MWC 2011: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1" is Built for War

My Hands-On Report

Feb 13 2011, 10:03pm CST | by Robert Evans

MWC 2011: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1" is Built for War

Samsung's Galaxy Tab was a bit of a disappointment as an iPad competitor. It was basically a giant smartphone, and the sales were underwhelming as a result. But now it is 2011, the year of tablets. And Samsung has finally launched a slate capable of taking on the iPad, the Xoom and anything else that gets in its way. Be warned: The 10.1" Tab is a monster from bottom to top.

The Butt: More politely known as the posterior. The 10.1" Tab has a stippled back that grips very easily. There's a big silver Samsung medallion in the center, and an 8 MP camera up at the top for all of your full-HD recording needs. I'm not sure how much recording folks will want to do with their tablets (it is extremely uncomfortable to do) but there you have it.

The Middle: There's not much of this to go around. The Galaxy Tab 10.1" is iPad-thin and quite light, although I still don't see extended hand-supported reading being particularly comfortable or easy.

The Face: Nothing too special here. The display is 10.1" (duh) and there's a front-facing camera as well. The touchscreen was accurate (no issues in the 10 mins I had it) and the colors are quite vibrant. Video looks fantastic on this Tab. I watched a 1080p ad for what I assume was a new Pixar movie. There were no artifacts, no stuttering, and the video skipped ahead and back with little slowdown.

The UI: ...is currently nothing. The 10.1" Tab will run Honeycomb when it launches, but the demo units at Unpacked were almost blank. The home screen was devoid of widgets, apps, anything but wallpaper.

The On-Screen Keyboard: This strikes me as one of the biggest arguments in favor of the tablet form-factor. The Tab's keyboard may not be comfortable for extended writing sessions, but it is wonderful for browsing, chatting, etc. The "keys" are spaced very far apart, which allowed my giant fingers to click away without ever pressing the wrong one.

Closing Thoughts: The Galaxy Tab 10.1" is exactly as polished and slick as you would expect Samsung's main tablet entrant to be. Been wondering what Android slate has a shot at standing up to Motorola? This guy is it. Samsung, Apple and Motorola are shaping up to be the holy (or unholy) trinity of the 2011 tablet market.

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Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.