Galaxy Tab 10.1 Review

Today a tablet can do one of two things, it can alleviate headaches, or cause headaches. If we are talking about tablet pcs, it will probably be the latter depending on which one you choose.

I for one chose the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and it’s a mixed bag. It’s running android 3.2 with Samsungs touchwiz interface on a Tegra 2 processor and 1gb ram. Simply put it’s fast and it works, well most of it.

There are already many in depth reviews over the net, so in the purpose of laziness and redundancy I’ll be doing a simple Pro/Con review:

Pros:

Screen:  One of the best screens I’ve seen on a tablet,  it’s bright color production is enjoyable and it’s 16:9 aspect ratio is perfect for watching HD movies.

TouchWiz:  In the case of android phones overlaying skins are frowned upon, but Samsung has done a great job adding functionality to honeycomb android without changing the entire recipe. For example, features such as better email application, quick access settings, and multitasking bar have been added, and they all work seamlessly.

Design/ Weight: I previously owned a HP TouchPad and thought that it was great, but as soon as I picked up the Galaxy Tab I realized the difference was night and day. The weight is unnoticeable and the design is magnificent. It’s a perfect slap of plastic which feels great to carry around and use in the hand.

I can say many more things that pertain to the usability and how great Honeycomb features are, but for this review I’ll stick to the specifics of the GalaxyTab.

Cons:

Propitiatory Port:  Despite every manufacturer using the industry standard of microUSB, Samsung has decided to use their own propitiatory jack that blatantly looks like Apple’s iPod/iPhone/iPad jack; most users can look past this except for the fact that it barley works.

USB Connection:  So, did I mention it barley works? Yes, unlike every other android device you cannot plug and play. The Tab is not recognized as a Mass USB device, instead it will fail to be recognized until windows installs an update, and if your using Mac you’ll have to install a 3rd party application which has yet to work for me.

 

Video Formats:  The GT has a great screen and it’s greatest purpose to me is to watch my MP4 videos, except for one little problem.. IT DOES NOT PLAY MP4 VIDEOS. Instead, it opts out for WMV videos. Without going into a rant, all I can say is this is completely asinine.

Usually at the end of reviews readers are encouraged to make their own decision on what tablet they should purchase. However for this one, I’ll end it a little differently. The GalaxyTab is amazing in many ways: It’s a great device to browse what ever the internet has to offer, the youtube application can eat up endless hours or minutes of your day, and it’s great design won’t give you a cramp. Unfortunately, some key choices by Samsung takes away from this masterpiece, the USB issues are unforgivable and the video formatting issues are laughable. Not to mention, all of the problems android still has.

The GT costs $499/$599, for that price you can buy something a bit more polished like the iPad 2