Galaxy Tab a 101 Can You Drawing Review

I remember standing in the audience of Samsung'due south CTIA printing conference as it announced, for the first time ever, pricing and availability of its unreleased Milky way Tab x.1 and eight.9 before shipping. The smartphone (and early tablet) industries have gone this long without having to actually compete based on price, mostly because in North America the carriers subsidize much of the cost. If every device costs $199 under contract, why get carried abroad with details similar how much it really costs?

The Galaxy Tab however was playing in a different space. While Apple tree ultimately caved to the pressures of carrier subsidies with the iPhone, the iPad remains completely unsubsidized and its followers buy information technology by the millions. The magical toll indicate is $499 and it was at Samsung'south CTIA press conference that it announced it would be matching Apple's $499 cost point, and fifty-fifty dropping slightly below it for the 8.9-inch version.

At the time it seemed like a bold move, enough to give Honeycomb the fighting chance it needed. The Galaxy Tab would be thinner and lighter than the iPad 2 but competitively priced besides. This wouldn't be another Xoom.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (top) vs. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (bottom)

Then ASUS showed up. At $399, the Eee Pad Transformer non merely offered a different usage model to the iPad and Galaxy Tab, it brought a lower cost tag as well. Availability has been slim thanks to component shortages, merely with the Eee Pad selling for $399 the Milky way Tab at $499 all of the sudden seems overpriced.

2011 Tablet Comparing
	Apple tree iPad two	ASUS Eee Pad Transformer	Motorola Xoom WiFi	Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
SoC	Apple A5 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz)	NVIDIA Tegra two (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz)	NVIDIA Tegra 2 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz)	NVIDIA Tegra 2 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz)
GPU	PowerVR SGX 543MP2	NVIDIA GeForce	NVIDIA GeForce	NVIDIA GeForce
RAM	512MB	1GB	1GB	1GB
Display	1024 x 768 IPS	1280 x 800 IPS	1280 x 800	1280 ten 800 PLS
NAND	16GB	16GB	32GB	16GB
Dimensions	241.2mm ten 185.7mm x 8.8mm	271mm x 175mm x 12.95mm	249.1mm x 167.8mm x 12.9mm	256.6 x 172.9 x 8.6mm
Weight	601g	695g	730g	565g
Toll	$499	$399	$599	$499

Based on specs solitary yous'd be right. Samsung'due south Milky way Tab 10.1 has the aforementioned NVIDIA Tegra ii tablet SoC inside,

1GB of LPDDR2 and 16GB of NAND on-board. You become a ten.1-inch 1280 10 800 PLS display and 802.11n WiFi support. It'south worth pointing out that we're now well into the month of June and NVIDIA continues to be the only SoC vendor shipping in Honeycomb tablets. Samsung originally had plans to send its own Exynos SoC in the Galaxy Tab but Tegra 2 remains the port of choice for all Honeycomb vendors at this point. Whether or not NVIDIA can win twice in a row with Ice Cream Sandwich later this year remains to be seen.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (left) vs. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (Right)

Where Samsung gives yous something more for your money is in build quality and form factor. While Eee Pad Transformer feels surprisingly adept for a cost reduced tablet, it doesn't feel about every bit slim or portable as the Galaxy Tab x.one. Information technology'due south no wonder Samsung went back to the cartoon lath on this one, the consequence is something that in many ways feels amend than the iPad two.

Apple however gets the nod in terms of quality of materials. The aluminum back of the iPad ii is unbeatable. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 however feels lighter, a bit more rugged (I'm less concerned about scratching plastic than I am marring aluminum) and a little more comfy to hold as a result. Confronting the Eee Pad there'southward no competition. I can live with the Eee Pad, but I much prefer the experience of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The new Tab just feels like a device from this twelvemonth - a compliment that, until now, I had merely given to Apple.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 measures merely 8.6mm thick, 0.2mm thinner than the iPad two. To be honest yous really can't tell the difference, both devices feel thin. Ever later holding them back to back it'due south near impossible to tell that Samsung has built a thinner device. The most tangible difference in feel is the weight, not merely in overall mass but in terms of weight distribution. The Milky way Tab seems to carry the weight a flake better than the iPad, a bit more evenly.

Samsung Galaxy Tab x.ane (left) vs. Apple tree iPad two (right)

Now is every bit practiced a time as any to point out that although Samsung calls this the Galaxy Tab ten.ane, it's actually the new Galaxy Tab ten.1. Originally Samsung appear a much thicker version at Mobile Globe Congress, a month prior to the CTIA announcement. With the much thinner iPad two hitting the market place subsequently the original ten.1 proclamation, Samsung scrapped plans for the original and unveiled the thinner 8.6mm version as the new Milky way Tab. The original Galaxy Tab 10.1 is now known as the Galaxy Tab x.1v.

The Hardware

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Source: https://www.anandtech.com/show/4445/samsung-galaxy-tab-101-review

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