Samsung releases USB host adapter for Galaxy Tab 10.1
Samsung’s 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab is perhaps the Honeycomb tablet that’s the most “premium” right now, with thickness and overall design that puts it a bit ahead of the competition. Samsung uses their own 30 pin dock connector for accessories and USB connectivity, which means that you can’t just plug in anything you want. To “fix” this, now Samsung has released a USB host adapter that utilizes this 30 pin connector. It’s priced at $20 and is very similar to both the Apple Camera Connection Kit and Asus’ USB kit for the Transformer.
I’m not blaming them for using the same design though, as there is a rather limited number of ways you can make such an adapter without breaking functionality for the sake of a different design. I’m more concerned about more and more Honeycomb tablets having specialized 30 pin connectors. With the iPad, you at least have 8 years worth of cables and accessories from both iPods, iPhones and iPads that will likely work to some degree (there have been specification changes over the years) with the connector. This adapter from Samsung however doesn’t even work on the original Galaxy Tab, which is still being sold. I wish all the Honeycomb manufacturers could get together and decide that they’re all better off if they share accessory specs, but that’s not likely to happen.
[via Engadget]
