Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 15, 2011 1:23 AM ESTPerformance: A Preview of Android 3.2?
For sanity's sake, I ran the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G through our standard performance tests. As expected, the LTE enabled model performed identically to the WiFi-only version we tested a couple of months ago, with one major exception: 3D performance.
As you can see above, both SunSpider and BrowserMark peg the 4G Galaxy Tab 10.1 as an equal to the WiFi version. Now look at the GLBenchmark numbers:
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G performs like an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer with its Android 3.2 update. In our quick preview of the Eee Pad's performance post-3.2 we found that an update to the 3D driver resulted in significantly better performance in GLBench and a slight boost in BaseMark ES2. The very same gains appear here with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G, although we're still running Android 3.1.
The only explanation I can offer is that the Android build on the 4G Tab features the same NVIDIA driver from Android 3.2. That's the only feature of 3.2 that I can find on the 4G Tab's build of Android 3.1 however.
OS X Sync - Broken Again
When the Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition was given away to Google IO attendees, the Mac users in the group quickly noticed that there was no way to get content onto the tablet from OS X. Samsung eventually updated its Kies application with proper support for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 LE, unfortunately the 4G model resets things once more. Neither Android File Transfer nor Kies support the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G under OS X. Thankfully the tablet is fully recognized under Windows 7.
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surt - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
Won't be buying a tablet until I can watch movies in native resolution. The artifacting on all of these tablets is absolutely horrible.Mugur - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
You'll have to wait about one year more, in theory... Isn't iPad 3 supposed to have 2048 x 1536?JasonInofuentes - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Soon.pim69 - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
I find it ridiculous to patent something's appearance. We all know that the majority of Computer monitors look the same with black bezels and only the company logo/name on the bezel to make them look different. You could argue all projectors look the same because they all have lenses and a body with buttons. How about toilets? Sinks? Basketball nets? Bags of Milk? They all look the same! Why is it ok for a tech company to get away with patenting something's general appearance?? Next Apple will try to patent the colour White!!dcollins - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
The Data caps make no sense for 4G.If you average 15Mbps, you could theoretically blow through a 5GB limit in 45 minutes. That's the middle tier and a low estimate for average speed.
WTF is the point of 4G speeds with these asinine data limits? Saving a few seconds in page loading speeds is nice, but streaming HD and large file downloads are the only real applications that <i>need</i> the speed. 5GB gives you what, 4-5 HD Netflix movies?
tmensonides - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
I don't get the rectangular design "patent" thing either. Doesn't HP now have some leftover Palm patent to lord over the iPhone's App presentation/home screen and rectangle shape...I seem to remember my old m505, T/X, and Treo having "app screens" that look exactly like the iPhone and a "rectangle shape"...i don't get it it...the whole apple lawsuit about products "looking" the same is one of two reasons (the other being the loss of in-app kindle purchases) that I bought a TAB 10.1 instead of an iPad. Doesn't one of the Apple complaints even complain about the photo gallery icon used on the Galaxy S's? For goodness sake, when MS tried to push the tablet form factor in circa 2002-2004...there were at least 5 tablets that were simple rectangles...maybe a hair thicker but the same idea...Holy crap, I should go to legal zoom and start patenting rectangles in .5 mm increments....
Mugur - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
http://www.galaxytabs.com/2011/08/german-court-sus...http://www.galaxytabs.com/2011/08/apple-altered-im...
It seems that Apple "retouched" the Galaxy Tab 10.1 photos to hide the 16/10 aspect ratio and also showed the App Drawer instead of the home screen...
Well, so you can still buy 10.1 in Europe, including Germany (in Germany "while supplies last" only).
Mugur - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
A friend come with a black 3G model to help him set it up with a data only SIM taken out of an USB modem. With the help of a friendly female operator, I made it work: lucky him the SIM was on an older unlimited data plan and judging by the H+ icon it was connecting at 21.6 Mbps...I own a Nook and I've played with iPad /2, Asus Transformer, Moto Xoom and 10.1v... But this tablet is really the best I got my hands on. Trust me, it's worth every penny if you can afford it.... It was already on 3.1 and TouchWiz and it feels just fine with it, although I would probably close most of the widgets.
A 720p youtube clip was making every monitor I have at home a piece of junk. I tried 1080p and it was buffering a lot, unfortunately, so I couldn't see if the tablet can hold it... The screen at maximum brightness and with eco mode (a sort of second auto mode, but the menu was not in English so I don't know how to translate it) off was jaw dropping, even compared to an iPad 2...
piiman - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
actually that is the TouchWiz interface not the app drawer. The reason I got rid of it and use a different HOME is that it looked and acted like the iOS. So unlike the iPhone you can use it or not use it.(but it does look like the iPhone when you first buy one) As for the Tablet I say sorry but to patent a rectangle as your IP is crazy. All these silly patents just adds cost to us. Except now Apple wants to use them to kill the competition. All they are is a way for another company to stop competition and make money off someones else s product. (MS makes more off Android then their own phone) Hell most (like 90+%) are throw out during lawsuits. this alone should tell you something isn't right.piiman - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Just to be clear I was referring to the GS phone picture not the tablet but for some reason my post got stuck at the end and not to the post I was replying so it looks like I am talking about the tablet. So don't start flaming me :-) .