Buy a Samsung Galaxy I9000 Tablet

I'm a huge believer in research and reading reviews before buying a product, but when you get stuck at Best Buy for about 4 hours, you're probably going to end up buying something, whether you've researched it or not.

I really thought I was going to end up buying the MacBook Air that I have been looking at for months, but that $1,199 price tag that doesn't include the Photoshop and Microsoft Office for Mac really just wasn't in my budget the other day. Then the new Sony CyberShoot, priced at $357 was much closer; my other Sony died and I like having a small and portable camera in addition to a larger camera.

Well, after decided not to purchase either, I walked back through the store to the TV's, and saw the Galaxy i9000.

I walked away, looking it up on my phone.

I turned around, found a Best Buy employee, and started asking loads of questions that ended with, "do you have one in stock?"

• EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, HSDPA 7.2Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps Tri-Band 900/1900/2100 MHz
• 7 inch WSVGA (1024 x 600) 16M TFT
• Ebook
• GPS/Geo-tagging
• DLNA
• Bluetooth
• Android operating system
• 3MP AF Camera + 1.3MP VT Front Camera
• Full HD (1080p) Playing 4000 mAh battery

Measurements: 7.5 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches

Weight: 13.4 ounces

Again, I normally research and read before I buy a product, but there was something about this product that I just had to have.

What really sold me was that it is near-about a cell phone without the phone capabilities. I can access my emails, favorite Android apps, search the web, and even text from the device without ever needing my phone.

I now have my own Kindle with the ability of colorful games, memo pads, a full browser, emails, etc. I can access the Kindle store, purchase any available books, magazines, and newspapers, and start reading immediately. And, trust me, I've definitely used this capability within the past few days I've owned the device.

The texting is cool. This definitely saves my cell phone battery, but it doesn't use my normal number. When I purchased the device, I put it on my Sprint bill as a month by month plan, which gave the tablet it's own number. I can cancel the $29.99 charge whenever I want and then add it back any time. When it is on the plan, I have full access to all of Sprint's towers, and when the device isn't on my plan, I can still access everything when in a WiFi zone (which means at home and in restaurants with WiFi).

Sprint and Verizon both offer the device. You can also purchase it without purchasing it with Sprint or Verizon, but generally the cost will be about $100+ more, depending on where you purchase the device. Amazon offers the Galaxy i900 for $674, which is still a discounted price when  compared to other vendors.

But, anyway.

• The buttons are easy to access.
• There are alerts for emails and texts, which you have to go in and change the volume for; don't think you've lowered the volume on alerts just by changing the speaker volume on the side.
• There is adjustable back lighting.
• All the normal Android apps in the Market.
• Updates are available just like any other Android operating system.
• The size is smaller than the iPad, but about 2.5 HTC EVO cell phones, which is still a decent size.  Because of the smaller size, this tablet also weighs less.