Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Review

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was initially announced during MWC 2011 with thicker dimensions and an 8-megapixel camera. Not until Apple unveiled its next generation iPad 2 which is thinner and lighter, did the engineers in Samsung go back to the drawing board and give the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 some crucial modification. Then, in CTIA 2011, Samsung re-announced the Galaxy Tab 10.1 with a thinner and lighter profile.

At a Glance 

+ Fast and responsive + Sleek and light + TouchWiz UX + Long battery life - Does not support full HD playback (only works on certain video formats) - Lack of apps for tablet

In the box: 

- Tablet
- Power adapter
- USB cable
- Headset

Exterior, Controls and Screen 

On the surface, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 does not look any different than the other competing 10-inch Honeycomb slates. Of course, the key selling point of this tablet is that it is 8.6 mm sleek and carries a weight of 565g. It is 0.2mm thinner and 36g lighter than its primary rival – the Apple iPad 2. To be honest, it is hard for us to spot any differences between these two tablets. The tablet is comfortable enough to hold it at a portrait view with a single hand, without feeling fatigue.

It has a 10.1-inch PLS-LCD capacitive touch screen display with a whopping 1280 x 800 widescreen resolution. PLS stands for Plan to Line Switching, which Samsung Mobile Display touted for its great viewing angle over the IPS display that could be found in the Apple iPad 2 and Asus Eee Pad Transformer. The display is surrounded by a black bezel, leaving the front facing camera and light sensor on the top. The display of the tablet also acts as a fingerprint magnet. Make sure you have a wiping cloth on standby. like any other Android Honeycomb tablet in the market, the screen is completely free from any physical buttons.

We are glad that the power button of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 sits on top of the tablet, which is extremely convenient for us to reach it, rather than lifting the tablet to press the power button on the back such as with the Motorola Xoom. Next, you will see the volume rocker, followed by the headphone jack and SIM card slot. A USB data connector slot is located on the bottom of the tablet, leaving the rest empty except for the speaker grills on both sides of the tablet. Protecting the back of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a smooth white plastic cover.

Hardware 

Samsung initially decided to power the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with its own customized Exynos chipset, but later decided to switch to Nvidia’s Tegra 2 SoC (System-on-a-Chip). The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor, coupled with 1GB of RAM. Storage-wise, the review unit we had has a 16GB internal storage, and does not support microSD cards. The tablet is equipped with a Li-Po 7000 mAh battery. In our opinion, it could last about two days’ time of normal usage (including web browsing, listening to some music, watch some YouTube and activate GPS for navigation) with WiFi on at all time.

Software 

Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 that was launched in the States, the tablet we have here is preloaded with Samsung TouchWiz UX user interface on top of Android 3.1. The TouchWiz UX offers Live Panel, Quick Panel and Mini Apps Tray that enrich user experience on the Android 3.1 operating system. Live Panel allows user to resize widgets on the home screens. The revamped Quick Panel lets you to have quick access to WiFi, Notification, GPS, Sound, Auto-rotation, Bluetooth and Flight mode. You can even control the screen brightness from there.

Our personal favourite is the Mini Apps Tray. You can pick your favourite music without moving away from your current app. A simple tap on the arrow button located on the System Bar at the bottom of the screen will show a tray of six apps, including Task Manager, Calendar, World Clock, Pen Memo, Calculator and Music. Any apps that are launched from the Mini Apps Tray always stay on top of the screen, allowing you to switch apps uninterrupted. A screenshot button could be found on the System Bar too.

We certainly miss the stock Honeycomb Music app which has the 3D carousel album display as Samsung has replaced the default Music app with its own. Other apps added by Samsung including Photo Editor and Social Hub.

Booting up the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 only requires approximately 38 seconds, which it immediately displays the lock screen to indicate that it is ready to for you to Tab. Nevertheless, our experience with Android 3.1 is quite smooth and better than the original 3.0, though it is still not perfect yet. Unfortunately, there are not many apps catering for Android tablets at the time of writing.

Benchmark Scores 

Hardware Performance 

BenchmarkPi: 558
Quadrant Standard: 2183
AnTuTu Benchmark: 4698

Web Browser Performance 

Acid3 Test: 100/100
SunSpider: 2300.5 ms +/- 1.8%

Camera, Video and Audio 

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is equipped with an auto-focus 3-megapixel camera with LED flash. It does a decent job on snapping sharp and clear photos. It is also able to record HD video at 720p. We definitely welcome Samsung’s skinning on the camera/video app, making more intuitive than the default Honeycomb UI. The speakers on the tablet deliver solid sounds even at maximum level. The only disadvantage is the tablet we had refused to play full HD video at 1080p.

update: Apparently, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is able to play Windows Media Video (.wmv) at full HD. A Samsung clarifies that full HD video only works on certain video formats. alternatively, you can follow our Tips and Tricks on encoding your videos for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Connectivity 

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has all the necessary connectivity options including 3G HSDPA 21 Mbps, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS and USB data connectivity port. GPS performance in this device is superb, as it could manage to get a location lock from a cold boot within 4 seconds. This device does not support charging via USB while plugged to the computer.

Verdict 

Ultimately, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is sleek, light and powerful. However, it is still not powerful and fast enough to consider as a laptop replacement. It is great for people who are multimedia-centric or business users who need to use the Internet and view and edit documents on the go.