Thrive!” If I could take the Tab and put a thin rubbery back on it and stick AT LEAST an SD card reader, then I’d buy it immediately. The rubbery back, I can buy something for, but the lack of ports is horrible. No, I’m not all “up in the cloud” with all my data. My data needs to be accessible at times that I have no Wi-Fi and a crappy 3G/4G signal (tethered to phone). I said I liked the heft of the Thrive, but if I could trim off just a little (2mm?) of the thickness it might be just a little easier to tote around. In the end I will likely buy 2 Thrives… I want the USB and the SD card reader that much and none of the other differences between the two are deal-breakers (the battery aspect is a bonus). If I did not need the access points, and was buying something just to take on road trips, etc., I’d likely buy the Tab due to the sleekness, thinness, and nice looking playback for videos, music, etc.

Hope this helped someone out there!

-ENT
Click to expand...

Hi, going to be getting the Thrive 16GB on Friday. On the screen looking lesser on the thrive, I read the review done on AC and in the comments some people were saying the same thing as what you are seeing, that the Samsung has a brighter and more vibrant display. One of the commenters mentioned that there is an auto brightness setting on it that limits the display. He turned it off and said the display was just as good as the Galaxy Tab's.

I was looking as the 16GB Galaxy Tab 10.1, but when I saw no expandable memory, that was a deal breaker for me (don't know why Samsung of all companys would do this since they are a memory manufacturer). Once I saw the ports on this bad boy, I knew it was the one for me. It also helped that a friend on mine got one a few months back and gave me a glowing review. So far he hasn't run into any issues with his, and he also liked the rubberized back better than those of the ipad's & Galaxy Tab's. He said they have some of those at work and he doesn't like how slippery they are. As far as the bulk, he didn't think it was bad, and I doubt I will either. From what I understand it's about the same thickness and my Rezound, and I wouldn't want anything much thinner than that for me. Looking forward to Friday!
 
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