Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1

 Despite the name, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is not the successor to the company’s flagship 10-inch Android Tablet. Instead, the Galaxy Tab 2 line, which include a 7-inch model, are budget devices designed to make the step into premium Android tablets more palatable.

The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is priced at around $550, while the year-old original is still selling at around $800 so that’s a good start, but if you’re looking for an upgrade to your old Galaxy Tab 10.1 this is not the tablet for you.

Samsung has cut the price by $250 by lowering its usually superb design quality, screen sharpness, and OS performance. Where the original is a category leader, the Galaxy Tab 2 is content to play in the middle of the pack.

The most notable omission is the lack of an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core 1 GHz, which is available in most competing first-generation tablets from players like HTC, Motorola, and Asus.

The Tab 2 gets by with another dual-core 1 GHz processor, this time produced by Texas Instruments. By no means is this a dud chip. Ordinary usage, web browsing and social media apps all work smoothly. It’s when you open more processor intensive apps like image editors or virtual desktop clients like Splashtop that the lag becomes prevalent, even more so if you’ve used

Samsung have put its Touch Wiz user interface over the standard Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system. Touch Wiz is by far my favourite manufacturer created UI, and on the Galaxy Tab 2 the animations and movements are just as smooth as ever.

The design of the Galaxy Tab 2 has also taken a beating. Where the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 was elegant and professional, this new iteration looks drab and almost industrial. Most of the device case is made of plastic, fashioned to look like brushed metal, with a chrome edge around the front panel.

The dimensions of the two devices are relatively similar, but at 9.7mm (the same thickness as the iPad 2) the Tab 2 is just a bit thicker. Unlike some other large tablets with plastic backings, the Galaxy Tab 2 does not creak or feel flimsy, in fact the 588 gram device with its rounded edges feels very secure and comfortable.

The 10.1-inch LCD screen has a resolution of 800 by 1280 pixels. The colour quality and saturation is fantastic. The blues are rich and deep, but there isn’t the trade off you get on some older Samsung panels where the whites have a blue tint to them.

Video playback on the Galaxy Tab 2 is on par with other tablets in a similar price range, and because it’s running Android a wide range of video formats are supported.



The speakers are located on the front beside the display panel, so sound quality is very good and clear even without any additional sound boosting software. However if you have large hands you might find yourself covering the speakers and muffling the sound.

There’s no HDMI port available for the Galaxy Tab 2, so unless you ship in a separate adapter cable from Samsung you won’t be easily connecting it up to projectors or monitors in your meeting rooms.

One of the areas I’ll be looking more into with my tablet reviews is video conferencing. Unfortunately the Galaxy Tab 2 was probably not the best tablet to start with as it features a VGA front facing camera. Using Skype for a video call, on the highest quality settings, the sub-megapixel camera was terrible in low light situations, and barely salvagable when well lit.

The microphone and audio clarity was acceptable, but the video quality on what was an otherwise good internet connection was distracting.

Using the device to surf the internet, run social media apps and a small amount of video consumption — the Galaxy Tab 2 battery easily lasts seven or eight hours. Once you get into photo viewing and editng, more process intensive apps, and larger videos this figure drops to six hours between charges. That's still a respectable amount of time, though.

In conclusion, once you get beyond the comparisons to the original, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, the 10.1 is a good, if somewhat average tablet for its price. But it is not the leader in that price range, so if you are constrained by price I would recommend going for the first generation Asus Transformer. If you’re looking to upgrade your existing Galaxy Tab I would hold off until the Galaxy Tab Note appears, rumoured to be launching in Spring.

3 Stars


Specs:

Dimensions: 256.6 x 175.3 x 9.7mm
Weight: 588 g
Screen: 10.1 inch 800 x 1280 pixels, LCD
Storage: 16 GB / 32 GB, expandable microSD
OS: Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Processor: TI OMAP 4430, dual-core 1 GHz, 1 GB RAM
Price: $565

Samsung's Galaxy Tab is "not as cool" as the iPad

In the complicated world of intellectual property litigatio, sometimes a loss is a win.
Just ask Apple, which failed to convince a UK high court judge to ban sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab.
According to Judge Colin Birss, Samsung's design of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10 isn't close enough to that of the iPad to warrant an import ban. While noting specific differences between the two devices, for Birss, it really came down to one thing: the Galaxy Tab is "not as cool."
Yes, the judge actually said that, handing Apple its latest defeat in the UK courts as it attempts to block the sale of smartphones and tablets made by competitors.
Samsung, not surprisingly, was happy. But it also warned that Apple's penchant for litigation was a threat to competition and consumers. In a statement, the company claimed:

Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited.

For proof of the later, one need look no further than recent court rulings in the United States, which saw sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus halted. An appeals court has since lifted the Galaxy Nexus ban, but the ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which is available in the UK, remains.
Despite an unfavorable judgment, which Apple will almost certainly appeal, Apple still believes Samsung and other competitors are copycats. The company issued a statement, which read in part:

...blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.

It's an interesting statement because ideas in and of themselves aren't subject to protection. But even so, given that Samsung cited multiple instances of prior art in its UK battle, it would appear that Apple simply isn't capable of recognizing ideas it didn't come up with.
With this in mind, expect Apple's lawsuits to keep coming, no matter how embarrassing they are for Apple. Which, in turn, means one thing: Apple's products will continue to look a lot cooler than the company itself.