Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 15, 2011 1:23 AM ESTBattery Life
I ran through our standard general use battery life test for tablets on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE. The test involves looping MP3s while browsing a predefined list of web pages (without Flash). At the same time a high volume email account is checked periodically. The display is set to never turn off/dim, auto brightness is disabled and screen brightness is calibrated to 200 nits.
With LTE disabled, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 lasts about as long as the Motorola Xoom on EVDO. Our test isn't incredibly network intensive so moving to LTE doesn't change things all that much. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 lost about an hour with LTE enabled. With a huge battery, getting 7.55 hours of use on LTE isn't bad at all. In fact I'd say I'm pretty impressed by battery life of Samsung's first LTE tablet.
The Best LTE Hotspot?
It would be a downright shame if the LTE Galaxy Tab 10.1 didn't support the creation of a WiFi hotspot. Thankfully it does. Like almost all modern Android devices you can share the cellular modem in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G among multiple clients over WiFi. You can also share the connection with a single client via Bluetooth or USB.
I ran our standard hotspot battery life test on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. I used a single computer connected over WiFi to the LTE Tab to run four instances of our web browsing battery life test (two with flash and two without). Our test also plays back a 128Kbps stream from smoothbeats.com. During all of this the test tablet was asleep with its display turned off.
I also ran another hotspot battery life test on the tablet to look at the worst case scenario. For this test I downloaded files from a server to a WiFi tethered PC at the maximum speed of the LTE connection, averaging around 2MB/s. I continued to download until the tablet's battery died.
The results are just awesome. In our standard test the Galaxy Tab 10.1 lasted over 13 hours as a LTE hotspot. In our worst case scenario, we still got over 7 hours of continuous use out of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. If you were considering an LTE MiFi and a tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G may be a good option. My only complaint here is the LTE connection is only shared over 2.4GHz WiFi. Although the Tab's hardware supports 5GHz, you can't choose to use the higher frequency 802.11n for the WiFi hotspot. This is a problem in areas where there are a lot of users occupying the 2.4GHz spectrum. At least there's USB tethering support.
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kepler - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
The problem with your picture is that *you* are misleading people. That is a picture of the apps menu, not an actual home screen that would contain widgets and the sort.So maybe Samsung has an apps menu that looks like iOS. What about iOS 5's notifications? Why do Apple users sweep it under the rug? That is a * blatant* copy of Android's notification bar.
I think iOS users are just mad that Samsung has a menu that can replicate their entire child's OS (not to mention the ability to customize it).
Mugur - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
Yes, the biggest word here is "customization". Having 3 Android devices (HTC ChaCha, Dell Streak 5 and a Nook Color) I can tell you that they look like running something completely different for a non Android-versed person... :-)Also, I don't agree that Galaxy S2 looks like iPhone 4. At all. But the iPhone 4 looks 99% like Garmin nuvi 3790T... Come on, they all are rectangular in shape with round corners. I'm surrounded by people with iPhone 4 / iPad/iPad2 on one side and Samsung Galay S / S2 / Tab on the other: it's obviously that Apple went for the bigger competitor here.
Even Galaxy Tab 10.1v does not look entirely like 10.1. :-) just joking.
Anyway, I agree that the price for this "4G LTE" is a rip off: here, a 10.1 (v on Vodafone without v on Orange) 16GB 3G (HSDPA+/HSUPA) is 349 EUR including all taxes with a 2y contract (around 20-30 EUR/month for 2-8 GB).
And they come in 3 colors (white, black and silver - silver is for 32 GB only, I think).
jmcb - Sunday, August 21, 2011 - link
Thank You!!Close the app drawer and tell us if it looks like an iOS ripoff...
I cant believe when all this started no body really paid attention to that.
Ammaross - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 in hand, and while there is no way I can call this an iPad2 in any respect (even dimensions are different, as I hold this thing widescreen-mode), in the "screen off" mode sitting flat on the table, the front of the Galaxy Tab is quite the blatant rip-off of the iPad2, right down to the trim. Granted, it's hard not to design a tablet with a screen and bevel behind glass that ISN'T black frame with accent (not black) trim and make it look half-decent. If they had only left the microUSB connector/charger and the mini HDMI port, I might have overlooked such. I can overlook the lack of an SD card, but using an iP*d-style connector is just below the belt....Death666Angel - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
If the honest consumer is an illiterate then it might fool him. Although he should still be able to tell an apple as a logo from whatever Samsung has (should be just their name). I have a SGS2 and my best friend has a iPhone4. I might mistake them after the 20th beer of the evening. But before that it's pretty hard to confuse them. Only 2 people ever asked me "oohhh, is that an iPhone?" and both were females and not into tech at all.Also, my phone has a homescreen with widgets and more than one button on the front. Not that similar to an iPhone.
Though I do grant you that they both look smartphone-ish, i.e. screen in a square-ish package. ;-)
sooper_anandtech12 - Monday, August 22, 2011 - link
Samsung is firing it across the bow of the Motorola Xoom, mentioned in the same lawsuit.sooper_anandtech12 - Monday, August 22, 2011 - link
Oops, I mean Apple. I must have confused the two ;)idkman96 - Thursday, October 13, 2011 - link
did you not hear about how apple faked images to even start this law suit? and samsung makes part of the ipad and iphone, they get 170$ per ipad. and while im in no way saying that it doesnt look like a ipad in the front, have u seen the motorola zoom? it has a black bezzle around it also, JUSt like the ipads. only difference is the bezzle is not as wide . oh and did you hear? samsung is suing apple for patent infringement, yknow that new and improved antennae on the iphone 4s? samsung designed it and apple used it without paying fo rit or whatever. theres a side to both stories my friend. btw i love android and apple so im not being some dumb fanboi lol.ckryan - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
I have an old 3g modem from Verizon -- I've not used it in years, but I've basically been holding on to the plan since it's true unlimited, acquired in the time when you could get an unlimited 3g data plan. I should be able to upgrade the modem to LTE and still be unlimited -- or so they tell me (I called a Rep to ask). If this is the case, then LTE is a no-brainer here in Charlotte, NC. I'm glad to see someone in the state getting some decent numbers off of it. Unfortunately, not only is Verizon's 4G expensive, but it's hard to even take advantage of at the moment. I have unlimited data on my phone as well, grandfather style, but Verizon's LTE capable phone selection is a little wanting. Hopefully, Big Red has something more palatable coming down the pike.As for the Tab -- It's clearly the most badass mobile hotspot money can buy.
BuddyRich - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
"You can always tether to your smartphone or get a MiFi, but if you want to carry only a single device there's always the option of a cellular connected tablet."Until they drop the arbitrary restrictions on these cellular-enabled devices you still need a phone. Granted you could IM, email and even Skype/Google Voice from apps over data, but plain talking and texting is out of the question. Until then you are better off getting a wifi only tablet and just carry a phone as well (not to mention not having to have 2 data plans). I know up here in Canada the carries don't allow you to share data plans between devices...