Samsung Galaxy Tab video walkthrough: gaming, apps and web

When it comes to the wars between the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the iPad, one of the most important battles will take place over apps and videogames. Apple already boasts a large number of tablet-optimised apps for its device, can the Android-powered Galaxy Tab rise to the challenge? Check out our video below for a sneak peak at what’s on offer.

Samsung Galaxy Tab: apps and videogames

As you can probably see from the video, the motion-based shoot ‘em up Nova looks pretty impressive. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has an inbuilt gyroscope to detect movement. To turn your character’s body in Nova you need to turn the Galaxy Tab in your hand. To look up, you’ll need to point the Galaxy Tab upwards.

Forwards movement on Nova is controlled by a virtual on-screen lever, and the use of a wi-fi connection will allow you to play multiplayer games with friends.

Samsung Galaxy Apps on the Market Place

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is an Android device and therefore give you access to the thousands of apps available on the Android Marketplace, some of which are free.

Many of the apps will have been designed for smaller smartphones, but Samsung says that the apps will automatically be upscaled to suit the larger screen of the Galaxy Tab. The company also expects a number of Galaxy Tab specific apps to be designed that are optimised for the Galaxy Tab.

The Android Market currently has around 70,000 apps in comparison with the 250,000 available from the Apple App Store.

Samsung Galaxy Tab: Web-surfing

Web-surfing on the Samsung Galaxy Tab is great. The 7-inch screen provides a bigger window on the web than a regular smartphone – although it’s not as big as the Apple iPad’s 9.7-inch screen.

It supports Flash 10.1, which many websites use for animation, graphics and video. The Apple iPad doesn’t support Flash content.

Pinch to zoom on the Galaxy Tab

You can pinch to zoom on the Galaxy Tab to make pages easier to read, and if you double tap on a column of text, then you’ll be zoomed in so the column fills the screen. A second double tap will zoom you back out.

The popular Google Earth application really shows off the Samsung Galaxy Tab’s screen and web prowess.

Internet-based content can be accessed either over an HSDPA (3G) connection, or over wi-fi.