We spent some time getting to grips with the new London Eye in-capsule experience, a set of six Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1s per pod, providing visitors with more information on the famous London skyline.
Each tab is securely fastened to the capsule's rail and presents a section of the London skyline. Sliding your finger left or right allows you to smoothly scroll through the 360 degree view which you get from any of the 32 capsules.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 responses well, effortlessly glides through the various actions and quickly switching between the five language modes; English, French, German, Dutch and Spanish.
Due to the secure fitting, we raised concerns about glare from the sun, coupled with a display which did not look at its brightest. We were reassured that a mechanism to tilt the tablet up and down would be available soon to counter the issue, but a boost in screen brightness certainly would not go amiss.
The skyline image is smattered with points, 44 in total, which you can press to gain more information about a landmark.
By default, the app will ping you back to the view from that particular tablet location; however the icon to do this, located in the centre of the toolbar, is not intuitive in its design and may confuse some users.
By selecting a landmark you get a short description, plus the distance it is from the Eye, the year it was constructed and its height (for some of the taller buildings).
On five on the landmarks there is the option to "look-inside", providing the visitor with a unique view from inside some of London's top structures.
It's a nice feature, but we would have liked to see it feature on more landmarks; however, we were told by our London Eye representative there are plans to expand in the future.
If you want to quickly find out information on a particular landmark, or view all the landmarks available, a press of the magnifying glass pops up a menu listing all 44 points of interest.
Users can select from day or night views of the skyline, with the latter providing a more striking display, with London lit up at night. It is simple to switch between the two modes, pressing the sun or moon in the bottom left corner.
All in all the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a pleasing, subtle addition to the London Eye, blending nicely into the aesthetics of the capsule so not to spoil the view, while providing a fun and educational experience for young and old.
As long as promises to improve features and to continue updating the system are kept, this feature will certainly prove to be a winner.
