Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v Review

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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – With Android 3.0 Honeycomb ready for tablets, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v was announced – the version we’re reviewing here is branded for Vodafone and contains restricted software.

There are two ways in which tablets can be reviewed – either by their screen size, or by their features and functionality. For this review we will assume that the reader is looking for an actual big-screen tablet, and therefore we will ignore the dimensions and weight that the 10-inch-plus devices bring.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v is certainly a high-end tablet, similar to the Motorola Xoom. Both run on Android 3.0 Honeycomb and are powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 chip with a dual-core 1GHz processor. The Vodafone version comes with a SIM card slot that will allow users to connect to GSM and 3G networks for internet usage, besides the built-in Wi-Fi.

It’s important to note that this is not the slimmest tablet in the world unlike the Wi-Fi-only version, that measures 8.6mm in thickness.

Just like many other high-end smartphons, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v has A-GPS, comes in 16GB and 32GB variants, brings an 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash, as well as a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls, surround sound speakers, GPS, digital compass, motion sensor, proximity sensor, and a variety of other components that have been detailed in our Galaxy Tab 10.1v specs page.

The device’s screen measures 10.1″ as stated previously and has 1280×800 pixels in resolution, or HD in other words. The processor should contribute well to the HD movie playback, but as we will see in the hardware review, that is not the case.

Given the advanced components, Samsung has packed in a 6860mAh battery that should provide the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v up to 10 hours of usage and 1810 hours of standby with 3G mode active.