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
A Beautiful Display
Other than form factor, the 10.1's display is the only other major advantage Samsung holds over ASUS. While the Eee Pad's display is quantifiably similar to Apple's iPad 2, it does fall victim to an incredible amount of glare. There's a sizable gap between the LCD panel and the outermost glass, which results in more glare than most other tablets we've reviewed this generation. The 10.1 however doesn't suffer this fate and as a result is more directly comparable to the iPad 2.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (left) vs. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (right)
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (left) vs. Apple iPad 2 (right)
While both ASUS and Apple use an IPS panel in their tablets, Samsung uses its own technology called Super PLS (plane line switching). Brian Klug, our resident smartphone and display guru did some digging and it turns out that Super PLS is Samsung's own take on IPS that maintains viewing angle while boosting throughput (brightness). The Samsung supplied photo below shows a comparison of the tradeoff you make with S-IPS and I-IPS, as well as both of those compared to Super PLS:
Traditionally you'd have to trade off viewing angle for brightness or vice versa even within the IPS family. Super PLS lets you have your cake and eat it too, giving you the same side viewing angles as S-IPS but with the light throughput of I-IPS.
Perhaps due to the use of Super PLS, Samsung actually managed to outfit the Galaxy Tab 10.1 with a brighter panel than what we saw with the iPad 2. Black levels aren't quite as good but peak brightness is measurably better at nearly 500 nits. While the display isn't what I'd consider bright enough to use in direct sunlight, it is more versatile than the iPad 2's as a result of its brightness.
The higher black levels balance out the brighter panel and deliver a contrast ratio comparable to that of the iPad 2:
I should mention that the quality of the panel on the retail 10.1 sample is significantly better than what I saw with Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition at Google IO. The sample from IO had noticeably worse black levels, lower peak brightness and as a result lower overall contrast. On top of all of that, the LE suffered light bleed from one of its corners - a problem I haven't seen on the retail 10.1. With only two Galaxy Tabs to compare this is either an indication of wildly varying quality control, or more likely that Samsung simply repackaged its early samples as LEs and saved the mass production hardware for paying customers a month after Google IO.
As you can see in the shot above the Samsung panel has a considerably cooler white point than the Eee Pad Transformer. A quick measure with our colorimeter shows a white point of 8762 (vs 7805K for the Eee Pad). It does make Samsung's default wallpaper look very pretty. If you're wondering, the iPad 2's panel is calibrated to a 6801K white point - at least with our 16GB CDMA sample here.
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emmib - Friday, June 17, 2011 - link
Also, Mr Anand, you said that Asus owners would likely regret their purchase in around 4 months. Is that due to Kal-El's imminent release, or sub-par build quality due to its lower cost?PS, I'm not being critical in anyway, and I love these forecasts made by people in the know. I'm just curious as I'm planning to buy an Android tablet within the next month or so
[insert name] - Sunday, June 19, 2011 - link
I just joined to say well done!This was a very well written article without all the bias and opinionation I've seen on other sites.
I picked up a link from Whirlpool and I'm glad I did - I'll be back!
winterhaven - Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - link
Best review by far. I especially appreciated the information about the screens.For what it's worth, my Galaxy Tab 10.1 is my guilty pleasure. Usually, I am a big proponent of function over form. So I thought the Transformer would be the tablet for me, especially considering the lower price point. But when I picked up the new Tab, I was instantly seduced. I adore the vividness. And I love how easy it is to hold. Sleek is the perfect way to describe it. And the upcoming keyboard case will make it even better.
dickeywang - Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - link
It appears Xoom is still the only choice if one wants to get a 3G version at this point. Wierd, isn't it?paris89 - Saturday, July 2, 2011 - link
personally i feel like it's everybody opinion on what tablet or phone to buy the main thing i hate is when ppl try make you like a product. my opinion i think that the samsung galaxy tab 10.1 is a nice looking tablet i like the ipad 2 but it is really nutting to be honest the only thing ipad 2 have on the galaxy tab is storage but that my opinionMtnXfreeride - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
How is it possible that the Galaxy Battery last even similar let alone worse than the Transformer? With nearly the same specs, except the galaxy has a 6700MAH battery vs. the Transformer with 3XXXmah battery? I owned a transformer and returned it because of defective GPS and the screen was poorly attached to the product creating creaking, there is no way they had similar batteries my galaxy lasts at least 30% longer. Its is night and day a noticeable difference - a difference I noticed before going on line to verify the battery is better.tenambit - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
There seems to be a point missing here and that is i will be using the galaxy for browsing the web so why would I buy an Apple if half the web sites I use are not available because of Apples lock out on Adobe flash ???Seems obvious to me.
The other thing this is so familiar..wait wait and wait........look its like digital cameras .....if you wait you will never buy anything there will always be improvements down the line .
What looks great now will look obsolete in 6 months,what looks great in 6 months will be obsolete in another 6 months and so on and so on .
The thing that you have to look at is why you want this device in the first place.
Is it to sit in front of the telly and browse the internet and check your email or do you want it to entertain you ,play games.watch movies,download music or do you want it to read e books or check the weather and the news because you cant be bothered booting up your PC, do you want something to carry around and use 3G or $G if your stupid enough to shell out the bucks for connectivity to the networks or are you just using it for wi fi and to move around the house,take it to bed with you and just as a convenience,.
Work out what your use is,see if it will do it then buy it and forget about feeling sorry for what you have just done..
Thats technology and thats the way it will always be...............I want an SSD for my PC but I need at least 500GIG so am I going to pay $1500.00 for an SSD or am I going to stick with my HDD.....................pretty obvious to me.
netfortius - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
Does anybody know what the WiFi chipset specs / vendor & model are?