It’s had a troubled route to market, but theSamsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is finally with us. Can it finally offer us an Android Honeycomb tablet worthy of mentioning in the same breath as the iPad 2? Read on to find out.
Verdict
Undoubtedly the best Android tablet yet, but until Google addresses Honeycomb’s problems it’ll remain in the iPad 2′s shadow
We love
Slim but solid build, excellent web browser
We hate
Android Honeycomb still lacking, limited connectivity
Specs
Screen: 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 resolution
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, HSPA+, GPS, Bluetooth
Camera: 3-megapixel rear, 2-megapixel front
Storage: 16GB
Battery: 7,000mAh
Size/weight: 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.6 mm, 565 grams
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 we have in our possession has been through its fair share of trials – and that’s no comment against the courier service that delivered it. Samsung’s first 10.1-inch Android tablet has been redesigned, delayed and even banned from sale in certain European countries thanks to an ugly spat with Apple. After all these troubles, then, it’s a delight to report that the final device is an absolute joy to use.
Initial impressions are overwhelmingly positive. Samsung has finally managed to combine its obsessive focus on slim, lightweight devices with solid build quality and premium feel. There’s a tiny bit of flex on the plastic back panel (well, what do you expect?), and the volume and power buttons feel ever so slightly cheap and clicky, but overall this is a beautifully built tablet.
Unlike the Motorola Xoom (its main Android rival), the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 won’t be a pain to lug around either. It’s both thinner (8.6mm) and lighter (565 grams) than the iPad 2, yet it feels hefty enough to inspire confidence when handling.
Screen and usability
The quality of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1′s screen is pretty much equal to the Motorola Xoom’s – that is, it’s very good indeed. It’s bright, relatively sharp (it
packs in almost 20 pixels per inch more than the iPad 2) and easy to view from an angle – which is important when you’re showing a YouTube video to the person next to you, for example.
It’s very responsive, too, reacting to your touches, drags and pinch-to-zoom commands nicely. The true test for this is in general web browsing, when most of the links you’ll encounter will be designed with mouse-control in mind. Despite this potential difficulty, we haven’t ‘clicked’ on the wrong link yet.
This supreme usability doesn’t quite extend to the Android Honeycomb OS itself. It’s bright and inviting, with a widget-heavy interface and a reasonably intuitive multi-home screen interface, but it’s not as smooth as we would have expected some eight months on from launch.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 runs on a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor which, while not the fastest of its kind, should be more than enough to run such an OS flawlessly. And yet, even in this second version of Google’s tablet OS (3.1), it still stutters, pauses and occasionally hangs when switching between apps. Even worse, just flicking idly between home screens isn’t the buttery smooth experience we should be getting by now.
Connectivity
What the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 does lack when compared to the Motorola Xoom is connectivity. There’s no HDMI-out for hooking the tablet up to your HD TV and no microSD card for expanding the memory.
This latter point could pose a problem given that the model we tested had just 16GB of internal storage, which will soon fill up if you want to watch plenty of high definition videos on the device.
All you get in terms of physical connections is one iPad-like general port for charging and hooking the Galaxy Tab 10.1 up to your computer. Other than this, the Tab is well equipped with wireless connection methods, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and in the case of this Vodafone model, 3G.
Camera and media playback
Unlike when we’re discussing smartphones, cameras in tablets really aren’t that important. Sure, a front-facing camera (which the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has) is nice if you want to indulge in a spot of video calling, but no one in their right mind would use a 10-inch, 600 gram slab of plastic and glass as a proper camera
replacement.
Still, for what it’s worth the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1′s 3-megapixel camera is just about adequate, and at least it has a flash for low light shots. Of course, they’ll look terrible when viewed back on the Tab’s 10.1-inch screen, but the option’s there.
Samsung’s 10-incher is far better at playing and displaying media than creating it. Its wide-screen display might make general use a little odd when held in portrait view, but in its intended landscape orientation it makes for an excellent movie-watching experience.
Given Samsung’s traditionally strong video codec support, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 should run most of the videos you can throw at it – including stuter-free 720p HD. Special mention should be made of the native YouTube app, which with its swish carousel interface and rock solid performance is one of the best apps on offer here. Speaking of which…
Apps
The default apps on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 are excellent. Gmail is one of the finest email apps to be found on any mobile device, while the default web browser is quick and fluid. Tabbed browsing, in particular, is even more instinctive than on your desktop, allowing you to juggle multiple pages with ease.
Samsung’s own additions are a mixed bag, with some (such as the web shortcuts) simply replicating existing Google features and others (like the Social Hub widget) proving genuinely useful.
The real issue, though, is again related to the underperforming Android Honeycomb OS. Put simply, the Android Market simply doesn’t have enough tablet-optimised apps on it – especially compared to the iPad 2. We stumbled across numerous high profile apps and games that worked only in a shrunken window, which really isn’t good enough.
It’s indicative of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1′s plight in general – at present, it’s a world class tablet device running on second-tier software. If you’ve tried and dismissed the iPad 2, then this should be next on your list. In our view, though, the iPad 2 is still the tablet king.
