@IzzoNet
>>> The New Ipad or Samsung Galaxy?
There is a big difference in size and also the price. I prefer the smaller size making it more readily to use outside.
@masimka1
Yes the screen is good but I was not able to take advantage of the $25 Play Store credit.
@FunToys
Now I have one I can certainly recommend you get one ASAP.
===========================//=============================
YIPPEE - at long last it has arrived. No longer necessary to drool over the reviews.
A friend returned from a visit to the 'States with the 16 Gig version excluding import duty which made it a bargain at 250 USD. I am very fortunate because they are not available in this country, not even from the Google online store.
Very good initial impressions are the fast, clear responsive screen, processing speed, battery life, wealth of free applications and it is so easy to get Wifi connected. Also connected easily to desktop with the small cable although hardly necessary with applications such as Dropbox and Evernote. Voice capabilities well over 90% accurate and reminds me of Holly from Red Dwarf.
Disappointments in awkwardness to handle, quite heavy and definitely requires a case to prevent dropping. The protruding power button has received many choice words which hopefully have not been added to the dictionary. The camera is poor quality. Problems locally because fast Wifi connections are just not available and a SIM card would have made a big difference. I miss mouse right-clicking and the ease of cutting and pasting, the latter is possible but not simple.
Also a big disappointment with the book reader application. It just seemed alien and very heavy when reading in portrait mode. Landscape mode seems a lot lighter but screen width is far too wide. There are so many more options available that surely there must be at least one that suits my requirements. The “Read Aloud” mode raised a a smile and is very good although the female robotic voice needs improvement. It brings back memories of being read a story in bed 
There are many other readers available which I will be trying soon.
The Translate App’ is impressive, not only text but also the surprisingly accurate speech input. Besides the usual “send to” numerous app’s a novel feature is to view the written results full screen. I am sure this could be a useful feature but if the translated language is not understood then problems are likey to occur. I would prefer to request and display an image which speaks…
The speech recognition also works well while browsing and is an excellent demonstration tool. Sometimes commands are returned spoken along with relevant Google searches, maps, weather reports, worldwide city times, exchange rates, arithmetic, maps,
Overall it is a big step which can only get better and hopefully Big Brother will learn that a local map of coffee houses is not a good substitute for the “bring me a coffee” request 