Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) Review
by Brian Klug & Anand Lal Shimpi on October 1, 2013 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Galaxy Note 10.1
Final Words
Starting from the inside out, the new Galaxy Note is better in pretty much every way. The industrial design is much improved compared to its predecessors. The new Exynos 5420 is quite fast on both CPU and GPU fronts. Battery life is ok for normal usage but great for video playback (just behind the big iPad). You get tons of RAM (3GB) and super fast WiFi. Then there’s the display. The 2560 x 1600 panel is easily the best Samsung has shipped in a tablet. Although not the best in the industry, it’s in a different league compared to Samsung tablet displays of years past. Even compared to the Galaxy Tab 3.0 lineup, the 2014 Note 10.1’s display is so much better.
With a relatively good story across the board in terms of hardware, the only difficulty in this conclusion boils down to a discussion of price vs. functionality.
The Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) arrives at an interesting time for the 10-inch tablet market. It’s definitely the high-end offering we’ve always hoped to see from Samsung in their 10-inch family, but the world seems to be moving toward smaller tablets for consumption, while toying with the idea of a 2-in-1 for productivity. Samsung attempts to straddle both lines with the inclusion of the S Pen, something we found surprisingly useful in our review of the Galaxy Note 8.0, but a feature that comes at a steep price.
There are really two key tablet price points/devices that you have to compete with in this world: the 2013 Nexus 7 at $229, and iPad at $499. The Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) continues Samsung’s trend of charging a premium for the S Pen/Note experience and shows up at $549 for a 16GB WiFi-only model. That is a healthy premium over the non-Note model, but easily worth the adder given what you get (assuming you're limiting yourself to shopping exclusively in Samsung's tablet lineup). What I'd really like to see is a 2014 Edition of the Galaxy Note 8, with the same sort of hardware but at a much lower price point.
At the end of the day, the new Note’s pricing paints it into a niche just like the rest of the big Note lineup. If you love the S Pen experience and want it on some of the best 10-inch tablet hardware available, the new Note 10.1 is perfect. It's arguably the best 10-inch tablet Samsung has ever built, but it's also priced as such. If you're not married to the S Pen, there are definitely cheaper options out there.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
97 Comments
View All Comments
eiriklf - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
Just to elaborate, the nexus 10 on chrome 30 beta pretty much matches the 5s in mozilla kraken and is not far behind in octane either, and I expect the nexus 10 will see regular performance improvements in the coming months.ESC2000 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
You mean they both suck?KateMfield10 - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
Another Android tablet with impressive features and price that launched this week is from tabletmaker Pipo Electronics and the new 9.7-inch Pipo M6 Pro($297) is getting much notice for its slim design and packs in a solid device that compares to the new Kindle Fire HDX and iPad for much less -- the Pipo M6 Pro offers 32GB and built-in GPS -- plus a 2048X1536 Liquid Crystal display, along with a Quad-Core processor - 1.6 GHz / 2GB Ram; it also features premium front speakers, Bluetooth 4.0, a truly large capacity 10,000 mAh battery, a MicroSD memory card slot, and high speed WiFi; and also offers quality dual cameras, Google Play preinstalled and an option to use standard Android 4.2.2 O/S or a user-friendly Windows style interface.One of the first sites in the U.S. with more details for this new model is-- TabletSprint
carlinafrelich - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
til I looked at the check which was of $6274, I did not believe that...my... mother in law truly erning money part-time from their laptop.. there friend brother has been doing this for only about 18 months and recently cleard the debts on their home and got a new BMW 5-series. look at this website>>>>>> url.ℳn/23bb7d0XFire99 - Sunday, October 13, 2013 - link
U joking right? Since when is IP5S a tablet? It shouldnt be in this test at all and when the score is bad for IP5S. They didnt even incl it on the tests.Shootergod - Sunday, December 1, 2013 - link
Hi noob,surely they didn't list the geekbench 3 which they've used to mention before guess what? it has been helpless defeated there,beaten by Note 10.1 octa core version, and Note 10.1 2014 LTE ver. which runs Snapdragon 800 backed with 330 Adreno beats iphone 5s and ipad air hellishly in every single benchmark as usual. How about camera? ipad stucks with sucky 5mp camera which can't take any quality video and images while 8MP camera with flash can take so much better image s and vids with stereo sound recording. After apple introduce 64 bit chip,wow I see many apple fanboys popping out to bark at any tech lovers but before that they are the one saying nobody buys because of benchmark and nobody cares about it because of their shitty devices form ipad to ipad 4 and from iphone to iphone 5 lose to any Android devices,quite pathetic though,but what can I say since it is a world with freedom,everyone can choose whatever they want! Cheers!liahos1 - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
Guys,Have you guys noticed stuttering / laggy performance of any sort. Verge and Engadget were pretty explicit on this. Just wondering if you've seen the same thing.
nerd1 - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
I don't think they reviewed any android product which they claim to be 'laggy'Squuiid - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
Does the note 10.1 2014 cheat benchmarks in the same way the Note 3 does?http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/galaxy-note...
darwinosx - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
Anand seems reluctant to come straight out and call it cheating. If any site should do that it would be this one.The horrible faux leather and stitching is bad enough on the Note 3 but just horrendous on a full size tablet.