The iPad 2 raised the bar for tablet design, and now Samsung has responded with the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which is even lighter and just as thin as Apple's sequel. In fact, it makes every other Android Honeycomb tablet on the market look bloated. Priced at $499 for the 16GB version, the Tab 10.1 also features the latest Android 3.1 software, which promises swifter — and more stable — performance, along with other welcome enhancements. Does this slate have what it takes to take down the champ?
Design
This is as svelte as Android tablets get. At 9.7 x 6.7 x 0.34 inches, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a little wider than the iPad 2 (9.5 x 7.3 inches), but it has the same thickness. In the weight department, the Tab is a hair lighter, coming in at 1.24 pounds to the iPad 2's 1.35 pounds. However, the back is a glossy white plastic that, while solid, feels less premium than the aluminum back on the iPad 2.
Along the edges of the Tab 10.1 you'll only find two buttons (power and volume toggle on top) and just one port (the 10-pin proprietary connector) on the bottom. Unlike most other Android tablets, there's no user-accessible microSD card slot or the full-size USB found on the Acer Iconia Tab A500.
Display and audio
The Tab's 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 WXGA display offered bright, popping colors and great contrast, plus wide viewing angles. Next to the iPad 2's smaller 9.7-inch screen, the Galaxy Tab's looks slightly less bright due to the subtle blue tinge to the display.
Given the small speakers, we found audio quality on the Tab 10.1 better than expected. Bass and treble were distinct, though the former wasn't very strong.
User Interface and keyboard
We like Android 3.1 on the Tab 10.1 just as much as on the Motorola Xoom. As with other Honeycomb tablets, the system bar at the bottom of the screen is persistent. That's where you'll find the Back, Home, and Recent Application buttons (which look like space-age line drawings) on the left side. The bottom right houses the notification area, where you can do everything from glance at incoming e-mail alerts and skipping to the next song to adjusting settings such as 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 not the standard layout found on the Motorola Xoom. Instead, it looks like 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. And because the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is narrower than the iPad 2, we found thumb typing to be faster on this tablet.
Camera and camcorder
The idea that consumers don't really care about the cameras on tablets must be pervasive, because Samsung isn't giving them any reason to love taking pictures and videos with the Galaxy Tab. The 3-MP rear-facing camera captured slightly washed-out images. Video recorded indoors at 720p had a lot of noise and graininess. We've seen better from high-end smartphones.
Despite the lack of a flash, the 2-MP front-facing camera took self-portraits that weren't too dark and showed a decent level of detail. During video chats using the Google Talk app, our image lacked sharpness and colors washed out. However, over Wi-Fi the video and audio stayed in sync and we didn't blur too much when the device was jostled around.
Performance
Like all the other Honeycomb tablets thus far, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 rocks a 1-GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor backed by 1GB of RAM. The device had no problem 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.
Over Wi-Fi, the Tab 10.1 loaded full, image-heavy websites speedily: Flickr's Interestingness page in 3 seconds, Laptopmag in 5 seconds, and Lightspeed Magazine in 7 seconds. Unfortunately, scrolling wasn't as smooth or as fast as we would like.
Battery life
The identically configured Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition Tab, which we tested before this consumer version, lasted a whopping 9 hours and 23 minutes on the Laptop Battery Test (web surfing via Wi-Fi) so this tablet should last the same amount of time. This score is on a par with the iPad 2 (9:28) and almost an hour and a half longer than the Motorola Xoom (8:00).
Apps and media
Aside from some of the typical Google apps that come with Android — Gmail, Latitude, Movie Studio, Music (beta), and Talk — the Tab is preloaded with few apps. There's QuickOffice HD free for documents, Pulse news reader, plus Samsung's Music Hub and Apps. Samsung's app store has few titles right now (six as of press time).
When compared to the more than 90,000 iPad apps available, the Android ecosystem has some catching up to do. Currently there are only 60 apps listed in the Android Market specifically designed for tablets. The rest of the more than 200,000 apps usually expand to fill the screen without trouble, though there are exceptions. In addition, there are currently 15 games available from the Nvidia Tegra Zone, including Fruit Ninja, Pinball HD, and Riptide GP.
Verdict
For those who like the idea of owning an Android-powered tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is one sexy piece of hardware. It's just as thin and even weighs less than the iPad 2, and the latest Android 3.1 OS makes using Honeycomb a much better experience. If you don't mind the extra weight, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer offers similar performance to the Tab 10.1 for $100 less and works well with an optional keyboard. Overall, though, the Tab 10.1's sleeker design, great display, loud speakers, and strong endurance make it among our favorite Honeycomb tablets.
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