Samsung Canada earlier this week introduced a number of new devices, the Galaxy S Captivate, the Galaxy Tab, and the Windows Phone 7 Samsung Focus, with a concert featuring Canadian band Faber Drive.
Once in, I expected to find the new devices available for us to play with or on display at least. None were in sight (or were they hidden away in the VIP area?). While I waited for the devices to make an appearance, I caught up with a few familiar faces.
An hour went by before Raj Doshi, Vice President of Mobile Product Management at Rogers Communications and Paul Brannen, Vice President at Samsung Mobile Canada, took to the stage to say a few words. Sadly, there was no information about release dates but there was a promise that devices were being shown off by staff in white. I looked around and did not see any.
By the time Faber Drive hit the stage, there was still precious little evidence of any of the devices. I finally noticed one or two Captivates (or perhaps Vibrants as it was quite dark and difficult to tell) but many more BlackBerry devices. And finally some Tabs started showing up in the crowd.
I ended up spending a few minutes with one but conversation with the Samsung rep was difficult as Faber Drive was playing only feet away. My first impression was that the Tab felt like an oversized smartphone. It was odd at first to see a smartphone OS on a larger device but I liked the familiarity that it brought. The Tab’s performance was pretty and applications seemed to scale well to the higher display resolution (but I only tried a few).
Unfortunately, the Canadian version will only support data plans and no voice plans. There is hope though (if I heard correctly): Samsung Canada could release an update to enable voice services should Canadian carriers express such an interest.
While Samsung definitely knows how to throw a party (remember the Metric show this past summer?), I wish that they would give a bit more attention to their devices. Here are a few pictures of the event:
The Venue: The Courthouse in Toronto
Faber Drive
Faber Drive
Samsung Galaxy Tab spotted at last