samsung galaxy

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - direct view

Samsung made a big splash with its 5.3in Galaxy Note late last year, blending the boundaries between samrtphone and tablet devices, with a little bit of PDA DNA thrown in for good measure - courtesy of a stylus. Now it's expanded the range with a 10.1in Galaxy Note tablet. The idea being that the Note range provides a two-way street of both media consumption and creation, while the Tab range is a one-way street.

There's hybrid size confusion here, and upon picking it up, you could mistake it for any other Samsung 10in tablet - such as the current 10.1 or the new Tab 2 10.1. Our first surprise was that the stylus - officially the S-Pen - didn't have a recess to live in. Given the biro-like size of it, this may not be so surprising as it might well have compromised the 8.9mm design. Still it would have been nice to see a clip or holder for the pen, maybe on one edge.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with a range of software to help you express your creatve urges. Adobe's Photoshop Touch comes pre-installed , so you can play with and touch up photos from the onboard 3-megapixel camera, or any other device thanks to a built-in micro SD port. We had a go at one of the basic tutorials and found the pen easy to handle and software quick to pick up.

The stylus has double the level of sensitivity to that in the 5.3in Note, 256 vs 128 degrees, we didn't notice the difference but then we're not day-to-day Note users. More immediately useful is the virtual 'rubber' on the other end of the stylus, which makes deleting an error second nature. Also preloaded is Samsung's own suite of stylus-friendly apps, inlcuding S Note and S Planner, so you can use the pen for more practical purposes, like annotating documents. There's also Adobe Ideas for more serious drawing.

Once again at this year's MWC, we were impressed to find that despite all the customisation to Android, there was version 4.0 running underneath. The Note 10.1 has a very similar specification to the original Note, with a dual-core 1.4GHz processor. 16, 32 and 64GB versions will be available, along with both Wi-Fi only and 3G-enabled models.

We often complained when tablets first came along that they seemed designed purely for consumption rather than creation, so we heartily applaud Samsung in expanding the Note range to a larger device. However, we're still a bit worried about losing that stylus.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 review

While Apple was happily ruling the roost with its 10in iPad, Samsung was doing something different with its 7in tablets, starting off with the Samsung Galaxy Tab at the end of 2010. With a few models released since then and a proper tablet version of Android available, the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 really should be Samsung's chance to shine. Unfortunately for Samsung, Google has come along with its own competitor, the super-cheap and very powerful Google Nexus 7.

In terms of looks, there's not much to tell the two apart. Both tablets are roughly the same size and weight. However, the Nexus 7 has a darker screen, so when it's turned off it's hard to tell where the screen ends and the bezel starts. Due to the Galaxy Tab 2's lighter screen, the bezel stands out more, making the display look a little smaller. There are, however, both silver and white versions of the Tab 2, so you've got a bit more choice on looks.

Samsung has fitted the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 with a 1,024x600 Plane Line Switching (PLS) screen, which is the company's alternative to the IPS technology in the Nexus 7's 1,280x800 screen. We found the Galaxy Tab 2 display to be brighter, with purer whites and better contrast, but both tablets have excellent viewing angles. In contrast, we found that the Nexus 7's screen is slightly less reflective, making it easier to read in most conditions.

In terms of resolution, the Nexus 7 wins hands down. The higher resolution packed into the smaller screen makes text and images look a lot sharper. Once you're used to the Nexus 7, text on the Tab 2's screen looks vaguely hazy.

PROCESSOR AND PERFORMANCE

Samsung has fitted a 1GHz TI OMAP 4430 dual-core processor, which compares poorly with the 1.2GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor in the Nexus 7. There's no doubt the Nexus 7 is the faster tablet. Google's tablet completed the the SunSpider JavaScript test in 1,676ms, while the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 took 2,278ms.

We also tried the graphically-intense Dead Trigger game on both tablets. While the Nexus 7 would let us play smoothly at Ultra High Detail levels, the Galaxy Tab 2 would only let us select High Detail and was a little jerkier, particularly when up-close and personal with a zombie.

Part of this difference can be explained by the tablets' different operating systems. The Nexus 7 runs Android 4.1 with the Project Butter update for a smoother interface, while the Galaxy Tab 2 has Android 4.0.

The Nexus definitely feels significantly smoother, particularly when scrolling through complicated web pages or a Google Play page full of apps. In the same situation the Galaxy Tab 2 feels rather jerky. It's by no means a slow tablet and we'll be interested to see what difference an update to Android 4.1 could offer, but for now the Nexus 7 is the faster tablet.

SAMSUNG'S ANDROID

We're pleased to see that Samsung hasn't changed Android much. It has added a screenshot button to the soft buttons bar, as well as a Mini Apps bar. Mini Apps are utilities that you can bring up in front of the main Android interface and include a calculator, music player and calendar, among others. They work quite well, but for us they don’t add anything over widgets or standard applications.

Samsung has also made minor changes to the mail and calendar apps. They're mostly cosmetic, but S Planner, the calendar replacement, also lets you pinch-to-zoom to switch between day, week and month views. It's a useful feature, even if the actual operation is a little jerky.

HARDWARE

The tablet has a 4,000mAh battery, which is only slightly less than the 4,325mAh battery of the Nexus 7. It lasted a respectable 8h 45m in our video playback test, although the Nexus 7 is clearly more efficient as it lasted 10h and 20m. Realistically both tablets will last you a day's use, but the Nexus 7's extra 90 minutes is useful.

Both Samsung and Google's tablets are available in 8GB and 16GB Wi-Fi versions. There's less need to buy the 16GB version of Samsung's tablet, as a microSD card slot means you can add up to 32GB more storage; the Nexus 7 is not upgradeable.

While Google doesn't have a 3G version of its tablet, Samsung does, which is brilliant news if you want data wherever you go and don't want to mess around with personal Wi-Fi hotspots. Expect to pay around an extra £80 for the 3G versions over the equivalent Wi-Fi model.

The Tab 2 has a rear video camera for video and stills capture. It only has a 3-megapixel sensor and shots are adequate but far from inspiring. We found that fine detail was lost, while highlight clipping meant we lost all the detail in the sky in our tests shots. Video is recorded at 720p at 30fps. It's smooth, but the picture is very noisy and there's not a lot of detail in the picture.

Annoyingly, the default setting for the tablet is to connect over USB in MTP mode, which hid all the images and videos taken using the camera from Windows Explorer. Changing to PTP mode let us access everything, but a standard mass storage mode would have been better.

There's no denying that this is a well-made tablet with a great screen. If this was a few months ago we may even have said the Tab 2 7.0 was the best 7in tablet you could buy. Unfortunately for Samsung, the Google Nexus 7 has a higher-resolution screen, a faster processor and a lower price, as well as a newer version of Android. Unless you really need the option of built-in 3G, the Nexus 7 is the better buy.