Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi: A Worthy Rival to the iPad 2

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.one Wi-Fi may be the first Android tablet to mount an efficient challenge to Apple's iPad 2 while in the location in which Apple does very best: layout. And let's experience it, where tablets are concerned, design occupies center stage. Happily for Samsung, the Tab 10.1--available in constrained distribution starting up these days, commencing at $499 to get a 16GB version--parlays its layout and its Android 3.one running method right into a machine that vaults towards the head with the Android pack.

In my hands-on testing, the Tab 10.one attained perhaps the most effective style compliment an Android tablet could hope for--often being mistaken by passers-by (such as Apple iPad customers) for an iPad 2. The confusion is understandable when you see and hold the Tab 10.1 for the first time. It's a slim profile of eight.6mm (0.34 inch)--a hair's breadth slimmer than the iPad 2's 8.4mm depth.

Through the aspect, the two tablets search very equivalent. The Tab 10.1 edge is much more rounded, while, while the iPad's is tapered. The tablet arrives in two colors: Shipping very first will be the White model, which partners a silver-painted plastic edge using a white plastic back (identical to your minimal edition Google I/O model of the Tab, but with out the Android graphic imprint); available on June 17, once the Tab ten.1 is slated to ship in volume, will likely be a Metallic Gray choice, with edges and back that more carefully match. I preferred the Gray version, which is less most likely to become mistaken for Apple's ultrahip tablet, due to the fact I liked the sense and texture with the dark backing; the white backing in some way felt chintzier.

The Tab 10.1 weighs a bit much less than the iPad two, as well, at 1.25 lbs versus the iPad 2's one.33 pounds. And it stands somewhat taller and narrower than iPad: 10.1 by 6.9 inches, as in opposition to the iPad 2's nine.five by seven.3 inches.
Using the Galaxy Tab 10.one Wi-Fi

All of those details subject much less, though, than how the Galaxy Tab ten.one Wi-Fi handles. The Tab ten.one feels light-weight and extremely nicely balanced; I identified it comfy to hold in one hand or two, and it weighed so small that I hardly seen it absolutely was in my bag. I might even now want to see the bodyweight on tablets of this dimensions drop nearer to 1 pound, whilst the products increase their built-in performance with extra ports and other features; but this design is really a considerable action toward that goal--especially if you take into account that (discounting the heavier, thicker, region-specific ten.1V) the Tab ten.1 is Samsung's 1st mass-market tablet of this dimension.

The Tab 10.1 can take minimalist layout cues from Apple, as well. Past the docking port, it offers a strength button and volume rocker in the top (in horizontal orientation) or along the right side (when held vertically). Also along the best leading is the headphone jack; it is awkwardly situated in case you hold the tablet horizontally and engage in video chat concurrently, because the jack is simply previously mentioned and also to the best of where the digital camera is. But when you flip the orientation to put the jack on the bottom with the horizontal show, or in case you hold the tablet vertically together with the jack operating along the correct facet, the jack's location operates good).

The stereo speakers are situated just a little more than an inch down through the best, along the left and appropriate horizontal edges. This positioning worked nicely, since my fingers did not get in the means of the speakers. The speakers have been over average for an Android tablet sound technique, and significantly far better than the iPad 2's single rear-facing speaker. But audio still sounded as well tinny on my check tracks.

The 1280-by-800-pixel-resolution display looked bright and brilliant, two characteristics we have come to associate with Samsung's telephone and tablet displays. Just like the 7-inch Galaxy Tab just before it, the Tab 10.1 has a exhibit that tends to oversaturate colours. On the color-chart test image, most of the colours, including reds and blues, have been blown out. In our test images of sights and scenes, photos popped but had somewhat excessive red and blue while in the combine. In side-by-side comparison, the Apple iPad 2 produced greater color reproduction, specially when within the soft browns of skin tones.

Even now, the Tab 10.one rendered images with fantastic sharpness and detail. This is actually the initial Android tablet to ship natively with Google's Android three.one update, and pictures obviously benefited in the up-to-date OS, hunting crisp and missing any signal of the fuzzy rendering matter that plagued previously Honeycomb variations.
Inside of the Galaxy Tab 10.1

Like other Honeycomb tablets, the Tab 10.1 runs Nvidia's Tegra 2 platform, using a dual-core 1GHz processor and 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. The Tab ten.one has a lot of with the now-standard tablet accouterments like rear- and front- facing cameras (3- and 2-megapixels, respectively, with rear flash), a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a digital compass, and an ambient light sensor.

The Galaxy Tab ten.1 Wi-Fi's specs have changed--for greater and for worse--since its introduction at CTIA a few months back. Most notably, the fat has decreased from 1.31 pounds to 1.24 pounds. Regrettably, that excess weight reduction might be on account of the now-departed microSD card slot--a disappointing late scratch in an area that would have provided the Tab 10.one a substantial benefit more than the iPad two. Also missing to date is any point out of the 64GB version, which Samsung had previously announced was while in the works.

The Tab 10.one supports Adobe Flash, but my check unit arrived without having Flash preinstalled. Nor did the unit have a very shortcut on the desktop linking right to Adobe's Flash Player about the Android Marketplace, as other Honeycomb tablets have completed to manage the Flash installation conundrum (Flash is not native to the Android OS).

And however other, good file-support surprises abound. The Tab ten.1 supports Windows Media audio and video files (such as .WMA, .WMV, and .AVI)--formats that Android 3.one does not natively support--so Samsung deserves credit for jumping in to your fill the void here. The Tab 10.1 may also read Xvid, an additional format not cited on Android's official checklist.

The Tab ten.one comes preloaded with Quickoffice Hd, for reading and editing Microsoft Phrase, Excel, and PowerPoint files and for file searching. (Fascinating observation: Files that I downloaded by means of Gmail appeared only while in the Download folder, despite the fact that the photographs and videos appeared immediately within the Gallery app, and in some cases although the new music showed inside the Songs app.)

As delivered, the Tab ten.one arrives with the stock Android three.one OS on board, with extremely little customizing. The Tab ten.one will be the first Honeycomb tablet to ship with Google's facile Android Movie Studio (Google's response to Apple's iMovie on iOS). In addition, it provides a customized keyboard from Nuance, with trace typing capabilities. This keyboard will be the default keyboard, but you can switch towards the native Honeycomb keyboard should you choose. I liked the Samsung keyboard: It really is gray with black letters, large keys, and mainly useful shortcut keys such as @, .com, and :-) while in the e-mail keyboard.

Over and above that, you receive Samsung's appealing orange-and-blue sunrise-like wallpaper scheme; Samsung Applications, Samsung's nascent and (for now) irrelevant app keep; Samsung Music Hub, a audio store and player powered by 7digital; and the Pulse news reader.

Samsung's a lot more customized overlay, TouchWiz UX, will probably be accessible later this summertime as an over-the-air update. It can be not offered preinstalled at launch, Samsung says, because the company didn't have time to check it extensively with Android 3.1. Once the overlay does arrive, Samsung says, consumers can choose to use elements of it, or they are able to revert to stock Android. That explained, we will not likely know the specifics in the implementation until finally it arrives.

TouchWiz UX will add a variety of interface customizations to boost Android 3.1's usability. It will also include Samsung's Media Hub movie and Television acquire and rental service, together with Reader Hub (powered by Kobo Guides and Zinio) and Social Hub (for accessing social networks beneath one particular roof).

Of particular curiosity to organization consumers: You can set the Tab ten.1 to encrypt consumer info; and it supports enhanced Exchange ActiveSync, Cisco AnyConnect SSL VPN, and F5 SSL VPN.
That which you Sacrifice

To realize its slim and light layout, Samsung's Galaxy Tab ten.1 Wi-Fi accepts some compromises that may temper its appeal, based on your requirements. Like the iPad 2, it has no ports over and above its docking port, that is centered along the horizontal bottom edge. To include connectivity, you should invest in the optional dongles because of arrive later on this month.

Samsung will have docking port dongles to include USB, SD Card, and HDMI, but all of these experience such as the afterthoughts they may be. It might be wonderful to have to a stage wherever at least HDMI and USB connectivity are integrated directly in to the tablet. Many competition inside the red-hot tablet space develop in a minimum of one particular this sort of port--but people competitors can also be far heavier, at one.five to 1.65 pounds. Once the dongles are available, I'll update this assessment with more hands-on testing.

One more issue I discovered in my casual testing: The 7000-mAh battery took inordinately lengthy to charge. Right after 2 hrs plugged in, my test unit had attained only about 30 percent charged. The battery is rated for as much as 9 hours of use.

Stay tuned for our full PCWorld Labs efficiency check benefits, such as battery life and recharge times.

The full-scale start of the Samsung Galaxy Tab ten.one Wi-Fi is scheduled for June 17, when you may have the ability to buy the tablet at Finest Acquire, Fry's Electronics, and Micro Middle; and on the internet at Amazon.com, Greatest Acquire, Newegg, and Tiger Immediate. The 32GB model is priced at $599, $100 more compared to 16GB design; equally rates match Apple's equivalent offerings. Further mobile broadband versions will come; Verizon commences its presale right now for 4G variations with the Tab 10.one, at a $130 premium over the Wi-Fi rates (that is the same premium as for the 4G iPad 2).
Bottom Line

No matter whether you go Wi-Fi only or go for a linked model, the Samsung Galaxy Tab ten.1 will be the very first Android tablet which makes a credible and effective operate at competing with Apple's iPad 2. It matches iPad 2 in style, value, as well as that intangible IT aspect. Its choice to sacrifice ports is disappointing but not a dealbreaker; heck, Apple's been doing the identical issue from your outset. It can be much more difficult to seek out tablet-optimized applications at Google's Android Market place than at Apple's App Retailer does, but once more, that might not be a dealbreaker. If neither of these constraints faze you, the Galaxy Tab ten.one may well be a excellent match. It certainly is probably the best tablets obtainable nowadays. And it turns into the flagship Honeycomb tablet for showcasing what Android 3.one can do.