My overall first impression of Galaxy Tab 10.1 was quiet favorable. Except for the odd shape, presumably to get that 16:10 aspect ratio, the Samsung tablet pleased out of the box. But further usage led to simply shocking surprises, particularly consuming video. If you're a video junkie, buy iPad 2. Tab 10.1 isn't for you.

Forget Hulu and Netflix

The problem isn't hardware. Galaxy Tab 10.1 is more than capable of delivering 1080p video playback. But the software isn't there. Executives at Google and Samsung should be shamed and then fired for the user experience disaster that video is.

Say, how about sitting back with a cold one and streaming an action flick from Netflix? You can't do it on Galaxy Tab 10.1. The service isn't supported in Android's browser. No problem, there's always Hulu. Honeycomb supports Flash, although it must be downloaded and installed from Android Maket. But, whoops, Hulu delivers error message: "Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform, we apologize for any inconvenience." WTH?

But I'm wondering if this is a problem easily fixed, and shame on Google for shipping Honeycomb this way. All the half-dozen videos I tried had notices about Hulu not having the rights to stream on mobile devices. In my testing, Android 3.1's browser's brought up mobile versions of the more than 50 percent of the sites I visited. Could Hulu be detecting a mobile browser? There is no option that I can find in Tab 10.1's Honeycomb settings to change how the browser is detected.

But it's OK, there's an app for that, right? Uh, no. There are Hulu and Netflix apps for iPad but not for Android tablets like Samsung's. Tab 10.1 lays total goose eggs for these popular video streaming services. More perplexing, Hulu released an Android app last week for -- get this -- six devices, and Tab 10.1 isn't one of them.

How about, gulp, Amazon Instant Video? What luck! The videos play in all their HD glory. Unfortunately, unless the browser settings are changed, it's nearly impossible to access the full-screen control without turning to portrait mode, tapping the button and rotating back to landscape. Buy, hey, the videos play -- and they look and sound great.

Not even Google and Samsung Video Apps?

Two other failings are simply fraking unbelievable. On June 3, I attended a Samsung Android tablet meetup in San Francisco. Gavin Kim, vice president of Content, Data Services, and Enterprise Mobility at Samsung Telecommunications Americas made a compelling pitch for Samsung software. Tab 10.1 comes with three "Hubs": Music, with 13 million songs; Media (for videos); and Reader (for ebooks), he said. Oh yeah? It's not installed on my Tab. If from Galaxy Tab 10.1, I search for Samsung Media Hub in the Android Market, nothing comes up. If I search through the store's web-based portal, I can find the app but see a notice that my device isn't supported.

As bad as that is -- and what could be worse than Samsung software not being supported on Samsung hardware -- Google flubbed up, too. Google Videos would be another option, it's not available for the tablet, either. How is it Google doesn't support its own service on its software? Simply unfathomable. So that's four goose eggs out of five video streaming services.

But if I pick up my iPad 2 and want to stream videos from Netflix. There's an app for that. Hulu Plus? There's an app for that, too. Of course, iPad 2 doesn't support Flash. Apple, Adobe, Google and others can debate all they want about the merits of Flash, but for video consumers like me, it's simple: On the device without Flash there are better video options than on the one with it. How fraked is that?

What About YouTube?

Still, the most popular video service, Google's own YouTube, works just fine, although with some glitches. In a research note released about two weeks ago, Citi analyst Mark Mahaney looked at the most popular video services, based on a survey asking people what they use. More than 69 percent said YouTube, followed by Facebook (27.1 percent), Netflix (24.5 percent) and Hulu (22.5 percent). ComScore ranks sites differently, by unique views. By that measure, in May, YouTube was tops, followed by VEVO, Yahoo sites and Facebook.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 video connoisseurs can use the Android app or browser to watch YouTube. I started with the app and music video, where I was presented with big red button "VEVO Download Free". Clicking through took me to a dead link at the Android Market. What a tease! But, whew, after doing an Android Market search, the VEVO app turned out to be supported on Tab 10.1, and it works quite well, but it's no panacea. I couldn't get the main navigation page to load in landscape mode. Videos do, but the quality is sometimes terrible. It's fuzzball video. You've seen it -- what happens when low-res video goes big screen.

Getting back to YouTube, Google's VEVO channel handles the fuzzball video problem differently. With one of the first music videos I tried, clicking on full screen launched the mode, labeled HD but the videos played crisp and clear in the smaller size. But wait! Choosing another, "Love You Like a Love Song" by Selena Gomez & The Scene, brought up full-screen HD -- and, whoa, what clarity!

I also had better luck with other YouTube content. For example, FilmKritikTV's "Bad Teacher Making Of / Behind The Scenes" is available in 720p. From the web on a PC, clicking fullscreen brings the video to 480p from 360p. I had to manually choose 720p. On the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the video automatically goes HD and it looked better on Tab 10.1 than 11.6-inch MacBook Air.

From Amazon Instant Video, VEVO and YouTube, I can see Galaxy Tab 10.1's video potential, and it certainly has the hardware chops, with its Tegra 2 processor and 1080p playback. But not supporting Hulu or Netflix is a shame, and there are still too many other glitches elsewhere. It feels like something here needed to bake longer in the oven.