Techcitement Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

The world of tablets these days is full of competitors with just one thought in mind, beating the iPad2. Samsung took one look at the latest iPad and sent their efforts back to the drawing board. The answer they found seems to be, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Last year, Android brought pretty weak offerings to the table running versions of the OS that had been designed to run on phones and ended up feeling like exactly that: giant phones. Google addressed that challenge with Android 3.0 Honeycomb, designed exclusively with tablets in mind. Samsung has now combined Honeycomb, some monster specs, and an iPad-like thinness to bring us their latest offering, the Galaxy Tab 10.1. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call it an iPad killer, for Android fans like me, this is one of the best offerings we’ve seen to date.

Part I: Look and Feel
The Galaxy Tab is clearly designed to be looked at in landscape mode. While the screen rotates with your orientation of the device, the Tab is over half an inch longer and almost half an inch narrower than the iPad 2, making portrait mode feel a bit too tall and awkward. Fortunately, the device’s hardware was designed  with this in mind. Power key, volume control, and headphone jack all line up along the long top of the device, with a proprietary (boo!) charging and data port along the bottom. Front- and rear-facing cameras are also centered on the long side, and the stereo speakers are positioned along the narrower sides. You can tell Samsung intends you to watch widescreen video on this device, because they give you a gorgeous 1280 x 800 display to do it with.

The Tab’s real claim to fame when it comes to design, though, is its weight and thinness. It actually beats the iPad2 in both categories, by a barely noticeable hair (quite literally in the case of thinness, since you’d need a micrometer to tell). This represents the biggest change Samsung brought to the table from their original design. They saw how much the iPad2 had improved on the original and resolved to beat it.

There is a price for that sleek look, though, and it’s one that Android users aren’t used to paying. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has no expandable memory. Like the iPad, if you want more than 16 GB of storage on your tablet, you need to shell out an extra $100 up front when you buy it or you’re out of luck. For an Android fanboy like me, this is a disappointing decision, since this is my favorite advantage of Android over iOS. I’m not certain why this choice was made, because thin as it is, it’s more than thick enough for even a full-sized SD card slot, let alone micro-SD.

The Tab also lacks an HDMI port or any form of USB port. The only connection you get other than wireless options is that proprietary connector. A connector that, I should note, reminds you of why Apple and Samsung have been in such a fight lately over patent lawsuits. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that looks so much like an iPod connector that isn’t one.

Part II: Getting Started
One useful advantage Honeycomb sports over iOS (at least until iOS 5 comes out later this year) is that there’s no activation needed. You can turn on a Galaxy Tab 10.1 right out of the box and start using it, without ever connecting it to your computer. All you need is a Google account for it to sync with.

Home screen

Part III: What I Liked Android 3.0 Honeycomb
Android 3.0 Honeycomb is designed for tablets, and it feels like it. Google removes any need for physical buttons on the front of the device, instead building them right into the OS. On the bottom left you get Back, Home, and Multitasking buttons, along with a Menu button that’s only visible when you’re in an app that can use it. On the right, you get a clock and notification bar. Instead of swiping down a shade to see notification details, like on Android phones, on Honeycomb you just tap the clock. You see all your notifications, plus a button to bring you to device settings, the date, Wi-Fi connection status, and my personal favorite, battery percentage remaining. Android phone users have all experienced the frustration of their nearly-useless battery animation, and it’s nice to see Google put some thought into handling that particular detail.

Notifications

The Tab sports seven home screens, with space for dozens of apps on each. Even with a bunch of widgets on screen, I manage to fit all the apps I regularly use on one screen. I have to admit I’m a bit of a tablet skeptic, but this was a nice change from working on a 3.7-inch phone screen.

Honeycomb introduces scrollable widgets to stock Android, letting users take advantage of the huge screen real estate by getting even more information without ever having to open an app. The Gmail widget in particular takes real advantage of this by letting you view your entire Inbox or begin composing a new message, right from your Home screen. Many users will also like the Browser Bookmarks widget, which shows previews of the pages after you’ve visit them at least once. And the Calendar widget is exactly the type of scrolling agenda view I’ve used third-party apps for until now.

I don’t think it’s going too far to say that Google Talk Video Chat is going to be a killer app for Android tablets the way Google Maps Navigation was for Android phones. This isn’t Apple’s private FaceTime protocol, this is exactly the same video chat that any Gmail user can access right from their inbox. Right out of the box, you can video chat with anyone who has a webcam. I also wouldn’t be at all surprised if Google eventually adds the ability to join Google+ Hangouts for group chat.

Multitasking on Honeycomb is a great experience. Tap the button and you get a scrolling list of all your open apps, in the order they were most recently used, with name, icon, and a live preview of what was on their screen when you left them. The whole system makes it easy to see, remember where you were, and where you want to get back to.

Multitasking

Honeycomb also keeps the things we love about Android intact, like automatic syncing with Google’s cloud services and direct access to the file system, so you can copy any file you want to the device’s memory, any way you want, and then find an app that reads it.

Part IV: What I Didn’t Like About Android 3.0 Honeycomb
The app selection is a lot sparser than on iOS or what I’m used to from Android phones. While most apps can be scaled up to fit the larger screen, Honeycomb has relatively few apps designed for tablets, so most of the apps won’t look as polished as they usually do. And some apps won’t be available at all. Netflix and Hulu Plus are both restricted to a few specific devices, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 isn’t one of them. Even more surprising, there isn’t actually a Facebook app you can use on this device. Facebook’s Android app leaves a lot to be desired to begin with, but it seems it lacks tablet support altogether. I guess when Mark Zuckerberg decided the iPad isn’t a mobile device, he meant tablets weren’t getting app access across the board. Fortunately, the full version of Facebook loads in the browser, so you give up notifications (which in my experience don’t work anyway), but get access to a lot more of Facebook’s actual functionality.

App drawer

I’m partial to vertical-scrolling menus, so I don’t like that the Honeycomb app drawer is side-scrolling (though Samsung fans will find it comfortably familiar). I’m also not a fan of the button to launch the app drawer being in the top right, completely opposite of where the rest of your buttons are. I can’t figure out why Google doesn’t just put it in the spot where that disappearing Menu button goes, since the Menu isn’t present on the Home screen anyway.

Part V: Unexpected Delights
The Honeycomb YouTube app is just stunning. A curved, side-scrolling display of all the top videos that tops even the desktop web app.

YouTube videos thankfully not as blurry as this image

Battery life was solid. While I didn’t do any exhaustive testing, I used the Tab on-and-off for two days straight without needing a charge. I can’t tell you how many hours it will last, but I can say for sure it will last through my real-world use without any problems.

The Galaxy Tab also feels a lot more solid than I had heard it would. Samsung has a reputation for building phones that feel cheap and plasticky, but I never got that impression with this device. And the toddler-test bore out that impression. It survived a three year old without any trouble.

Part VI: Stuff That I Didn’t Test
Like our iPad reviewer, I’m not really a camera person. The 2-megapixel front-facing camera gave solid video chat results, but I don’t see myself ever taking photos with the 3-megapixel rear camera. A tablet is too big to make a decent camera in my opinion, and especially when smartphone cameras are typically better anyway.

Part VII: Wrap it Up Already! Geeze!
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not an “iPad killer”, but it isn’t supposed to be. Tab’s role is one that a lot of Android phones users are looking for. It’s the not-an-iPad. Similar look and feel, great performance, and one of the best entries we’ve seen yet from iOS’s top rival in the tablet space. It’s certainly raised the bar for anyone else who wants to provide an alternative to Apple.