Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

2012 will definitely be known as the year of the tablet computer. I have reviewed several of them on this blog and despite the low prices you can get on the Google Nexus and Amazon Kindle, I have found them to always be lacking something. Rather than settle for a tablet with missing features, I took a look at Samsung's tablets.

The Samsung Galaxy line of tablets have the rear facing camera and a unique infrared blaster that can be used as a remote control for your entertainment center. There are many different screen sizes available, which can be very confusing, because they all have slightly different specs. The 7.7 inch tablet is the one that looks the most interesting to me. Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 is available from Verizon for $399. The Verizon tablet comes with 4G LTE wireless capability. This is the smallest screen you can get from Samsung with the Super AMOLED™ Plus display (Resolution: 1280 x 800) and Dual Core 1.4 GHz processor. You can find this tablet on Ebay for around $299. By comparison, the Mini iPad has a 7.9 inch display with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768, a 5MP auto-focus camera, and sells for $459 with cellular wireless. If you don't need the cellular wireless, the price for the Mini iPad is $329.

All things being so similar makes it difficult to choose, but the IR blaster on the Samsung tablet has me most interested because I will probably be using the tablet most often when I'm in the family room. The idea of replacing all of my remotes with a tablet computer that also lets me check email and surf the web would be amazing. In the future desktop and laptop computers will be used for work and not much else.