Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi

Not Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Wi-Fi) first tablet pc, but Samsung's first entry into the recent Honeycomb tablet boom, the Wi-Fi Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a hair thinner than the Apple iPad 2 ($499, 4.5 stars). Despite this physical feat, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi won't replace last year's 7-inch Galaxy Tab—Samsung reps claim they're selling far too well. And with a Verizon Wireless version of the 10.1 coming soon, as well as another smaller screen model, it's difficult to pick out which of the plethora of Galaxy Tabs is right for you, or whether any are. The $499.99 (list) Tab 10.1 is as capable as any of its Honeycomb competitors, but Samsung might change that. While it's pure Honeycomb now, the company has plans to customize the Tab 10.1's operating system somewhere down the line. Samsung has a checkered past around timely Android updates and UI customizations on its phones, and that could be repeated with the Tab 10.1. Regardless, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is one of the best Android tablets available right now.

Design and Features Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Wi-Fi)
Measuring approximately 6.9 by 10.1 by 0.3 inches, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 looks vastly different than every tablet we've seen thus far. Just kidding—they all look virtually identical. From the front, the Tab 10.1 most closely resembles the iPad 2 in overall appearance (no logos, just a black frame around the display) and the Motorola Xoom ($599, 3.5 stars) in shape. Like the Xoom, its 10.1-inch, 1280-by-800 pixel display makes it ideal for watching widescreen format video and HD content. By taking up more surface area than either the Xoom or iPad 2, the Tab 10.1 manages to be noticeably (not obviously) thinner and, at 19.9 ounces, lighter than either one. The plastic back panel is offered in white (like our review unit) or black, and both models are available in 16GB (as we tested) or 32GB capacities, the latter costing $599.99. An exclusive distribution deal with Best Buy will eventually fade into wider-spread availability this summer.

The back panel houses the rear-facing 3.0-megapixel camera lens. A front-facing 2.0 megapixel lens is situated on the front panel, and both lenses sit in the middle of the long top edge of the tablet, for horizontal use. Near the lenses, on the top panel, there's a 3.5mm headphone jack that is thoughtfully accompanied by a pair of standard-issue earbuds. The earbuds aren't terribly good, but something is better than nothing, which is what you get with nearly every other competing tablet.

Along the side panels, there are left and right internal speakers; the top edge houses the Power and Volume controls, and on the bottom panel there's a proprietary connection for the included charging/sync cable, which connects the tablet to both your computer and the AC adapter via USB.

ust like all the recent Honeycomb tablets, the Tab 10.1 is powered by Nvidia's Dual-Core Tegra 2 processor. The tablet supports 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and there's built-in GPS, an accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass. While the Tab will handle 1080p video, there's no HDMI output to mirror to an HDTV, unlike many other Honeycomb tablets, such as the Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 ($399-499, 3.5 stars). And there's no USB port, either.

Performance Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi

Since all Honeycomb tablets thus far have shipped with the same Tegra 2 CPU inside, our system test results for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 are very similar to those for almost every other Honeycomb tablet. Whether it's on our BenchmarkPi test or GUIMark2 Flash tests, the Tab 10.1 and the Xoom (and the rest fo the Honeycomb tablets) all perform so similarly the data results are interchangeable. Until a current-gen Android tablet emerges that doesn't use Tegra 2, this is unlikely to change. That said, that Tegra 2 means strong overall processor performance, with smooth UI navigation and fast loading times for most Flash-based websites.

Samsung rates the Galaxy tab 10.1 (Wi-Fi)'s battery life at up to 9 hours. Our own test results will be posted here soon.

Honeycomb…And What Samsung Might Do To It Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi

Honeycomb, or Android 3.0, Google's tablet-specific OS hasn't varied much at all from tablet to tablet so far. In a nutshell, it is a very capable OS—a tad cluttered at times, but more customizable than Apple's iOS. App selection for Honeycomb is weak, whereas Apple's iPad-optimized app selection is quite strong, so there is a strong need for improvement in this category, but it seems more up to developers than anyone else. Google recently released Android 3.1 (which the Galaxy Tab 10.1 ships with) to most existing Honeycomb tablets, and there have thus far been few manufacturer customizations. This Android version brings better multitasking (you can now open upwards of 20 apps simultaneously instead of just five) and full support for Adobe Flash 10.3. (As you might have heard, the iPad 2 has no Flash support whatsoever.) To better understand the OS, check out our Tablet PC review. To better understand what to expect from the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1's version of Honeycomb down the road, read on.

Because Samsung customizes user interfaces, it has to customize OS updates as well, in order to keep the user interface experience consistent for the customer—and this takes a while. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will ship with un-customized Honeycomb 3.1, but Samsung will soon push out an update that will change the way the user interface looks and operates. Samsung reps claim the changes will be subtle, but regardless of how they look, it could be a huge gamble on Samsung's part, and on the part of early buyers of the Tab 10.1. Users accustomed to Honeycomb will have to adapt to the new changes, and of course, when Google pushes out further updates to the OS, Samsung will have to first customize them and then push that update out to its customers. If it's a matter of days or even a few weeks, that's not a huge deal. But Samsung's customers in the mobile phone world know firsthand that Android tablet updates can take a long, long time—months—before the manufacturer deems them ready for release. What you're getting when you buy the Galaxy Tab, in other words, might not be what you'll get long-term.