[Galaxy Tab General] AnitaPeterson:
Hi folks,

I've been lurking on these forums for a while, but I'm starting to develop a serious case of information overload, and there are some puzzling and contradicting reports about the Galaxy Tab.

First of all, allow me to tell you that I'm looking for a 7" device with a set of very specific characteristics, which should:

- play video files (such as .avi, .mkv, .mp4 and .mpg) up to and including 720p with hardware acceleration (no hiccups). I have many scene files encoded at 720p, and NO intention to re-encode them into anything else, for reasons of time and convenience.

- play most audio files (ideally, this should give me total control and an explorer-like interface, not tag-based, since not all my music is properly tagged, and it's hard to find out what you're looking for if the tags say just "unknown artist" and "track 1")

- display most (if not all) known e-book formats, including full-colour .pdf

- have a full web browsing experience - please note that I'm not interested in data plans, 3G, HSPA and the like - a simple WiFi capability is enough for me.

Until very recently, I was going to buy a Nook Color and root the heck out of it (thanks to this place!), but in the past weeks I've been more and more interested in the Galaxy Tab.

Now, I had the chance to play with the Tab at a store (I'm talking about an "original" version, as available here, in Canada, not the recent WiFi-only U.S. model). I even had a microSD card with me, and I tried to play several music files, as well as a few samples representing the type of SD and HD (720p) videos I mostly deal with. I was blown away by the fact that the Galaxy Tab was able to play most of these - .mkv, .mp4, .avi without problems (although the audio on the .mp4 file didn't seem to run with the stock player.

All in all, though, the Tab seems a much more capable device than the Nook, and I enjoyed immensely the way it felt. I'm ambivalent about the cameras (Skype would be good, but does not seem to work on it at the moment), but I was truly impressed by the Gorilla Glass quality of its IPS screen, the quality of the GPS, the availability of Bluetooth, and the overall experience of handling it - and that with a stock ROM! I can only imagine what a tweaked OS could do.

I've seen recent reports that the WiFi-only Tab is not, as it was originally rumored, identical to the original version minus the SIM card reader. Various forum discussions suggest the WiFi-only Tab has different components as well, and that many of the original hacks won't work on this one.

As such, I'm confused - and my confusion is only complicated by the difference in the prices and availability of the devices. Here in Canada, I can get the "original" Tab for $399, while in the States it's still sold for $429; meanwhile, the WiFi-only is cheaper (at $349), albeit U.S. exclusive.

I will be visiting the States in the week after Easter; before discovering the Tab, I was going to buy the Nook Color at that time.

But right now, it seems to me that I have three distinct possibilities:

1) Get the Tab from the Canadian market, at a higher price, but with the guarantee that most of the goodies posted on XDA will work on it.

2) Get the cheaper, WiFi-only version from the U.S., without the certainty that it will be as capable as the original.

3) Wait for something else (like the upcoming Acer A100), or a breakthrough in the development of the considerably cheaper-but-still-formidable Nook Color.

What would you good folks do, if you were in my place? Is the WiFi-only just as reliable and hackable as the original iteration, or is it worth spending an extra $50 (plus taxes) for peace of mind?... Or would you go for something else instead?

Please feel free to post your thoughts, suggestions, ideas - and hopefully, not too many dirty jokes, while you're at it! :P Thanks!