Keyboard for New Samsung Galaxy Tab a 101 Wi-fi Tablet 128gb Review

Our Verdict

Samsung's super slim and light Galaxy Tab 10.i is a beautifully designed tablet that does justice to the Honeycomb experience.

For

• Lighter than the iPad 2
• Bright and crisp display
• Good battery life
• Powerful speakers
• Good touch keyboard

Against

• No microSD card slot
• Sub-par cameras
• App choice still skimpy

Laptop Mag Verdict

Samsung's super slim and light Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a beautifully designed tablet that does justice to the Honeycomb experience.

Pros

• +

  Lighter than the iPad 2

• +

  Vivid and well-baked brandish

• +

  Good bombardment life

• +

  Powerful speakers

• +

  Good bear upon keyboard

Cons

• -

  No microSD card slot

• -

  Sub-par cameras

• -

  App selection still skimpy

The iPad two raised the bar for tablet design, and now Samsung has responded with the Milky way Tab 10.one, which is fifty-fifty lighter and but as thin as Apple tree's sequel. In fact, it makes every other Android Honeycomb tablet on the market expect bloated. Priced at $499 for the 16GB version, the Tab 10.1 also features the latest Android 3.i software, which promises swifter--and more than stable--performance, along with other welcome enhancements. Does this slate take what it takes to have down the gnaw?

Editors' Note: Portions of this review were taken from our review of the Samsung Milky way Tab 10.one Express Edition.

Design

This is equally svelte as Android tablets get. At 9.7 x 6.vii ten 0.34 inches, the Galaxy Tab 10.one is a petty wider than the iPad 2 (9.v x 7.3 inches), only it has the aforementioned thickness. In the weight department, the Tab is a pilus lighter, coming in at 1.24 pounds to the iPad two's 1.35 pounds. The Tab 10.1 has a black bezel around the screen, and there's a strip of aluminum that goes along the top, bottom, and sides. Even so, the back is a glossy white plastic that, while solid, feels less premium than the aluminum back on the iPad 2.

Still, the Tab x.1'southward light weight makes a huge divergence, especially when compared to other Honeycomb tablets such equally the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer or the Motorola Xoom (i.4 and i.6 pounds, respectively). Our wrists didn't go as tired holding the Galaxy Tab for long reading sessions, and the rounded edges fabricated information technology more comfortable to hold.

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Along the edges of the Tab 10.one you'll only detect two buttons (power and volume toggle on meridian) and just 1 port (the ten-pin proprietary connector) on the lesser. Two small oval speakers sit down on the left and correct. Unlike nigh other Android tablets, there's no user-accessible microSD card slot or the total-size USB found on the Acer Iconia Tab A500. Not existence able to add actress memory means owners are stuck with the 16GB or 32GB that comes with the unit.

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A 3-megapixel camera and flash sit on the back in the center. The 2-MP forepart-facing camera is the only thing that interrupts the drinking glass-covered display bezel on the forepart.

Display and Audio

Click to enlargeThe Tab's 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 WXGA brandish offered bright, popping colors and slap-up contrast, plus wide viewing angles. Next to the iPad 2's smaller ix.7-inch screen, the Galaxy Tab's looks slightly less vivid due to the subtle blue tinge to the brandish. Still, while watching episodes of Criminal Minds, nosotros held the Tab 10.1 at very extreme angles yet didn't run into whatsoever colour distortion. While the Tab ten.1's glossy display had an unfortunate habit of picking up fingerprints easily, it responded instantly to taps and swipes.

Given the small-scale speakers, we found audio quality on the Tab 10.i better than expected. While listening to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band's "Those Grimy Little Stars," and Tricky Pixie's "Tam Lin," nosotros noted that layers of sound weren't equally split up as we'd like, but the audio did accept some depth to it. Bass and treble were distinct, though the former wasn't very stiff. Nosotros had to turn volume up to 100 percent in a medium-sized room with minimal background racket. In quieter situations, 50- to 70-percent volume filled the room.

Software and Interface

At launch, the Milky way Tab 10.ane shipped with Android 3.i "Honeycomb," but lacked the TouchWix UX interface Samsung showed off at earlier events. The company says that it will be available via an over-the-air update, though no time frame for that has been announced.

We similar Android three.i on the Tab x.1 just equally much as on the Motorola Xoom and found the system more stable than the Limited Edition, which had Android iii.0. Even with more than a dozen apps open simultaneously, nosotros were able to switch between them quickly (thanks to the app tray, which now holds up to sixteen of your most recent apps) without delays and without crashing. We also like the ability to resize widgets on the Home screens, assuasive u.s.a. to better take advantage of the available real estate.

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As with other Honeycomb tablets, the system bar at the bottom of the screen is persistent. That's where y'all'll discover the Back, Domicile, and Recent Application buttons (which wait like infinite-age line drawings) on the left side. The bottom correct houses the notification area, where you lot can do everything from glance at incoming due east-post alerts and skipping to the next song to adjusting settings such every bit brightness. When you open an app, the Action Bar will appear, which presents contextual menu items at the top of the screen.

The Galaxy Tab's keyboard is non the standard layout constitute on the Motorola Xoom. Information technology looks similar an enlarged version of the keyboard found on the 7-inch Galaxy Tab. Overall, we prefer this layout, which has larger, easier-to-read keys. You'll also find alternating punctuation characters available via tap and hold. And considering the Galaxy Tab x.ane is narrower than the iPad 2, we institute thumb typing to be faster on this tablet.

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Photographic camera and Camcorder

The thought that consumers don't really care almost the cameras on tablets must be pervasive, because Samsung isn't giving them any reason to beloved taking pictures and videos with the Galaxy Tab. The 3-MP rear-facing camera captured slightly done-out images. Video recorded indoors at 720p had a lot of dissonance and graininess. It was less grainy when we adjusted the white balance ourselves instead of leaving it on auto, merely we've seen amend from high-cease smartphones.

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The photographic camera app does offer some nice features. Users can choose from eight different options in scene mode and utilize 3 furnishings/filters as they shoot. We'd like to see more filters, particularly since adding them can save an otherwise lackluster prototype. We like the more advanced photography features included also, such as the ability to switch from auto-focus to Macro mode for more control over close-up shots and the 3 Metering options. There'southward no digital zoom, though. There are four shooting modes; nosotros particularly like the panorama mode as it makes information technology like shooting fish in a barrel to line upwards shots. Too bad all of this software is wasted on such low-quality cameras.

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Despite the lack of a flash, the ii-MP front-facing camera took self-portraits that weren't also night and showed a decent level of detail. During video chats using the Google Talk app, our image lacked sharpness and colors washed out. Notwithstanding, over Wi-Fi the video and audio stayed in sync and we didn't blur too much when the device was jostled around.

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Performance

Like all the other Honeycomb tablets thus far, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 rocks a 1-GHz Nvidia Tegra two processor backed by 1GB of RAM. However, thanks to the upgrade to Android 3.i, the Tab x.1 is snappier and more stable performer than Android 3.0 slates. The device had no trouble handling robust games such as Plants vs. Zombies, as well as multiple tabs in the browser. We also didn't experience any crashes or force-closes during our testing.

On the CPU portion of the Criterion exam, the Tab 10.1 scored iii,158.vii, higher than the Motorola Xoom (two,996) and the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (3,126), merely slightly below the Acer Iconia Tab A500 (3,214). The Limited Edition Tab ten.one posted a nearly identical 3,196.9. On AN3DBench, the Tab 10.1's score of 7526 was nearly the same as the Express Edition (seven,593), and it bests the category average (6,754) and the Iconia Tab (6,938), simply not the Eee Pad Transformer (8,579).

While playing Aroused Birds Rio, Fruit Ninja, and more complex 3D games such as Jet Car Stunts, we saw smooth frame rates, great responsiveness, and well-rendered backgrounds. The accelerometer easily kept up with the twisting, turning tracks in Jet Machine Stunts.

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Over Wi-Fi, the Tab 10.1 loaded full, image-heavy websites speedily: Flickr'southward Interestingness page in 3 seconds, Laptopmag in 5 seconds, and Lightspeed Magazine in vii seconds. On average, they were about 1.5 seconds faster than the Special Edition. Unfortunately, scrolling wasn't every bit smooth or as fast as we would like.

Battery Life

The Galaxy Tab ten.1's 6,860 mAh lithium-polymer battery lasted a pretty solid 8 hours and 23 mintues (eight:23). That's nigh 20 mintues longer than the Motorola Xoom, merely well beneath the iPad 2's runtime (eleven:11).

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Apps and Media

Aside from some of the typical Google apps that come up with Android--Gmail, Latitude, Flick Studio, Music (beta), and Talk--the Tab is pre-loaded with few apps. There's QuickOffice Hard disk drive complimentary for documents, Pulse news reader, plus Samsung'due south Music Hub and Apps. Samsung's app store has few titles correct now (six as of printing time).

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When compared to the more than ninety,000 iPad apps available, the Android ecosystem has some communicable up to do. Currently there are just 60 apps listed in the Android Market place specifically designed for tablets. The rest of the more than than 200,000 apps usually expand to fill up the screen without problem, though there are exceptions. In addition, in that location are currently 15 games bachelor from the Nvidia Tegra Zone, including Fruit Ninja, Pinball Hard disk drive, and Riptide GP.

Currently, Google Movies doesn't piece of work with the Tab 10.1 even though it's running Android 3.1. Google said it would bring that service to all 3.one tablets, and as the Tab is very new, we hope that an update to the Market place is forthcoming soon. Since Samsung'southward MediaHub is also MIA, there aren't many options for Tab owners to watch premium video content at this fourth dimension.

Pricing and Value

Click to enlargeThe Wi-Fi version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 costs $499 for 16GB and $599 for 32GB. This is the aforementioned pricing for the Apple iPad two with similar storage. Acer's Iconia Tab A500 starts at $50 less for 16GB and includes a microSD slot for retentiveness expansion, just it isn't as light as the Milky way Tab. The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer starts at $100 less (without the dock) and also has a memory card slot.

Verdict

For those who like the idea of owning an Android-powered tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is ane sexy slice of hardware. Information technology's merely every bit thin and even weighs less than the iPad ii, and the latest Android 3.1 Os makes using Honeycomb a much better experience. If you don't mind the actress weight, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer offers similar functioning to the Tab ten.i for $100 less and works well with an optional keyboard. Overall, though, the Tab 10.one'south sleeker blueprint, bully brandish, loud speakers, and strong endurance arrive among our favorite Honeycomb tablets.

Samsung Milky way Tab ten.ane (Wi-Fit Specs

Make	Samsung
CPU	1-GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 Dual-Core
Camera Resolution	3MP
Company Website	http://www.samsung.com/us
Display Resolution	1280 x 800
Display Size	x.1
Front end-Facing Camera Resolution	2.0MP
Has Bluetooth	Yes
Bone	Android three.1
Ports	Headphone, Proprietary
Size	9.7 x 6.7 ten 0.34 inches
Storage Drive Size	16GB
Storage Drive Blazon	Wink Memory
Weight	ane.two pounds
Wi-Fi	802.11a/b/one thousand/north

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Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/tablets/samsung-galaxy-tab-10-1-wi-fi

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