Samsung ATIV Tab 3 Preview

Introduction

The Samsung Ativ Tab 3 is a thin and light tablet that features a full-blown Windows 8 and runs on an Intel Atom chip. A separately sold keyboard book cover transforms it into a better productivity tool and with built-in S Pen and S Note 2 application, it has its creative appeal. Additionally, it has a dedicated SIM card slot enabling 3G and 4G cellular connectivity.

We have a prototype of the device in our hands, so keep in mind that Samsung might improve it further in the final, retail unit, but with this in mind, let’s take a look at how the ATIV Tab 3 looks right now and what it offers.

Design

The Ativ Tab 3 is surprisingly light and thin for a Windows 8 machine. It is only 7.95mm thick and is fairly lightweight for its class at 550g. Its design closely resembles that of Samsung’s Galaxy line of Android devices, a uniformity that the company wants to maintain.


It has the typical Samsung look and feel - all made out of plastic with a glossy textured back. We are not big fans of plastic devices, but our first impressions were spoiled more by something else. This tablet just does not feel solidly build - the back squeaks and screaks, making it all look fragile. Hopefully Samsung will fix these issues in the final device.

There is a lock key and a volume rocker on top, next to them are the lid-protected microSD and SIM card slots, while the microHDMI and microUSB ports remain nested on the right hand side.


Display

The Ativ Tab 3 comes with a 10.1-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. This results in a lack of fine detail and a very low pixel density of 155ppi, meaning your eyes will notice all sorts of ugly pixelization. Yikes, as a $599 device, one would definitely expect more from the Ativ Tab 3. In comparison, way more affordable tablets like the iPad and Nexus 10 have screens of “Retina” quality of over 300ppi. Surprisingly, the display also supports up to 5-finger multitouch, instead of the now standard 10-finger one, but that's not a huge issue.

Colors also start to fade out at an angle. On a more positive note, looking directly into the screen, colors are vibrant, while screen brightness is very high. That all made it easier to use the tablet in the outdoors.



Interface and Functionality

The biggest advantage of the Samsung Ativ Tab 3 is of course the fact that it runs a full-blown Windows 8 (32-bit) with legacy app support. Windows 8 comes with a split personality - you can use it in either the new touch-friendly Modern Live Tile interface, or switch to the good old desktop mode more suitable for use with a mouse and a keyboard.


In terms of applications, you have the standard Microsoft pack including Internet Explorer, Bing, Maps, Weather, Skype, and so on. Windows 8 comes with the People Hub for all your contacts and it is deeply integrated with social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Apps not optimized for touch would run in the old desktop mode and you can run some serious software like Photoshop from there.


If you haven’t yet used Windows 8, there is a slight but definite learning curve. The system is gesture driven, with a swipe from the left edge of the screen used to switch between apps (as if you’ve pressed Alt + Tab). A gesture from the right to left brings up the charms menu which is contextual, so its functionality differs across apps. In the context of the home screen, that is how you access most common settings.

The Modern UI offers some customization options with the possibility to change background patterns and color schemes, but its capabilities feel a bit limited in comparison to, say, Android.

Typing on the Ativ Tab 3, without the separately sold keyboard book cover, happens on an on-screen keyboard. It has a couple of layouts including a standard full-width keyboard and a split keyboard for easy reach of the thumbs.



S Pen

Samsung successfully differentiates the Ativ Tab 3 by bundling in an S Pen stylus. It is built right into the device, and Samsung also includes a dedicated S Note 2.0 application for drawing and jotting down notes with the S Pen.

We are no professional artists, but sketching in the S Note app is easy and straightforward. The S Pen has 1024-level pressure sensitivity. In reality that means that whenever you press more, the line you draw becomes thicker. The S Note application would also recognize your handwriting and transform it into typed text if you want. Samsung has given users a few ideas about various types of content that you can create with the S Note application - a journal, recipes, drawings. The app matches the wobbly shapes you draw and allows you to insert images and other media into your notes.



Processor and Memory

The Ativ Tab 3 runs on an Intel Atom Z2760 processor (previously referred to as Clover Trail), and not on a Core series chip like say the Surface Pro. Performance is fairly smooth across the Live Tiles home screen, but in some more demanding applications like the browser you can definitely notice a stutter. Those are some rough edges we hope will be addressed in the final device.

On the technical side of things, the Z2760 is a 32nm dual-core chip clocked at 1.8GHz and it comes with a PowerVR SGX545 graphics. The processor supports hyper-threading technology for multi-threaded applications and the GPU is decent enough to handle some games. Somewhat strangely, the 2GB of RAM are of the slower LPDDR2 kind.

The tablet has 64GB of internal storage, of which nearly 45GB are available to the end user as some 20 gigs are used by the system. Luckily, you can expand the built-in memory via a microSD card.

Internet and Connectivity

The Ativ Tab 3 supports both Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and 3G/4G LTE cellular connectivity. A dedicated SIM card slot is on the side.

For browsing the web, Internet Explorer 10 is pre-installed on the device, but you can freely download your favorite Windows browser like Firefox or Chrome. Being a full-featured Windows machine, it also has full support for Adobe Flash. Needless to say, all standard desktop browser functionality works here. We did notice some stutter when scrolling around and zooming in and out, though, something that we hope will be polished in the final product.

Other connectivity options available here are DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and NFC.

Camera

Photography is not a critical feature for a tablet, but it’s definitely nice to have at least a basic rear and front facing cameras for video chats. The Ativ Tab 3 has them both, and they are indeed very basic. As per specs, it comes with a 5-megapixel main camera with a single LED flash and a front camera capable of recording 720p video.



In our prototype there were still some issues with the cameras, so we’d reserve our judgment about image quality for the final unit. What we can say is that along with the stock Windows camera app, Samsung has bundled its own application which is rich in settings and you can fine-tune your shot by tweaking white balance, colors and others.



Samsung ATIV Tab 3 Sample Video:



Samsung ATIV Tab 3 Indoor Sample Video:



Multimedia

The ample space provided by the 10.1-inch display makes the Ativ Tab 3 a perfect device for media consumption. You have the stock Windows 8 Photos hub for your shots and it is a fairly basic app allowing you to watch slideshows and crop your images. Sharing images is clunky, though. The way you select images by long holding and sliding them down is slow and ineffective.

The music hub is a great looking place designed in the the Modern UI style and synced with Xbox Music. Sound output is loud and clear through the stereo speakers located on the sides of the tablet.

The video player is fairly minimalistic, but hiding behind that simplicity is a rich format and codec support. It played back 720p videos in various codecs like Divx/Xvid and Mpeg-4 (it opened 1080p too, but played them with hickups). MKV files are not supported in the stock video player.



Battery life

On paper, the Ativ Tab 3 should last around 8.5 hours of continuous video playback. That is slightly below its rivals, but that is the price you have to pay for a slimmer and lighter design. We wouldn’t say that is a terribly low battery life, and it should be sufficient for a full day of heavy use, and in most cases a lot more. The battery is a decent 25.6Wh one.

Expectations

With the Ativ Tab 3, Samsung has made a surprisingly slim and lightweight tablet that runs a full-blown Windows 8. That small breakthrough along with the S Pen and the nice S Note 2.0 app make it stand out.

Its biggest rivals are the Intel Atom-based Asus VivoTab Smart and Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet. The former is a more affordable Windows 8 device without the stylus, and the latter is a bulkier and costlier alternative. In that context, the Ativ Tab 3 looks good.

The real question, though, is why would you need such a device. At $600 without a keyboard ($700 with a keyboard), it approaches Ultrabook pricing, yet does not have a Core processor, nor does it provide the same quality typing experience. Its low-res display makes it inferior to most tablets too. The Ativ Tab 3 is good in its “one-fit-all” class, but question remains whether you need a device that is jack of all trades, master of none. Samsung is yet to improve the device and we are looking forward to reviewing the retail model soon.