Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Review: The Sleekest Honeycomb Tablet
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 13, 2011 5:07 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Samsung
- Tegra 2
- Galaxy tab 10.1
- Android 3.1
- Mobile
- NVIDIA
Final Words
The new 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab is probably the sleekest looking Honeycomb tablet on the market today. The form factor is really wonderful and given how quickly Samsung introduced it after Apple unveiled the iPad 2, the company really deserves credit for responding to competitive pressure in record time. It's not just a great form factor however. The 10.1 has an incredible screen, competitive features and doesn't really sacrifice in terms of performance or battery life. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is your run of the mill Honeycomb tablet, just better.
A part of me really feels like delivering all of the resolution, performance and overall goodness of the Galaxy Tab in a smaller 8.9-inch form factor is the ticket to ultimate success. The iPad is too big for me to carry around with me as much as I'd like, as is the Galaxy Tab 10.1. However tablets like the PlayBook are too small to really deliver the tablet experience I'm looking for when I'm at home. Keeping the resolution fixed at 1280 x 800 but dropping the screen size by a little over an inch may be enough to really hit the sweet spot.
Ultimately I believe we'll shop for tablets similarly to how we shop for notebooks (or they may end up being one and the same): by screen size. If this form factor really does take off however, we'll have many more decisions to make than just what screen size is best (perhaps we'll start seeing multiple SoCs offered for various performance targets instead of one smartphone SoC playing double duty as a tablet chip as well).
Unfortunately with most Honeycomb tablets today we find ourselves in a difficult position when it comes to making any recommendations. NVIDIA's Kal-El target was originally August, I've heard more recently that the date has slipped to around September. Regardless of the specific month, there's a high likelihood that within the next four months you'll be able to get a much more powerful Android tablet for the same amount of money you'd spend today. With that in mind, I can't in good conscience recommend spending any amount of money on a tablet today if you can wait another two quarters. Remember Kal-El won't really change single threaded performance, but it will improve GPU performance and address the video decoding limitations of Tegra 2 today.
If you have to buy an Android tablet today I'd say the top two choices on my list are the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The former is an easy choice because of its price and flexibility vis-a-vis the transformer dock. If you want something more portable however, the Galaxy Tab is a much more comfortable device to use. Here's how I think the comparison boils down:
If you're a developer that just needs to have something running Honeycomb to work on today, buy the Eee Pad. It's cheaper and you get the same functionality as you would from the more expensive Galaxy Tab.
If you're sold on Honeycomb and want a tablet running the OS today but don't care about the ability to type on a normal keyboard, get the Galaxy Tab. The Eee Pad dock is a nice feature but it's also another $150 over its base price. If you're not going to use that feature and don't care about the cost savings, then the Galaxy Tab is clearly the better tablet.
Finally if cost is a concern (keeping in mind that you'll likely regret your purchase in another ~4 months), get the Eee Pad. You'll put yourself out less cash up front and hopefully have less to recoup later.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (top) vs. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (bottom)
However, as I mentioned earlier, my overall recommendation is to wait if you can. Smartphones and tablets are operating on a faster-than-Moore's Law curve. As a result you'll see huge performance improvements every 12 months and devastatingly painful upgrade cycles. Given that tablets aren't carrier subsidized, the longer you can wait, the better off you'll be.
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fteoath64 - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
I doubt if Samsung knew very much detail about the physical shape (although they could guess and many have done), panel size and dot-pitch yes, processor no, camera no (its Sony's part), but that hardly constitute "blatant copying" as Apple has accused. One cannot deviate much from a rectangular shape. But the thing that cannot understand is no manufacturer has built rocker switches (like in PocketPC days) that does vertical/horizontal scrolling. This allows the single holding hand to scroll pages which EVERYBODY wanted!!. Samsung are you listening ?. One for landscape use and one for portrait use. There is plenty of space for it. Touch is not everything.Lucian Armasu - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
"Remember Kal-El won't really change single threaded performance"I think I know what you meant - that it would still be Cortex A9. But that doesn't mean performance won't improve. Every core will be clocked at 1.5 Ghz.
And you're right, ARM chips seem to improve 2.5x every 12 months, or about 4x every 18-24 months. That's 2x as fast as Moore's Law. Can't wait until Nvidia unveils their Tegra 4 next year - 2.5 Ghz quad core Cortex A15 ;)
mo.hasan - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
Anand. Very thorough review as always. Great job.Here is a list of accessories available for Samsung 10.1. Currently they are showing up on european websites. Landing in USA soon I suppose.
HDMI cable adapter
SD Adapter
Charging Dock with sound bar
USB Connector Kit
Keyboard
More...
Yes you can have all these ports built in like an Acer Iconia or some in Asus Transformer. Personally I will take the weight savings and slimness versus all those ports built in. In a tablet that is. Notebook however is a whole different story. Plus Samsung's superior display is a slam dunk for me versus any other android tablet at the moment. Kal-El is not worth waiting for unless you are buying a tablet to play games only. Damn you Bestbuy, here is my pre-order.
Mumrik - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
Anand, why does Apple keep having a sizable advantage in battery life? It's the same in tablets and smart phones...The hardware seems to similar to blame, so does Google just do a comparatively bad job at managing power in Android?
Paladin1650 - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
I don't understand the fixation on 10 inch tablets. That is too big to be easily portable without carrying a bag everywhere, and if I'm toting a bag, I might as well bring a laptop with a bigger screen, real keyboard, 300gig+ hard drive, real operating system, real processor, etc. Not to mention the built in stand. My 15 inch laptop is not much thicker or heavier than an iPad.Its too big, bright, and heavy to use like a portable game console or an e-reader (Note: Nintendo never came anywhere close to a 10 inch screen on any of its 50 million plus selling portable consoles). Sure you can goof around on it and have unique experiences...but those experiences aren't going to be lasting dozens of hours like a novel or a serious video game.
Are people actually trying to replace their laptop with a tablet? That is the only usage scenario that makes sense to me for a 10 inch tablet. If you are somehow able to actually type and be productive on a tablet, more power to you.
Now, what DOES make sense to me is a giant smartphone. Smartphones are incredibly useful, more useful for everyday tasks than a laptop, since it has GPS, camera, camcorder, barcode scanner, phone, email, MP3 player etc all rolled into one. However, a 3-4 inch screen is really too small for video content consumption, and doesn't allow much room for touch. Solution? A 5-6 inch jumbo smartphone that behaves exactly like a smartphone, but with a bigger screen. That is what I want (the original galaxy tab comes close, but a bit too large to be pocket sized). So why are we only seeing those from Dell and Samsung, and why does Samsung seem to be switching to larger form-factors? Why is "its just a giant phone" a bad thing? I think in 10 years we will see this size range emerge as the standard for the all-in-one pocket device, and the 10 inch tablet will remain a very niche product.
fteoath64 - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
@Paladin1650: When you look at the kindle, it gives a strong clue. Besides to consume 720p video, 10 inch is about the ,minimum needed to appreciate the quality of the video. Anything smaller, 720p is not going to matter much. For eBook reading and that goes for webpage reading as well, that physical size is really optimum for most people young and old. My only beef is the screen resolution should be 1366X768 and make that IPS at least.Laptop usage is different from tablet significantly from the holding distance from your face to the screen. On a tablet, you hold it much nearer to your face. This means 10inches could instantly equal to 15inch laptop distance. Plus the weight advantage and not frying your lap scenarios, it could be compelling for some.
As to phones going to 5inches, thats already too big for many. iPhone size is about right, and going to 4 inches might be pushing it. I like to see 1680X1050 resolution in 4 inches.
One size fits all does not exist unless thats a body implant using our body fluids as its electrical source. Get that from your friendly grey alien Paul.
araczynski - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
but no point in buying until the second gen comes out later this year, especially since ipad3 will hopefully share some info by then.i'm heavily vested in the itunes app store (i use my ipad1 95% of the time for just gaming), so whatever other neato features the android tablets have are meaningless to me. especially since if i read those last 2 benchmarks the gaming on the android doesn't compare to the gaming on the ipad2.
i still think they're stupid to price it at the same level as the ipads though. you're going against an entrenched/established and in many cases fanatical base of apple users (i have no love for apple, but do love the ipad), you deliver something similar, and you charge it the same, why the hell would i bother to switch? offer me something BETTER.
not to mention 16/32gb of storage is just measly. this IS the digital age after all, we like to dump movies/etc onto these devices. my ipad/64gb is full all the time, and i'm sick of that fact. no way in hell would i downgrade storage.
ps2 - Thursday, June 16, 2011 - link
So, having read this review, it sounds like I would best wait another 6 months to own a tablet. I am getting a galaxy S2 phone in about 6 weeks when it is released, so i probably should wait, but my partner has an IPad 2 and I could have a tablet by tomorrow (I think that's when the 10.1 is being released). Is it worth 5 or $600 to have a tablet for the next six months? I know it's my decision, but I welcome some brilliant geeks advice.ps2 - Thursday, June 16, 2011 - link
So, having read this review, it sounds like I would best wait another 6 months to own a tablet. I am getting a galaxy S2 phone in about 6 weeks when it is released, so i probably should wait, but my partner has an IPad 2 and I could have a tablet by tomorrow (I think that's when the 10.1 is being released). Is it worth 5 or $600 to have a tablet for the next six months? I know it's my decision, but I welcome some brilliant geek's advice. And if I am likely to upgrade in the future (if I buy a tablet now, I won't feel an urge to buy a Kel-al device the second it comes out), should my purchase be an IPad 2 or Galaxy 10.1 (or should I wait two months for an 8.9)?emmib - Friday, June 17, 2011 - link
Would Kal-El seriously make it to market, in an Android tablet, within the next 4-5 months? The best scenario I can see is an announcement in 4 months time, in the fall, then release either by the holiday season, or within a couple of months after that.What's truly best? Wait, or get a tablet now? I don't really care for graphics performance as not many games and such are available in my region anyway.