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
Wireless Performance & Sync
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 ships by default as a WiFi only version with 802.11b/g/n support via a single spatial stream. WiFi performance was comparable to that of other Honeycomb tablets we've tested thus far at around 34Mbps. Bluetooth is also supported. I could complete file transfers between other computers and the Galaxy Tab without issues.
Note that USB transfers are limited to nearly the same performance here. The fastest transfer I could sustain over USB was in the low 30Mbps range. I'm guessing this is a limitation of Honeycomb combined with physical NAND performance limits. It's not uncommon for these tablets to use 3-bit-per-cell MLC NAND that's hardly geared for performance. Over the next couple of years we'll see NAND performance become a bigger issue with tablets.
The Galaxy Tab doesn't come with any sync software by default. Under Windows the tablet just appears as a removable media device. Android File Transfer is required for support under OS X, however the current version of AFT doesn't support the Galaxy Tab 10.1 so Mac users are out of luck.
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fteoath64 - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
Very true. They had a chance to differentiate and blew it. MicroSD, Mini-HDMI and USBhost ports are really mandatory for any device because they additional modes for media consumption. Only Apple can get away with it, no one else.[insert name] - Sunday, June 19, 2011 - link
Hmmm.. the lack of both kinda killed the GT10 for me so I went looking at Xoom (too early, too flakey) the iconia (usual woeful levels of post-sales support) and the Transformer (ugly-looking, heavy and I read they too are having their problems, although I like the external HDD support on the dock!).So I went back to looking at the GT10; I can live without the HDMI port (my GT7 doesn't have it), but it's still the lack of uSD that's killing me - I have a 32GB uSD card chock-a-block full of music & videos and a 16GB one I use for business documentation, pressos etc.
Yes, I can just pay the ridiculous excess for the 32GB version, but it's a lot easier/faster to swap out a uSD card than plug 'n drag many, many GB of data...
Zandros - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
"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"I'd say it's a near useless comparison, since there's no way you'll be looking at the three displays with the same horizontal angle at the same time.
RHurst - Thursday, June 16, 2011 - link
Exactly!MrSewerPickle - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
Yet another excellent technical review. I read a lot of reviews online but typically wait for your opinion before making a decision. You make some excellent points as always about the impending Tegra 3 factor.Anyway I've been enjoying this site sense before Tom left Toms and it always continues to impress me. Keep up the unbiased technical reviews.
spambonk - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
Does it have light bleed, like the Asus transformer and you didn't tell us.erple2 - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
Page 6:<quote>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.</quote>
Sounds like the answer is "not on this unit".
erple2 - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
Ratza fratza no edit button ratza fratza...Page 6:
Sounds like the answer is "not on this unit".
sammsiam - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
The XOOM has 32GB of NANDAsteriskCGY - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
Bought a Xoom on sale like 3 weeks ago 100 off retail. still had tax so ended up being 558 in the end. Glad its numbers are comparable but that weight really does factor in a lot. And if Kal El means I can start playing my 720 mkv's with subs instead of hunting for SD or 480 avi files for the stuff I watch might've been worth the wait.Or see who'd want to buy a xoom at that time.