SAMSUNG GALAXY Tab2 7.0
Finally—Ice
Cream Sandwich has arrived. The 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 will be the first tablet from the manufacturer
to ship with Google's latest Android 4.0 mobile operating system right out of
the box. Despite the progressive moniker, hardware-wise, the Galaxy Tab 2 is
actually a minor step back from Samsung's last 7-inch tablet, the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus ($399, 3.5 stars), making concessions in processor speed.
Instead of more powerful components and design improvements, Samsung focused on
a well-tuned software experience and an affordable price—just $249.99 (list)
for 8GB. The result is a very solid tablet that really shows off the latest
Android OS, and is competitive on price with the Amazon Kindle Fire ($199, 4 stars) and the Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet ($249, 4 stars), and half the price of the class-leading new Apple iPad
($499, 4.5 stars). If you want Ice Cream Sandwich on a small tablet right now,
the Galaxy Tab 2 is your best bet.
Physical Design, Features, and Connectivity
Samsung makes some of the best-looking Android tablets you can buy, and the Galaxy Tab 2 is no exception, with its sturdy yet slim build. It's nearly identical to the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus , measuring 7.6 by 4.8 by 0.41 inches (HWD) and 12.13 ounces. The Galaxy Tab 2.0 is thinner and lighter than the Kindle Fire, which measures 7.5 by 4.7 by .45 inches (HWD) and 14.6 ounces, and the Galaxy Tab 2.0's nicely tapered edges only add to the effect.
The
Galaxy Tab 2 is still a well-built, all-plastic gray slab. Power and Volume
buttons, as well as an IR-port, line the right side of tablet, while a microSD
card slot (which accepts cards up to 32GB) can be found behind a plastic flap
on the left side. A 3.5mm headphone jack sits on top, with Samsung's
proprietary docking port on the bottom for charging and syncing with the
included cable. The Galaxy Tab 2 retains the 1,024-by-600-pixel TFT LCD of the
Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. That's fairly standard fare for 7-inch tablets like the
Amazon Kindle Fire, but not quite as good as the 1280-by-800-pixel display
found on the T-Mobile Springboard 4G ($429, 3.5 stars).
Performance
and Software
The Galaxy Tab 2 is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor, which is a step back from the dual-core 1.2GHz processor of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Given the less-powerful CPU, it was no surprise that the Galaxy Tab 2 benchmarked significantly slower than the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. But with Ice Cream Sandwich onboard, the Galaxy Tab 2 felt just as snappy and responsive. The Galaxy Tab 2 packs a 4,000mAh battery and turned in a respectable 5 hours, 48 minutes of continuous video playback. That's less than the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, which turned in 6 hours, 33 minutes, but more than the Kindle Fire's 4 hours, 55 minutes.
The Galaxy Tab 2 is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor, which is a step back from the dual-core 1.2GHz processor of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Given the less-powerful CPU, it was no surprise that the Galaxy Tab 2 benchmarked significantly slower than the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. But with Ice Cream Sandwich onboard, the Galaxy Tab 2 felt just as snappy and responsive. The Galaxy Tab 2 packs a 4,000mAh battery and turned in a respectable 5 hours, 48 minutes of continuous video playback. That's less than the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, which turned in 6 hours, 33 minutes, but more than the Kindle Fire's 4 hours, 55 minutes.
Android
4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich works great on the Galaxy Tab 2, with very smooth
animations, responsive app performance, and rock-solid stability, at least
during the review period. For a more in-depth look at all of the new features,
check out our full Ice Cream Sandwich review.
As
with nearly all Samsung devices, Android is heavily skinned with Samsung's
signature TouchWiz UI. It comes with the typical array of custom widgets, as
well as the useful Quick Action bar, which offers up easy access to the alarm,
calculator, e-mail, music player, calendar, task manager, and world clock mini
apps. These run seamlessly on top of regular open apps, making for simple
multitasking. Samsung also included its various hubs (Media, Reader, Game, and
Video), but there are better third-party alternatives like the Amazon Kindle
app or Netflix—both of which are also pre-installed. Despite Samsung's heavy OS
customizations, everything was extremely snappy and responsive in my tests,
proving that you don't need the latest quad-core chip to run the latest version
of Android.
Alas,
some of the same problems facing older Android 3.2 "Honeycomb"
tablets still remain here. There are still few tablet-specific Android apps,
and they're not easy to find in Google Play (formerly Android Market).
Hopefully, developers will start to write apps for Ice Cream Sandwich, which
handles phone and tablet screen differences far better than any previous
Android iteration. For now, Apple remains the app king with more than 200,000
third-party iPad-specific programs.
Entertainment and Peel Remote
Much like the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, the Galaxy Tab 2 is being marketed as an entertainment tablet, with Samsung's AllShare DLNA app and Peel Smart Remote app. The point is to make your tablet a universal media hub for all of your HDTVs and home theater. We found the Peel Remote unresponsive and buggy last time around, but the Galaxy Tab 2 handles its universal remote duties far better than the Tab 7.0 Plus.
Much like the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, the Galaxy Tab 2 is being marketed as an entertainment tablet, with Samsung's AllShare DLNA app and Peel Smart Remote app. The point is to make your tablet a universal media hub for all of your HDTVs and home theater. We found the Peel Remote unresponsive and buggy last time around, but the Galaxy Tab 2 handles its universal remote duties far better than the Tab 7.0 Plus.
Peel lets you browse all programs by genre and
time, representing each show as a graphical card in the interface. It's a
simple way to pick what to watch. But the Peel Remote still lacks a full guide
within the app, making it difficult to browse channels and programs the way you
would with a traditional remote. Selecting a card changes the channel on your
set-top box, and while you can add favorites and set reminders, the Peel Remote
falls short of full DVR control. You can enable recording once on a channel,
but setting up recordings in advance must be done through your DVR and remote.
I tested Peel on the Galaxy Tab 2 on a few different
TVs including models from LG, Sharp, and Sony, along with a Dish Networks
Hopper DVR, and an AppleTV. The remote app was responsive in controlling those
devices, with little lag between button push and action. I wouldn't recommend
the Peel Remote as a full-time replacement for your universal remote, but it is
a capable and useful feature if you misplace your remote and have your tablet
on hand. It also eliminates the need for a middle-man device like the Logitech Harmony
Link ($99.99, 3.5 stars).
Media playback was solid in my tests. The Galaxy
Tab 2 was able to handle MPEG4, H.264, XviD, and DivX videos at up to 1080p
resolution, and MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, WAV, and WMA music files without a hitch.
The AllShare feature was hit or miss; I was able to stream some media content
to a DLNA-ready TV, but playback was choppy and video looked compressed. That's
DLNA, though, not the tablet itself.
As far as tablet cameras go, the rear-facing
3-megapixel camera isn't bad. Test images looked relatively clear, with low
noise, but they lacked fine texture. The Galaxy Tab 2 captures video at 720p
resolution and 30 frames per second, but videos were extremely grainy, and the
field of view is also far narrower in video mode than camera mode.
Conclusions
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) is less of a step forward in the Galaxy line and more of a step in a new direction. The solid build quality and slick design remains, but instead of packing in top-of-the-line components and charging top-of-the-line prices, Samsung is smartly focusing on a solid software experience and an accessible price. The company isn't trying to take on the Apple iPad, but is setting its sights on the burgeoning, budget-friendly tablet market defined by the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet . At $50 more than the Kindle Fire, the Tab 2.0 offers a more feature-rich, flexible tablet experience, with expandable storage, cameras, and Google's latest mobile operating system with access to the Google Play app market. The Kindle Fire retains a slight edge for most tablet users, in that it makes the tablet experience as simple and straightforward as possible—allowing easy access Amazon's vast content selection. However, for users looking for the best Android ICS experience in a small screen tablet right now, look no further than the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0).
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) is less of a step forward in the Galaxy line and more of a step in a new direction. The solid build quality and slick design remains, but instead of packing in top-of-the-line components and charging top-of-the-line prices, Samsung is smartly focusing on a solid software experience and an accessible price. The company isn't trying to take on the Apple iPad, but is setting its sights on the burgeoning, budget-friendly tablet market defined by the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet . At $50 more than the Kindle Fire, the Tab 2.0 offers a more feature-rich, flexible tablet experience, with expandable storage, cameras, and Google's latest mobile operating system with access to the Google Play app market. The Kindle Fire retains a slight edge for most tablet users, in that it makes the tablet experience as simple and straightforward as possible—allowing easy access Amazon's vast content selection. However, for users looking for the best Android ICS experience in a small screen tablet right now, look no further than the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0).
