THOUGH THE Wi-Fi only 10.1-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has some rough edges, it’s
a solid performer with wide appeal. Carrying a quad-core Samsung Exynos
processor and 2GB of system RAM, the tablet comes in 16GB ($500) and 32GB
($550) versions, expandable up to 64GB via a MicroSD card.
Galaxy
Note 10.1: The Pen Sets This Tablet Apart
Design
Measuring 10.3 by 7.1 by 0.35 inches, the
tablet weighs 1.31 pounds – noticeably less than the third-generation Apple
iPad (1.44 pounds).
It’s best held horizontally in two hands,
with the front-facing 1.9-megapixel camera at the top and the stereo speakers
on either side. I tended to keep my hands toward the bottom edges so my fingers
didn’t obstruct the speakers. When I held the tablet vertically, the audio
sounded a bit skewed.
A slot in the tablet houses the included S
Pen. Based on Wacom pressure-sensitive technology, the S Pen is highly
responsive, with little lad and with integrated palm rejection – a useful
feature that capacitive-touch styluses can’t provide.
The Note 10.1 ships with Android 4.0.4 Ice
Cream Sandwich; Samsung says Android 4.1 Jelly Bean will come by year-end. Like
other Samsung devices, this tablet is not for Android purists. Most of the
TouchWiz modifications make for a friendlier experience, though having multiple
paths to accomplish the same task can be confusing.
Another annoyance involves the power
settings. Samsung is aggressive in automatically dimming the display when the
battery falls to 5 percent remaining. You can’t adjust the brightness back to
normal; and the reduced brightness is so low that the murky image is
practically useless, making the value of the extra 30 minutes of battery life
that you get highly dubious.
Performance
Battery
life was middling, holding out for 8 hours, 24 minutes during video playback at
a brightness setting of 200 candelas
The tablet excelled in our lab tests,
setting new bests for graphics performance among Android tablets, and for Web
browsing across all tablets.
Battery life was middling, holding out for
8 hours, 24 minutes during video playback at a brightness setting of 200
candelas.
The display’s resolution is just 1280 by
800 pixels. Samsung has done something behind the scenes, however, the boost
sharpness and color are dramatically better than on the 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab2,
and the sharpness and detail of my high-resolution images in the Google Gallery
came close to matching what a high-pixel-density display would produce. Text
clarity was better than on the abysmal Galaxy Tab 2 as well.
Samsung bundles many apps of its own
creation, such as S Note for note taking, sketching, writing formulas, and
performing handwriting to text conversions with the S Pen. Also among the
tablet’s preloaded apps is Adobe’s Photoshop Touch, a $10 value that works well
with S Pen input. Regrettably, the overall selection of S Pen apps was paltry
at this writing, and many of the ones available were optimized for phone
screens. Perhaps Samsung will encourage more developers to support the S Pen;
only then will the device achieve its potential.
Bottom line
The Galaxy Note 10.1’s lack of a
high-pixel-density display is unfortunate. But its performance is solid and
when you factor in the handy S Pen and its optimized software, this tablet
enjoys an edge all its own.
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Details
Ratings: 4/5
Price: $500 (16GB), $550 (32GB)
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