Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) Review

Introduction:

Samsung made it blatantly obvious last year that they would not be upstaged by the competition, as they seemingly redesigned the original Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to be thinner than the iPad 2. Well folks, fast forward one year later to the present, and Sammy is back for round two with its successor in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1). Strangely, rather than concocting something bigger and more immense, they’ve decided to go towards the affordability route, as the tablet launches with a specs sheet similar to its predecessor – while boasting a $50 decrease in price to $450 for the base 16GB version. Will this new approach expand its reach?

Design:

By now, we’re all too familiar with Samsung’s strategy of not being upstaged by the competition. However, with this successor model, its design is a wee bit uninspiring and underwhelming. Overall, it exhibits all of the characteristics of being a Samsung made device, as it sports a sturdy all-plastic build – while still regarded as being streamlined at 0.38” thick. No doubt, we applaud its slick and comfortable feel in the hand, but still, its design is not as aggressive when compared to other recent things like the Asus Transformer Prime.




This time around, Samsung has repositioned its speakers onto its left and right edges, which are also raised higher to not interfere with our hands while holding onto it. And of course, there’s a front-facing VGA camera perched above the display ready for all our video chatting needs.

Looking around its sides, most of its buttons and ports are located on the top side of the tablet – these include the springy power button, volume control, microSD card slot, 3.5mm headset jack, and an IR blaster. With the latter, we’ve been seeing it incorporated with many of Samsung’s recent tablets, and we continue to enjoy seeing the tablet doubling as a universal remote. On the bottom edge, the only thing we find is the proprietary charging/data port and the microphone.

In the rear, Samsung has opted to keep the same sized 3.2-megapixel camera, but it’s sadly lacking auto-focus and an LED flash.


Display:

Now that we’ve been teased by some wicked tablet displays, we’re not overblown by the 10.1” WXGA (1280 x 800) Super PLS-LCD display of the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1). Naturally, its 149 ppi pixel density might exhibit some pixilation here and there, but from a good distance away, it’s hardly noticeable. Furthermore, we’re still content by its robust color reproduction, good brightness output, and reasonable viewing angles. Unless you’ve been spoiled by some higher resolution tablet displays, you’ll find this one pleasing enough to look at, but if you’re on the opposite end, you might not be wowed.

Interface and Functionality:

TouchWiz over Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is the name of the game on the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), and to tell you the truth, it hasn’t changed much from the prototype unit we checked out not too long ago. Peering over the interface, it isn’t a dramatic change from the TouchWiz UX experience found on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 from last year. Specifically, we can tap on the arrow icon on the bottom center of the UI to access the Mini Apps Tray from before – where we’re able to layer apps like the Calculator, Task Manager, World Clock, Calendar, and much more. Certainly, it’s nice having access to them at any time, but not all of the apps are practical. Aside from that, it boasts the same amount of lovable personalization found with any other Android device out there.


Normally, 10.1-inch tablets tend to provide a suitable typing experience for us, but with Samsung’s updated layout, it’s not the most optimal thing due to its cramped layout. To tell you the truth, the landscape option requires more caution, but with the portrait one, it’s easier to handle because our thumbs easily encompass the layout. Alternatively, there’s a handwriting recognition option for those who prefer writing things out by hand – or in this case, by finger.

Not surprisingly, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) coughs up that all too great email experience that we’re so used to seeing on other devices. Both the standard Email and Gmail apps function the same, as they rely on a two-panel interface to provide us with easy organization. With setup, it’s effortless and simply requires our email address and password.


Surprisingly enough, there aren’t as many third party apps preloaded with the tablet when compared to other things, but nevertheless, the few on here include AllShare, Amazon Kindle, ChatON, Next Issue, Polaris Office, and the Peel Smart Remote app. With the latter, we’ve seen it already on other Samsung Tabs, as we find it especially rewarding in turning it into a fully immersive universal remote.



Processor and Memory:

Gone is the dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, and instead, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) is powered by a 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 CPU with 1GB of RAM. In an age where quad-cores show their finesse, the dual-core in this one simply goes to show off its age. In fact, it exhibits some noticeable bouts of slowdown, lag, and delays with some of its operations – and it’s evident with processor intensive tasks such as activating a live wallpaper. Heck, our keen eyes are also able to recognize a slower rate of performance with a static wallpaper even. Of course, the benchmark results confirm our experience, as they’re clearly lagging from the big contenders in the market.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1)	2711	4995	18.7
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1	2341	5167	20.6
Asus Trasnsformer Pad 300	3872	9551	47.1
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0)	2750	5144	30.2

With the base $450 priced model of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), you get 16GB of storage, which actually breaks down to 11.87GB out of the box. Luckily, it can be supplemented thanks to the microSD card that it’s boasting.

Internet and Connectivity:

Surfing the web is such a pleasure on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), mainly because it’s able to handle all operations without much fluff. Even with Flash heavy sites, it’s able to readily maintain a high level of performance with its navigational controls – such as smooth kinetic scrolling and pinch zooming. And with our Wi-Fi connection, it’s able to quickly and properly render our site to its entirety.


Although this particular model lacks cellular connectivity, we’ll most certainly see it available with other variants. Specifically, this version features aGPS, Bluetooth 3.0, and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi.

Camera:

Call it a shocker, especially when we tend to see improvements with successive devices, but in this case, it’s a big step backwards. For starters, Samsung decided to keep the same 3.2-megapixel camera from before – albeit, it’s without auto-focus and an LED flash. With the results, they’re nothing pretty as the images appear simultaneously muddy and hazy – as details appear extremely soft in tone. Forget about using it indoors or under low lighting, seeing that we’re repulsed by the extravagant amount of graininess and noise ruining the shots.



Moving onto video capture, there’s nothing wonderful to say since it’s only boasting 720p – as opposed to 1080p that many devices are offering. Seriously, the only thing going for it is the clear audio recording it’s able to cough up, but aside from that, everything else is downright unimpressive. Well, it specifically consists of soft details, a lot of artifacting when panning, and a constant trouble with looking over-exposed.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) Sample Video:



Multimedia:

Like a tape player set on repeat, the music player interface is nothing more than a rehash of what we’ve seen with TouchWiz for Honeycomb. No doubt functional at its core, its presentation is lacking the visual allure. As for its stereo speakers, they’re point enough to deliver some strong and robust tones without any hint of crackling.


As expected, the tablet fares well when it comes to playing high-definition videos, as it’s able to perfectly play our test video that’s encoded in DivX 1920 x 1080 resolution. Additionally, it has support for a wide array of codecs, like XviD, MPEG-4, and H.264, to ensure you’re covered with all your video watching needs.


For those with DLNA compatible devices in the home, you’ll be able to wirelessly stream local media content from the tablet thanks to the AllShare app. However, if you prefer a wired connection, you’ll need to purchase an additional accessory to gain a video-out function.

Performance:

Connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot that’s approximately 30 feet away, we do notice some instances of fluctuation during our testing, but it never once lost the connection entirely.

As we gloat about the tablet’s downgraded status, the one bright spot shining proudly is the exceptional battery life we’re able to get out of its 7,000 mAh battery. Charging it up fully, it’s able to provide us two whole days of normal usage, which should also be effective to handle even the most demanding users out there.


Conclusion:

Reminiscing about the experience we had with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 from last year, we’re a bit saddened in a way that this successor is undeniably lacking the same level of love and attraction. Compared to its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) doesn’t innovate in any way with its ho-hum specs sheets, but then again, Sammy has opted to make this line as its affordable offering – though, at $50 less ($450), it’s not particularly deemed as something super affordable compared to other thing. Instead, if you prefer to save even more money, without compromising features, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) is a better buy at $250. Overall, we can honestly say that this is a step backwards in the wrong direction, as it seemingly doesn’t have enough of the goods to compete viably in this market.

Software version of the reviewed unit:
Android Version: 4.0.3
Kernel Version: 3.0.8-396106-user
Build Number: IML74K.P5113UEALD7

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) Video Review: