Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

I never really expected that the Mobile World Congress would be such a hot spot for news, but there you have it folks, there’s no shortage of what to write about and it’s hard to keep up with all the new announcements hitting all the Android web pages or blogs so I’ll try to keep you dear readers updates as much as time permits it. In any case, after the quick hands on with the Samsung Galaxy S2 it’s time to take a quick look at the already legendary’s Galaxy Tab offspring – the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.

The first thing which pops into your field of view is the 10.1 inch display which just looks brilliant (and I know that it’s my favorite word when describing Samsung displays). The screen has a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and isn’t a Super AMOLED Plus, like the one seen on the Galaxy S2, but a WXGA TFT LCD. Despite its looks the device is rather easy and once held in hand it has a nice solid feel over all. It’s obvious that the Korean manufacturer didn’t skip on quality components when setting up this little monster. The device is running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, Google’s tablet version of the operating system, and the tablet has no problems in easily switching between screens and menus. One thing which some people pointed out real quick was the fact that the overall look of this latest installment of the Android platform looks a touch gloomy and grim, even depressing, but with tons of color schemes to choose from as well as wallpapers, that can easily be adjusted.

Although not really tested out, mainly because you are at a conference with thousands of others trying to grab all the latest gadgets, the device comes with dual speakers both on top as well as on the bottom of it. Although running an early prefabrication model, the device is really speedy and although Honeycomb is still not completed, the operating system as well as the tablet sure managed to put on a show when switching between applications as well as loading up applications. The device comes also with an 8 MP camera on the rear which at the time hasn’t been confirmed as being able to record 1080p videos, but I’m rather convinced that it will be able to record those. On the front you will be able to spot a small 2 MP camera used for video conference and all of  this comes powered by nVidia’s dual core processor, so most likely that’s also the processor used in the Galaxy S2.

Keeping to the specs, the device does come with DDR 2 RAM, which also explains the speed of this thing. The battery is a 6860 mAh battery and if they did use their very own low power DDR2 memory packets we might see some pretty high numbers when talking about portability and battery life, yet that’s for a different type of hands on. Just as I started rambling about the weight, the device comes in only at 599 grams (that’s 21.1 ounces) and measures only 10.9 mm in thickness, something which it most likely “stole” from its smartphone counterpart. On the connectivity front you’ll get HSPA+ 21 Mbps, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi are all present.

The device will be up for grabs this spring at Vodafone and for the time being there haven’t been any announcements regarding the availability of the device on other networks as well. The specs sure put it at par with the Motorola Xoom, so now the only question remains how much will it cost when compared to Motorola’s tablet and will it be able to match its marketing campaign once it’s out? Until next time, I’ll be busy drooling over it, go away.1

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