The Wi-Fi-only Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the thinnest Honeycomb tablet available, but until Samsung pushes out the customized user interface it's planning, you won't really know what you're getting.
Not its first tablet , but Samsung's first entry into the recent Honeycomb tablet boom, the Wi-Fi Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a hair thinner than the Apple iPad 2 ($499, 4.5 stars). Despite this physical feat, it won't replace last year's 7-inch Galaxy Tab —Samsung reps claim they're selling far too well. And with a Verizon Wireless version of the 10.1 coming soon, as well as another smaller screen model, it's difficult to pick out which of the plethora of Galaxy Tabs is right for you, or whether any are. The $499.99 (list) Tab 10.1 is as capable as any of its Honeycomb competitors, but Samsung might change that. While it's pure Honeycomb now, the company has plans to customize the Tab 10.1's operating system somewhere down the line. Samsung has a checkered past around timely Android updates and UI customizations on its phones, and that could be repeated with the Tab 10.1.
Design and Features
Measuring approximately 6.9 by 10.1 by 0.3 inches, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 looks vastly different than every tablet we've seen thus far. Just kidding—they all look virtually identical. From the front, the Tab 10.1 most closely resembles the iPad 2 in overall appearance (no logos, just a black frame around the display) and theMotorola Xoom ($599, 3.5 stars) in shape. Like the Xoom, its 10.1-inch, 1280-by-800 pixel display makes it ideal for watching widescreen format video and HD content. By taking up more surface area than either the Xoom or iPad 2, the Tab 10.1 manages to be noticeably (not obviously) thinner and, at 19.9 ounces, lighter than either one. The plastic back panel is offered in white (like our review unit) or black, and both models are available in 16GB (as we tested) or 32GB capacities, the latter costing $599.99. An exclusive distribution deal with Best Buy will eventually fade into wider-spread availability this summer.
Measuring approximately 6.9 by 10.1 by 0.3 inches, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 looks vastly different than every tablet we've seen thus far. Just kidding—they all look virtually identical. From the front, the Tab 10.1 most closely resembles the iPad 2 in overall appearance (no logos, just a black frame around the display) and the
The back panel houses the rear-facing 3.0-megapixel camera lens. A front-facing 2.0 megapixel lens is situated on the front panel, and both lenses sit in the middle of the long top edge of the tablet, for horizontal use. Near the lenses, on the top panel, there's a 3.5mm headphone jack that is thoughtfully accompanied by a pair of standard-issue earbuds. The earbuds aren't terribly good, but something is better than nothing, which is what you get with nearly every other competing tablet.
Along the side panels, there are left and right internal speakers; the top edge houses the Power and Volume controls, and on the bottom panel there's a proprietary connection for the included charging/sync cable, which connects the tablet to both your computer and the AC adapter via USB.
Just like all the recent Honeycomb tablets, the Tab 10.1 is powered by Nvidia's Dual-Core Tegra 2 processor. The tablet supports 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and there's built-in GPS, an accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass. While the Tab will handle 1080p video, there's no HDMI output to mirror to an HDTV, unlike many other Honeycomb tablets, such as the Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 ($399-499, 3.5 stars). And there's no USB port, either.
Performance
Since all Honeycomb tablets thus far have shipped with the same Tegra 2 CPU inside, our system test results for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 are very similar to those for almost every other Honeycomb tablet. Whether it's on our BenchmarkPi test or GUIMark2 Flash tests, the Tab 10.1 and the Xoom (and the rest fo the Honeycomb tablets) all perform so similarly the data results are interchangeable. Until a current-gen Android tablet emerges that doesn't use Tegra 2, this is unlikely to change. That said, that Tegra 2 means strong overall processor performance, with smooth UI navigation and fast loading times for most Flash-based websites.
Since all Honeycomb tablets thus far have shipped with the same Tegra 2 CPU inside, our system test results for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 are very similar to those for almost every other Honeycomb tablet. Whether it's on our BenchmarkPi test or GUIMark2 Flash tests, the Tab 10.1 and the Xoom (and the rest fo the Honeycomb tablets) all perform so similarly the data results are interchangeable. Until a current-gen Android tablet emerges that doesn't use Tegra 2, this is unlikely to change. That said, that Tegra 2 means strong overall processor performance, with smooth UI navigation and fast loading times for most Flash-based websites.
Samsung rates the Galaxy tab 10.1 (Wi-Fi)'s battery life at up to 9 hours. Our own test results will be posted here soon.
Honeycomb…And What Samsung Might Do To It
Honeycomb, or Android 3.0, Google's tablet-specific OS hasn't varied much at all from tablet to tablet so far. In a nutshell, it is a very capable OS—a tad cluttered at times, but more customizable than Apple's iOS. App selection for Honeycomb is weak, whereas Apple's iPad-optimized app selection is quite strong, so there is a strong need for improvement in this category, but it seems more up to developers than anyone else. Google recently released Android 3.1 (which the Galaxy Tab 10.1 ships with) to most existing Honeycomb tablets, and there have thus far been few manufacturer customizations. This Android version brings better multitasking (you can now open upwards of 20 apps simultaneously instead of just five) and full support for Adobe Flash 10.3. (As you might have heard, the iPad 2 has no Flash support whatsoever.) To better understand the OS, check out ourHoneycomb review . To better understand what to expect from the Galaxy Tab 10.1's version of Honeycomb down the road, read on.
Honeycomb, or Android 3.0, Google's tablet-specific OS hasn't varied much at all from tablet to tablet so far. In a nutshell, it is a very capable OS—a tad cluttered at times, but more customizable than Apple's iOS. App selection for Honeycomb is weak, whereas Apple's iPad-optimized app selection is quite strong, so there is a strong need for improvement in this category, but it seems more up to developers than anyone else. Google recently released Android 3.1 (which the Galaxy Tab 10.1 ships with) to most existing Honeycomb tablets, and there have thus far been few manufacturer customizations. This Android version brings better multitasking (you can now open upwards of 20 apps simultaneously instead of just five) and full support for Adobe Flash 10.3. (As you might have heard, the iPad 2 has no Flash support whatsoever.) To better understand the OS, check out our
Because Samsung customizes user interfaces, it has to customize OS updates as well, in order to keep the user interface experience consistent for the customer—and this takes a while. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will ship with un-customized Honeycomb 3.1, but Samsung will soon push out an update that will change the way the user interface looks and operates. Samsung reps claim the changes will be subtle, but regardless of how they look, it could be a huge gamble on Samsung's part, and on the part of early buyers of the Tab 10.1. Users accustomed to Honeycomb will have to adapt to the new changes, and of course, when Google pushes out further updates to the OS, Samsung will have to first customize them and then push that update out to its customers. If it's a matter of days or even a few weeks, that's not a huge deal. But Samsung's customers in the mobile phone world know firsthand that Android updates can take a long, long time—months—before the manufacturer deems them ready for release. What you're getting when you buy the Galaxy Tab, in other words, might not be what you'll get long-term.
Apps
The apps you get on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 are the standard array of Honeycomb preloads, with Camera, YouTube, Maps, Market, Browser, Google Talk, Gmail, and Music all on the home screen. If you've already owned an Android device, there's a good chance that, upon syncing the Tab 10.1 with your Gmail account (which is required the first time you power up), all of your previously downloaded apps will load into your Apps library—ours did. The idea behind this is similar to the idea behind Google's Music beta, which is one of the new apps included in the 3.1 update. Music you load into the "cloud" using Music beta can then be streamed to just about anywhere you can access the service—your computer, for instance, or the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Loading music on to the tablet is also option, of course, and this process is straightforward. While loading video and photo files on to the device is also simple, one caveat: don't go looking for your videos under a "Movies" icon on the tablet, even though that's what you dragged them into on your computer. All photos and videos are lumped together in the Gallery app, an odd organizational choice on Google's part, but hardly a shortcoming.
The apps you get on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 are the standard array of Honeycomb preloads, with Camera, YouTube, Maps, Market, Browser, Google Talk, Gmail, and Music all on the home screen. If you've already owned an Android device, there's a good chance that, upon syncing the Tab 10.1 with your Gmail account (which is required the first time you power up), all of your previously downloaded apps will load into your Apps library—ours did. The idea behind this is similar to the idea behind Google's Music beta, which is one of the new apps included in the 3.1 update. Music you load into the "cloud" using Music beta can then be streamed to just about anywhere you can access the service—your computer, for instance, or the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Loading music on to the tablet is also option, of course, and this process is straightforward. While loading video and photo files on to the device is also simple, one caveat: don't go looking for your videos under a "Movies" icon on the tablet, even though that's what you dragged them into on your computer. All photos and videos are lumped together in the Gallery app, an odd organizational choice on Google's part, but hardly a shortcoming.
Samsung includes its own app, Music Hub, on the Tab 10.1. It's an online music store that differs very little from other online music stores in terms of price ($1.29 is typical for a hot single) or selection (mainstream, with some independent titles in the mix). The layout of the app is not as straightforward as it could be in comparison to, say, the iTunes Store on the iPad, but its included on the device for free and it's there for you to use or ignore.
The apps shortcoming here is in selection. There just aren't enough apps specifically designed for Honeycomb tablets yet. The ones that are available are, at best, useful, but not overwhelmingly exciting. Games like Angry Birds look fantastic on the HD screen, but there's no shortage of apps that were made for mobile phones and look horrible on a large tablet screen. There are also some tablet apps in the Market that were created pre-Honeycomb, and don't always play nice with the new tablet-specific OS. Hopefully, within the year, this will change, but right now, if it's excellent apps that you crave, a Honeycomb tablet like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is probably not your best option. In fact, if you seek a wide selection of quality apps, the iPad 2 is pretty much the only tablet for you right now.
Browser
All Honeycomb tablets have the same Android Browser app built-in, so we'll keep this short: It works just fine, though it could use some minor tweaking. The upgrade to full Flash support means that videos play within a window now—in the Flash beta mode, video would not play back properly without being viewed in full-screen, which often isn't flattering for Web-video resolution.
All Honeycomb tablets have the same Android Browser app built-in, so we'll keep this short: It works just fine, though it could use some minor tweaking. The upgrade to full Flash support means that videos play within a window now—in the Flash beta mode, video would not play back properly without being viewed in full-screen, which often isn't flattering for Web-video resolution.
The navigation and control of the Browser app is just as intuitive as Safari's is on the iPad—both Google and Apple know how to make user-friendly, simple apps. The iPad lacks Flash support, however, which means that video on sites like BBC News won't play, but many sites have made the switch to HTML5 as a video standard. Since the iPad and Honeycomb tablets basically trade which sites play video or don't, we'll call this a draw, with a slight edge for Honeycomb because it supports Flash animation on websites.
What's not a draw is the Honeycomb browser's ugly habit of defaulting to minimal, graphics-free mobile sites instead of the full web versions. The iPad 2 has this problem occasionally, but when you switch to the full site by scrolling to the bottom of the webpage and tapping that option, Safari remembers and loads the full version next time. On the Galaxy Tab 10.1, every visit to ESPN.com took me to the mobile version of the site. When there, I tried to play a video and it sputtered so much that it couldn't make it past the 30 second lead-in commercial, despite a strong Wi-Fi connection. When I switched to the full version of ESPN's site, video no longer appeared as an option. Tablets, despite what Apple and Google and company want you to believe, surfing on a tablet isn't a truly desktop-like web experience.
Camera
The Camera app offers a slightly different layout than the same app on the Xoom, but the settings are quite similar. From Auto Focus to Scene Modes, White Balance parameters to Metering, there is a lot more to mess around with in Google's Camera app than there is in the iPad's Camera app. Not only that, but the iPad 2 can't come close—with either of its lenses—to the photo quality of the competition, the Tab 10.1 included. The Tab's camcorder captures 720p footage and the camera, which has an LED flash for the rear-facing, 3.0 megapixel lens, is drastically better than the iPad's, though merely comparable to the rest of the similar-spec Honeycomb tablets. And despite what any of these spec ranges tell you, the bottom line is: no tablet out there has a good camera yet—the Tab 10.1's shots won't look as good as anything from a standard point-and-shoot camera.
The Camera app offers a slightly different layout than the same app on the Xoom, but the settings are quite similar. From Auto Focus to Scene Modes, White Balance parameters to Metering, there is a lot more to mess around with in Google's Camera app than there is in the iPad's Camera app. Not only that, but the iPad 2 can't come close—with either of its lenses—to the photo quality of the competition, the Tab 10.1 included. The Tab's camcorder captures 720p footage and the camera, which has an LED flash for the rear-facing, 3.0 megapixel lens, is drastically better than the iPad's, though merely comparable to the rest of the similar-spec Honeycomb tablets. And despite what any of these spec ranges tell you, the bottom line is: no tablet out there has a good camera yet—the Tab 10.1's shots won't look as good as anything from a standard point-and-shoot camera.
Google's Talk app works just as well as Apple's FaceTime video chat app, which is to say there's room for improvement. Video chats rarely look particularly sharp on a large tablet screen—there's typically a lot of low-res, sputtering video—but it works, and it's free. Talk is far more versatile than FaceTime, too: It works across any device or platform that can run the Talk app or Gmail. FaceTime is limited to specific Apple products.
Conclusions
The Wi-Fi Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1 looks and feels great and operates smoothly. It's not as graceful as the iPad 2, nor does it have access to as many quality apps. As a Honeycomb tablet, it only stands out as the thinnest—it's not as inexpensive as the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, which is also Wi-Fi only, and there are no extra features here, like theT-Mobile G-Slate with Google (by LG) 's ($629.99, 3.5 stars) 3D camera. The big unknown, for now: Will Samsung's customization of the OS improve Honeycomb? It had better, because making customers wait for Honeycomb updates when the customization does not improve the already-capable user interface is a real problem. The prospect of this is enough for me to offer the following advice: If you are thinking of buying the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, wait. Until that customized user interface is pushed out, you don't really know what you're getting, other than a thin tablet that's similar to a lot of other Android tablets out there.
The Wi-Fi Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1 looks and feels great and operates smoothly. It's not as graceful as the iPad 2, nor does it have access to as many quality apps. As a Honeycomb tablet, it only stands out as the thinnest—it's not as inexpensive as the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, which is also Wi-Fi only, and there are no extra features here, like the
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