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
The Cameras
Samsung put its own touches on the Galaxy Tab's camera app. For starters the camera app completely hides all Honeycomb UI elements, the only way to get back to the home screen is to hit the custom back button - there's no support for accessing recently used apps. The UI is pretty clean. You can quickly adjust exposure, resolution, white balance or shot mode. The preview frame rate is pretty low and captures take several seconds to complete after hitting the shutter release button.
Switching between front and rear facing cameras or still and videos is thankfully very quick, although expect a lot of missed moments since the actual capture process is so slow. Image quality is noticeably better than the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, take a look at the comparison shot below:
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer - Rear Facing Camera
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 - Rear Facing Camera
There's a lot more detail in the Samsung shot, although neither solution manages to capture the color of the yellow flower petals at the bottom of the scene.
Apple iPad 2 - Rear Facing Camera
The iPad by comparison delivers a more contrasty image but with less detail than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. I'm not entirely sure how important having good camera quality is here though - where do you all draw the cutoff line with tablet camera quality? Is the Eee Pad enough or are Samsung's efforts worthwhile here?
Video quality is also noticeably better than the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer. While the 3.1 update helped ASUS' video woes, the tablet still provides a less than ideal video capture experience. Dropped frames still happen during periods of fast panning, although the video is at least watchable now.
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Jamestownsend - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
Actually, the iPad 1 beats it in a lot of areas. its not nearly as buggy or sluggish. Plus the iPad 1 is actually useful. It can do more than just browse the internet and play ad-sponsored angry birds...vision33r - Friday, June 17, 2011 - link
You're in idiot. I mentioned the Tegra 2 with a dual core CPU is not even faster than many single core CPU by much.The iPad 2's A5 spanks the Tegra 2 so hard it's not even a contest.
medi01 - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
7 inch version sales are already above 1 million.Wizzdo - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
iPad2 still beats it with a great OS (which gets very significant perks with the soon-to-be-released iOS5) and significantly faster graphics.Samsung gets the nod slightly on the hardware side but a pitty they had to sacrifice a memory card slot to do it which would be the only real advantage (other than a slightly better display) over an iPad2 for me.
Plus, who knows if it'll ever get a descent OS upgrade and it will be obsolete in 4 months due to Kal-El.
I think I'll stick with the iPad2. A hot body without a good brain is pretty much only good for one thing ...uhh... looking at.
*I find it troubling that Samsung would bite off the hand that feeds them and likely abuse Apple's trade secrets (Apple is suing them) to produce this. It takes quite a few points away from any rewards I would give them for their hardware improvements and makes me question the integrity of the company in general.
abrar - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
so why i should go from my currently Tab P1000 (andr 2.1) to the new Tab 10.1??just to upgrade to honey comb ?
at least samsung should have implemented HDMI....
ph00ny - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
I could have sworn i saw the damn thing plugged into the TV using the HDMI cable into the MHL adapter. Also you can always use wireless DNLAJohnmcl7 - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
Not planning on giving up my P1000, the main disappointment is the lack of onboard ports - no hdmi, no SD card slot and no USB port (for connecting storage devices). The fact the 10in model is double the size but has even less (no microSD slot) seems a bit of a joke to me. Having used an Ipad 2 I can't say I understand this need to be small particularly given the large sacrifices needed to achieve that.John
g1011999 - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
I think all honeycomb devices on the market have 1GB RAM.g1011999 - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
At least for my Asus Transformer.Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
You're right, it has been fixed :)Take care,
Anand