Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (10.1-Inch, White)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Samsung has done it again. They are releasing tablets at very periodic intervals. Samsung's fourth generation of Galaxy Tab series is as expected and for this price point phenomenal. I have been using Galaxy Tab 2 and 3 and I am very much impressed with Galaxy line of devices. In my opinion 8" is the maximum value for the money and features and hence I gave 8" a 5 star. If you are looking for playing games/reading books, 10.1” is good. I really wish this had a better resolution. Hence only 4 stars for pixels per density for this tablet.



Samsung has introduced 7", 8" and 10.1" of the Tab 4 series. This year the space has become crowded as Samsung also has 8.4”, 10.1” and 12.2” Tab Pro Series. They are pricier, but if you can afford I very STRONGLY suggest you get the PRO series just for one thing - RESOLUTION. I was really hoping the Tab series will go to a larger resolution. But again price/performance is a factor that drives Samsung to make devices at all ranges.



Let's start off with salient points of all of the Galaxy Tab 4 series. I will later compare with the previous Tab 3 models. I have also listed brief specs of current leading tablets at the very end if you would like to really compare and shop. If you have Tab 3, don’t upgrade. No need to. Those devices worked well a year back and still are. The photos look just as beautiful on them as they did a year ago!



Some Tab 4 specs have certainly become better, but not in a revolutionary sense. The pixels per inch ppi is the best in 7” among all of Galaxy Tab 4 series. That is because all have same resolution and size is the variable. For a first time user, you will be blown away by the feature set now. The tablets have multi user profiles, so each user can customize like a home PC.



Look at three specs that really interest you and nail down the tablet you need. Look at the big picture, what you want from a tablet now, a year from now, what your family needs out of this and make a decision.



7-inch Galaxy Tab 4 tablet: 1280x800, 216 ppi, 1.2 GHz Quad-Core, 1.5GB RAM, 8GB built-in storage (ROM), a microSD card slot (up to 32 GB), Camera: 3MP rear-facing, 1.3MP front-facing and weighs 9.74 oz. (276 grams). Android 4.4.2



8-inch Galaxy Tab 4 tablet: 1280x800, 189 ppi, Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.2 GHz Quad-Core, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB built-in storage (ROM), a microSD card slot (up to 64 GB), Camera: 3MP rear-facing, 1.3MP front-facing and weighs 11.1 oz. (315 grams). Android 4.4.2



10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 4 model: 1280x800, Qualcomm Snapdragon, 149 ppi, 1.2 GHz Quad-Core, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB built-in storage (ROM), a microSD card slot (up to 64 GB), Camera: 3MP rear-facing, 1.3MP front-facing and weighs 17.3 oz. (490 grams). Android 4.4.2



Look at the salient points of all of the Galaxy Tab 3 series.



7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 tablet: 1024 x 600, Marvell dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB built-in storage (ROM), a microSD card slot (up to 64 GB), Camera: 3MP rear-facing, 1.3MP front-facing and weighs 10.58 oz. (300 grams). Android 4.1.2



8-inch Galaxy Tab 3 model: 1280 x 800, Exynos 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1.5GB ram, 16GB of built-in storage (ROM), a microSD slot (up to 64 GB), Camera: 5MP rear-facing, 1.3MP front-facing and weighs 10.9 oz. (309 grams) Android 4.2



10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 3 model: 1280 x 800, Intel Atom 1.6GHz Z2560 dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, a 16GB built-in storage (ROM), a microSD slot (up to 64 GB), Camera: 3.2MP rear-facing, 1.3MP front-facing and weighs 17.99 oz. (510 grams). Android 4.2



I am not going into other details like accelerometer etc. as they are all standard these days, Audio support - AAC, AMR, MP3, OGG, WMA/ASF, 3GA/M4A, FLAC, WAV; MP3/MP4/Music Tones; Music Player; Ringtones, Polyphonic. Video support: AVI/DIVX, WMV/ASF, FLV, MKV, MP4/3GP, WEBM; Video Player; Video Streaming.



The 10.1" has a physical home button so are others in the series. Also has capacitive Back and Menu buttons. Camera is a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for skype, and a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera. It is also equipped with an IR blaster so it will work as a universal remote on both your TV and cable box. Camera is only so and so, and I will not rely on it to produce outstanding photos. Weighs very lightweight. SD card capability is awesome! With prices plummeting for microSD GB cards, it is a great boon. Put all your music, books, photos on the SD card and you have a powerful computer in hand always! I personally use the 64 GB microSD card on my mobile devices. Get this mobileUltra (SanDisk 64GB Mobile Ultra MicroSDXC Class 6 Memory Card with SD Adapter - Retail Packaging.



This has Bluetooth 4.0" and have USB Host. USB Host is one of the most under noticed features of Androids and is in my opinion one of the best features compared to iPad lines. What this means you get a USB Host cable also otherwise called OTG (On the Go) cables and plug in your USB thumb drive or other USB devices and the device recognizes it. I have used it with Alfa AWUS036H for a wireless project with Android PCAP Capture from reputable Kismet wireless. GPS was spot on and I tried multiple GPS apps. It was bright outdoors (had to crank the brightness all the way up). I personally use Navigon from Garmin and have downloaded several apps.



Finally, believe me, don't get mired in the spec game. All devices perform most of common functions.



7” Tab is smallest, portable

8” Tab is biggers, readable

8.4” TAB PRO awesome crisp resolution - Best pixel density of all 6 Tab 4 and TAB Pro versions

10.1” TAB gameplay

10.1” TAB Pro games/books/sharper resolution

12.2” Bring on the books and Glossy magazines!



If you are reading books, browsing, listening to music, looking at photos, playing games 10.1"is definitely great. Samsung is creating markets for all form factors and I would consider this as an exploratory stage. Just like Ford or Toyota has cars in different shapes, sizes and price range, so are the tablet vendors now. Remember the laptop wars, 10", 12" 13", 15, 17 and even some 19" if I remember right few years ago. We used to debate endlessly which laptop sizes are better, which has better speakers and so on. The time has come to fight it out for tablets!



I tried following apps and they just worked awesome. A tablet is only as good as the apps you have and how productive it makes you. It's almost like the camera/lens analogy in the DSLR space. What good it is to have a great DSLR body if you have no good lens? Same with Tablet body and apps you have.



WolframAlpha (I can go on for hours praising this. This is a truly genius app powered by hundreds of supercomputers in the background. Wolfram is a computational genius).

Withings HealthMate. (another remarkable app great UI/UX). I am getting the Pulse device as soon as it hit stores.)

Aldiko Book Reader Premium (absolutely love it)

Amazon Mobile

Android Central app (great and must have for Android users)

Amazon App Store

Battery Monitor Widget Pro (a great app)

BeyondPod (excellent for podcasts, I haven't used Pocketcast, some friends say it is very good too)

Box

Chrome

Dictionary M-W Premium

NAVIGON (from Garmin - offline maps)

Google Navigation/Earth/Maps using a portable MiFi box

Google Currents (nice way to read News)

Google Keep/Keyboard/Drive/Search/Books/Voice/Hangouts

Ebay

Linkedin

Google Music (Awesome, I have now upto 10,000 songs halfway through Google's 20K Limit)

Tapatalk HD (awesome forum browsing app)

Microsoft One Note (legacy docs, skydrive of 25 GB is good)

Subsonic Music Streamer

TweetCaster Pro for Android

Skype

RealCalc Plus (Awesome calculator app)

Tweetcaster Pro (again awesomeness)

Plenty of Widgets



Ask questions, the reviews cannot do full justice. I will be glad to answer any questions and usually answer within 24 hours to any query.



APPENDIX: Overview of other tablets in the market.



Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 8.4-Inch {B,W}, WQXGA 2560 x 1600, 359 ppi, 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 2 GB RAM, 16/[32] GB Flash, microSD upto 64 GB, 8MP Rear + 2MP Front, 331 gm, Android 4.4 Kit Kat OS, 8.62 x 5.06 x 0.28 in, microUSB, GPS yes. 4800 mAh battery (best resolution on a tablet!)



Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 10.1 {B, W}, WQXGA 2560x1600, 298 ppi, Exynos® 5 Octa (1.9GHz Quadcore + 1.3 GHz Quadcore), 2 GB RAM, 16/[32] GB Flash, microSD upto 64 GB, 8MP Rear + 2MP Front, 469 gm, Android 4.4 KitKat, 9.57 x 6.75 x 0.29 in, microUSB, GPS: y, 8,200mAh battery



Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 12.2 {B, W}, WQXGA 2560x1600, 247 ppi, Exynos® 5 Octa (1.9GHz Quadcore + 1.3 GHz Quadcore), 3 GB RAM, 32GB/64GB Flash, microSD upto 64 GB, 8MP Rear + 2MP Front, 732 gm, Android 4.4 KitKat, 11.64 x 8.03 x 0.31 in, microUSB, GPS: y, 9500mAh battery



Samsung Galaxy NotePRO 12.2 {B, W}, WQXGA 2560x1600, 247 ppi, Exynos® 5 Octa (1.9GHz Quadcore + 1.3 GHz Quadcore), 3 GB RAM, 32/64 GB Flash, microSD card slot up to 64GB, 8MP Rear + 2MP Front, 748 gm, Android 4.4 KitKat, 11.64 x 8.03 x 0.33 in, microUSB 3.0 port with backwards compatibility with microUSB 2.0, GPS - y, 9500mAh battery, S-Pen, NFC, Ethernet connectivity via adapter.



Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" model: 2560 x 1600, 339 ppi, Snapdragon 800 2.2 GHz quad-core, 2 GB RAM, 16/32/64 Flash Memory, No microSD card, 8MP rear-facing camera, front-facing 720p HD camera, 374 grams, FireOS 3.0, 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.31 inches, microUSB, GPS:no [cellular versions have GPS]



Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1" 2014 Edition: 2560x1600, 299 ppi, 1.9GHz Samsung Exynos 5420 Quad-Core Processor, 3GB RAM, 16/32 GB Flash Memory, microSD slot:yes(upto 64 GB), 8MP rear camera and 2 MP front-facing camera, 560 grams, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS, 9.57 x 6.75 x 0.31 inches, microUSB, GPS:yes. S-Pen (flagship),



iPAD Air 9.7" (2013): 2048 x 1536 resolution, 264 ppi, A7/M7/64 bit processor, Flash Memory: 16/32/64/128 GB, SD Card:no, 5 MP back, 1.2 MP front, 469 grams, iOS 7, 9.4 x 6.6 x 0.29 in, lightning port, GPS:no [cellular versions have GPS]



Google Nexus 10" model: 2560 x 1600, 300 ppi, CPU: Dual-core A15, 2GB RAM, 16/32 GB, SD:no, rear:5 MP, front:1.9 MP, 603g, 10.4" x 7" x 0.35", mcroUSB, GPS:yes



You should come up with three top three specs you want and should be able to nail it down with the above spec. If you have doubts shoot me a comment, I can help! I hope the key specs I have consolidated here of all the tablets will help you narrow down and help in buying the right tablet for your needs.