We just wrote about the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet launch in the U.S. a few weeks ago and now we’re back to bring you a hands-on review of the unit. We are not going to sit and run benchmark testing but we will bring you the practical review for guys that actually want to use this device. I will probably not spend much real life time running to the apple store to run functionality side by side, though Samsung is certainly giving Apple a run for their money with the Samsung Galaxy SIII smartphone and the companion or flagship if you want to think of it that way, Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet.
Redefining the tablet
Samsung has redefined the tablet into a workflow and useable item vs just a toy. I’ve never been able to justify the purchase of a tablet for it always seemed to be a luxury item, with no purpose other then to kill time. With the Galaxy Note 10.1, Samsung has created something a bit more practical, somewhere closer to a laptop but not quite. Power users will find that they probably will still want to own a laptop, but for common tasks, on-the-go productivity, quick notation, media and information sharing, this isn’t just a glorified media player, you can actually get work done. Now you can even Photoshop on your tablet!
Hardware and performance
Unwrapping a nice shiny new device is always fun and opening up the Galaxy Note 10.1 is no different. Samsung has created a pretty slick and pleasing device. Clearly they’ve taken some of their styling cue’s from Apple but tactilly the device is solid and is nice to hold. At 1.31 lbs or 0.6kg the Galaxy Note feels light and well made. It comes with a 10.1 inch WXGA 1280×800 TFT LCD screen at 149 ppi pixels per inch, with excellent viewing angles making it very convenient and you don’t have to be staring at it dead on all the time. Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner? 2 forward firing surround sound capable speakers to add to your full HD 1080p playback tablet experience.
We mentioned we are not going to bench mark, but we will just say that with a 1.4Ghz Samsung Exynos quad-core processor and 2gb of ram memory, Samsung takes a leap into 1st position in the tablet hardware war for the time being in terms of processing. The Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet ships with Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich, and is slated for an upgrade to Jellybean later this year for her as well as her counterpart Galaxy SIII smartphone. You get 16GB of storage space along with a micro SD port allow for some more.
The power button, volume rocker, micro sd card port, IR sensor and headphone jack line the top of the Galaxy Note 10.1 making it less likely to accidentally hit a button. You may however find it somewhat odd if you like using the tablet with headphones on in portrait position.
The front firing camera is equipped with a 1.9 megapixel camera for video conferencing and on the rear firing camera is 5 megapixels. While it doesn’t come with the worlds biggest megapixel rating, it still took pretty decent pictures but as with any mobile device, it’s main focus is not the camera and it will give you varied mileage depending on the lighting conditions. We did also experience some focusing issues in both still and video mode. A bit more image stabilization would play a defining role in taking photos as well as 720p video. Besides, the tablet or smartphone should be an additional way to take convenient photos, not your only way to take them.
The Galaxy Note 10.1 power port is located at the center of the bottom of the unit and looks very similar power cord to the Apple iOS devices but just won’t fit. One thing we wish that Samsung did NOT following the footsteps of Apple is to provide a proprietary power plug making you buy yet another set of accessories to power your mobile devices. The Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with a 7000mAh battery and 2 amp usb wall charger that gives you about three days worth of casual usage from a full charge. We found that on both the Samsung Galaxy SIII as well as the Galaxy Note 10.1, the recharge time is quite slow when compared to other devices, however as with a pc, forgetting to close down an app that’s running in the background will add to your charge time.
There are two versions available for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, which are the HSPA+ version and the WiFi only version which is the only version available here in the US currently.
Let’s talk fingerprints
Do yourself a favor and get a microfiber rag from Sunglass Hut, they cost about $15 and they are invaluable for the Galaxy Note 10.1 takes on smudges and fingerprints quickly, but they wipe away just as quickly with a microfiber rag. We would have loved to see some increased ppi considering we’re talking about Samsung here, they have access to crazy ips panels, it may not be a Retina screen but the graphics still look pretty nice. The iPad 3 comes in with a 9.7 inch screen at 254 ppi giving you a resolution of 2048 x 1536.
Multitasking
Whether we are trying to get things done faster or just simply have A.D.D to some degree, the multi-screen option on the Galaxy Note 10.1 is certainly something to note. You have a choice of 6 applications that you can run in split screen view, Email, Browser, Video player, S Note, Polaris Office and Gallery, including being able to run a video in a pop up screen, like picture in picture on a TV that you can move around your screen. Like any device or computer, if you run too many things at once your performance will slightly degrade. With that said, the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 is able to muti-task and run 5- 8 apps without too much issue. You can also drag and drop, cut and paste from one window to another!
S Pen
Reviving the stylus, Samsung has aimed to make the tablet a bit more user friendly and a more robust experience for users.Virtually everyone has had some sort of exposure to photo editing and Photoshop and a full blown tablet-tuned version is included for you to play. The S Pen allows for more detailed input in work situations and the 1,024 degrees of pressure sensitivity levels enable the S Pen to more closely match your natural pen strokes. The included S Pen stylus hides away into the lower left corner of the device, we felt it could have been slightly heavier and thicker to be a bit more natural but performed well.
S Note
S Note is a robust, note taking system that will allow you to add diagrams, video’s, photo’s to your documents, you can even comment on top of them with your S Pen creating easy to understand notes that you can easily send to your friends or colleagues devices. S Note also comes with pre-made templates to help you with finance, education, travel, recipes, a journal or more!
It allows you to be productive and gives you tools like shape match that will straighten lines and create shapes that allow for a more polished and recognizable object. Write your math equation on S Note and it will interpret, search the web for you and give you an answer. It can even correct your sloppy chicken scratch to legible text.
Additional Features
The Galaxy Note 10.1 utilizes all the great features made popular by it’s counter part the Galaxy SIII such as Share shot and Pop up video player and also AllShare Group Cast that allows you to share your presentations, videos, photos, notes, to multiple devices on the same wi-fi network! It’s all about sharing. You select the media you want to share and a PIN assigned to the “group cast” is set that each user will need to enter to join the cast.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is a fun device, aimed more at productivity, which is a step in the right direction for tablets since they are not completely justified for many as of yet. Multitasking and features like AllShare Group Cast and Pop up Video Player along with flash player ability make this a robust a platform as any for your tablet. With Android evolving and being polished more with each update, the Galaxy Note 10.1 is a good competitor at $499 for the 16gb wi-fi and $549 for the 32gb wi-fi.
Available in Grey and White.
