Samsung Galaxy Tab vs. HTC Flyer comparison review

While it remains to been seen if tablets have a long-term future in the business market, there's little doubt that there's plenty of interest in the devices. That interest might be temporary but manufacturers are capitalising on it, and launching a number of new devices.

We're looking at two 7in models: the now relatively veteran Samsung Galaxy Tab and the brand-new HTC Flyer. While the Samsung is older, it compares favourably to the HTC, although it lacks the pen input of the newer device.

There are also hardware differences between the two, but we'll delve into those a little later in this side-by-side review.

Size

Physically, these two devices are very similar. The HTC feels heavier than the Samsung, which is likely down to the metal construction of the Flyer, where the Samsung is made from plastic. The size of the two is also similar, but again the HTC is very slightly larger than the Galaxy Tab. A lot of this seems to be down to the style of the bezel, which is chunkier on the HTC and should help protect the screen if dropped.

HTC includes a case, partly because it needs somewhere for you to store the pen that is included with the Flyer. The case is made from a white leather-like material, which is reasonably good quality, but will not be to everyone's taste. The Samsung doesn't include anything apart from a charger (with its annoying iPod-style connector, rather than the HTC's standard USB system).

Email and chat

There's little to tell the tablets' email apps apart. As you would expect, both have the Gmail app courtesy of Google. With Google Apps becoming a more popular option for corporate use, it's good to see that this application can support multiple accounts.

If you're an Exchange ActiveSync user or your company provides POP3 or IMAP access to its mail servers, then you will be able to use the standard mail application that looks and works similarly on both devices. Vendor customisations change the look slightly, but at their core these apps work in the same way.

Users of Lotus Notes will need to use a separate app, but these are available through the Android Market.

For video calls and chat, there are either third-party market apps, or you can use Google Chat. For video calls, Google's offering is one of the better options. Skype doesn't yet support video on Android (it says this will come in time, and it's already available on iOS devices, like the iPad). And there are others, like Fring, that can also do video calls.

It is worth pointing out that the camera placement on the Flyer does make it less suitable for video calls in portrait mode, which we think will be the way most people will want to make such calls.

Office apps

HTC bundles Polaris Office with the Flyer, which allows you to view and edit documents. Samsung opts for ThinkFree Office on the Tab, which we slightly prefer.

Both of these apps provide a decent way for you to interact with your documents while you're out and about. Google also provides an app that gives access to your Google Docs, but it is a very poor effort and really little more than a local wrapper for the existing Google Docs mobile web interface. If you want access to Google Docs, then GDocs from the market does a better job, although it's still not perfect.