Samsung went back to the drawing board with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 after the iPad 2 was announced, admitting their upcoming tablet was too thick and heavy to compete. The result is the thinnest and lightest 10.1-inch tablet on the market, one that is a joy to use. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is available today for sale in a Wi-Fi version, and I like what I see in my test drive of the Honeycomb tablet.
Check out the photo gallery of the Samsung Gallery Tab 10.1.
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| Image Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with Honeycomb 3.1. |  |
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Hardware
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 gets its light weight from the all plastic construction, something that might not appeal to those liking the metal casing on the iPad. The Tab’s light weight combined with the super thin body make this tablet one of the most comfortable I have tried to date. It is solidly constructed in spite of the plastic, and is up to the daily bumps and grinds tablets are regularly exposed to.
Specs as reviewed:
- OS: Android Honeycomb 3.1
- Processor: Nvidia Tegra 2, 1GHz dual-core
- Memory: 1GB RAM; 16GB storage
- Display: 10.1-inch, 1280×800; 149 pixels per inch
- Video: 1080p playback (30 fps); Codecs supported: WMV7, WMV8, WMV9, H.264, MPEG4, Xvid, DivX, H.263, VP8
- Cameras: front- 2MP; rear- 3MP, auto-focus, flash, 720p video recording
- Ports: proprietary dock port (charging), 3.5mm audio
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual band (2.4GHz, 5GHz), Bluetooth 3.0
- Battery: 7000mAH
- Dimensions: 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.6mm (10.1 x 6.9 x 0.39 inches)
- Weight: 565g (1.24 lbs.)
The front of the Tab 10.1 is glossy glass covering a responsive touch screen that facilitates operation. The front-facing camera is located at the top center of the screen when held in landscape orientation. Two stereo speakers flank the screen in this orientation on either side of the tablet. As Honeycomb makes use of programmed soft buttons, there are no physical buttons on the front of the device.
The back of the Tab is white glossy plastic with a metal tab at the top of the device that covers the camera with auto-flash. The plastic has a durable finish that should resist scratching and abuse. Contrary to other tablets with aluminum backs, the Tab is grippy in the hand and does not feel slippery. I admit I have dropped two tablets with aluminum backs due to the slippery feel, and have not come close to dropping the Tab at all.
The proprietary docking/charging port is on the bottom of the Tab. This connector is the same as that on the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab. It would be better if Samsung used a standard port instead of this 30-pin version. The charging cable that is included is very short and makes it hard to find a convenient spot to charge the Tab within reach of an outlet. This cable has the 30-pin connector on one end and a standard USB plug on the other that plugs into the power adapter. The Tab will not charge while plugged into most laptop USB ports.
There are no physical controls on either side of the Tab, and on the top is the power, volume buttons and 3.5mm headphone jack. These buttons are easy to use and conveniently located for access in either landscape or portrait orientations.
The display on the Tab is bright and vivid which is typical of Samsung screens. It is not Super AMOLED but it is a very nice display. The speakers are very small and while loud, are not the best for loud listening. Samsung does include some decent headphones in the box with the Tab for cranking up the tunes.
The rear camera on the Tab is not going to win any awards, but is a decent camera for taking stills and video. The video is restricted to 720p which is not the best but lets face it, a 10-inch tablet is not really a good form for snapping photos/videos.
