Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite Preview

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite is one of the most affordable brand name tablets out there but does affordable mean good value for the money?

On the positive side, the small, 7-inch Android tablet offers the reassuring Samsung logo (it’s not made by an unknown white-box company), and the neat, well optimized for tablets TouchWiz user interface. However, even though the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite does not have any tragic flaws, it simply cannot flex much performance muscle. It’s got a basic dual-core processor, a low-resolution display and a barebones 2-megapixel camera.

How does that all work out in real life, and can it compare to some extremely affordable, yet superior technologically Android tablets? We have tested a pre-production unit of the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite that gives us a good idea of what we can expect - take a look.

Design

The Tab 3 Lite features narrow screen bezels that make it compact and easier to hold; it’s chubby, but also lightweight.

An apple does not fall far from the tree - this saying should summarize well the typical Samsung look and the design of the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite. This tablet is the spiritual successor to the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0, and has not only very similar hardware, but nearly identical visuals with it. Yes, that means it is all plastic.

Our pre-production test unit comes with a lemon yellow textured plastic back, similar to the faux-leather one of the Galaxy Note 3, but it seems like what we have is a more limited edition of the tablet, and the generic one could feature only black or white colors, and come with a glossy finish.

In terms of size, it is compact overall, with fairly thin bezel , but a bit chubby measuring a considerable 0.38 inches (9.7mm). Luckily, it is also fairly lightweight at just 0.68 pounds (310 g), so you can easily hold it for longer periods of time.

We don’t want to draw any final conclusions, but the physical buttons on our test device come with a nice travel and clickiness, and are easy to press. On the right side there are a lock key and volume rocker, and on the left is microSD card slot.

Display

170ppi just fails to meet modern day expectations for sharpness.

The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite features a very modest 1024 x 600-pixel 7-inch display that just fails to meet modern day expectations for tablet sharpness. Pixel density comes in at around 170ppi, so you’ll definitely have trouble reading tiny fonts without zooming in.

One feature that is annoyingly missing on the Tab 3 Lite is an ambient light sensor, so you’ll have to manually adjust screen brightness every time your light conditions change.

Interface and Functionality

It might not have the latest Android version, but it features a very well optimized for tablets TouchWiz user interface with landscape support and improved multitasking.

The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which is now nearly a year old. We all wish for the latest version of Android, but since this is an affordable device and since the changes that later versions of Google’s platform brings are not that major, we would not really consider this a huge downside.

What we absolutely love about the Tab 3 Lite is Samsung’s TouchWiz skin that’s loaded on top of Android. TouchWiz might be a polarizing skin for smartphones where some could argue that stock Android is leaner and cleaner, but we find Samsung’s user interface to be a great fit for tablets. It adds two key features that we find to improve the tablet experience a lot: the first one is landscape mode in the home screen and app drawer, and the second one is the multi-window feature for better multitasking.

All the core Samsung and Google apps are here as well. Google’s Play Store along with its YouTube, Maps, Gmail, Drive and Hangouts cover a lot of the things people do on their smartphones, and Samsung’s apps such as S Calendar, the ChatON instant messenger, the great Gallery, the fitting two-column Contacts app and Samsung’s music player complement them well.

Typing on the 7-inch display is comfortable as you have enough space for both of your thumbs to quickly hit the buttons that are larger and easier to hit than on a smartphone. Single-handed typing, of course, is not practical.

Processor and Memory

It runs on a humble dual-core chip, but our pre-production unit was perfectly capable of running the interface and casual games like Temple Run 2 smoothly.

The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite runs on a very humble dual-core chip, but with its low-res display, it also won’t put too much of a strain on it, and we expect the device to perform relatively smoothly in daily use. We installed some casual games like Temple Run 2 and they all ran perfectly well on the tablet. Still, do not expect to be able to play the latest games like Real Racing 3 or Asphalt 8 without a stutter - you’d be able to run them, but chances are they won’t run perfectly smooth.

The exact chip that powers the Tab 3 Lite show is the 1.2GHz Marvell PXA986 unit (Cortex A9-based) with Vivante GC1000 graphics processor, and 1GB of RAM.

We’d abstain from any final judgments about the Tab 3 Lite’s performance since what we have is not the final unit. In our final review, you’d also find conclusive benchmark tests of the tablet.

The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite features only 8GB of internal storage, but luckily, you can expand that via microSD cards of up to 64 GB.

Internet and Connectivity

The Tab 3 Lite The Tab 3 Lite comes in a $160 Wi-Fi-only model and a $240 3G-enabled version.

You can surf the web via the built-in Android browser or on Google’s mobile Chrome. Both do a fine job, but Chrome has a slightly better optimized for touch interface and neat cross-device syncing capabilities.

In terms of connectivity, the Tab 3 Lite features a single channel Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and A-GPS, but it lacks NFC.

It’s important to note that the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite comes in two versions - a Wi-Fi-only model that does not support cellular data connectivity, and a 3G-enabled (more expensive) one with data that is likely to support traditional calling and texting as well. This preview is of the Wi-Fi-only model.

Camera

A front-facing camera is sorely missing, and the rear 2-megapixel shooter looks very barebones.

The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite photographic capabilities are extremely limited. First, because it only features a barebones 2-megapixel rear camera with no flash, and second, because it’s missing a front-facing shooter for video conferencing. Honestly, we’d prefer having a front camera on a tablet rather than a rear-facing one, but it is what it is.

The interface is the old Samsung one, without the fancy shooting modes you might have seen in the Galaxy S4, but it’s still a very functional layout packed with features. You can do things like capture a panoramic image, apply filters, change the white balance, set a timer, and others on this rich interface.


Question remains whether all that effort is justified for a snap from a barebones 2-megapixel camera. We will see in the final review, but you can check out some test samples from our pre-production unit right below.

Multimedia

Samsung claims it can playback 8 hours of non-stop video.

Multimedia is the bread and butters of tablets, and with the otherwise limited capabilities of the Tab 3 Lite, it’s even more important. The 7-inch display might be small in tablet standards, but it’s much larger than most smartphones out there, so watching movies or checking out images is an enjoyable experience.

The built-in video player is capable of running most common formats with ease (we played back 720p videos without a stutter), but some codec support like DivX is missing in our pre-production test unit. You can easily fix that, though, with a quick download of an app like the free MX Player from Google Play Store. Most importantly, Samsung claims the Tab 3 Lite can play up to 8 hours of non-stop video - neat!

We love the Gallery experience with Samsung’s two-column app that makes jumping between albums of photos easy, and adds basic image editing capabilities.

For music, you have the Google Play Music app along with Samsung’s own music player, and while both get the job done, we tend to prefer Samsung’s application for its simpler interface, nice equalizer presets and folder view support.

Expectations

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite should go on sale soon in the United States with a starting price of the very affordable $160, and it will be sold in Best Buy and other large retailers. In Europe the price is set at around €160 and in the UK the tablet costs £117 gbp. All those prices are for the Wi-Fi only model, while the 3G cellular data enabled version is expected to cost around $240 (€240 in Europe).

There is no doubt that this is an affordable price, especially for a brand name tablet, but this does not mean it is great value for the money. The Tab 3 Lite's low-res display, humble dual-core processor, 8GB of storage and barebones 2-megapixel camera look paltry on paper when compared against other tablets with more processing power, higher-res displays and double the storage. Such competitors would be the 2012 Nexus 7 and Asus MemoPad HD 7, both of which come with higher-res screens, more processing power and internal storage.

Finally, as affordable as the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite looks, it seems a bit overpriced for what it offers. After all, we have already seen devices like the 2012 Nexus 7 with better specifications, yet selling at a similar price, that would seem like a better choice.