First impressions
Samsung has enjoyed tremendous success with its range of Android-powered smartphones over the past two years, but the same isn't true for its tablets. Not for a lack of options, Samsung has released over half a dozen tablet variants since the first Galaxy Tab launched back in late 2010. Samsung has experimented in a number of sizes, with different screens and internal components, but none have managed to make much of a dent in Apple's iPad supremacy.
It's no surprise, then, that Samsung should try to emulate the success of one of its most popular smartphones in its latest tablet, the Galaxy Note 10.1. As the name suggests, this tablet includes some of the same software as the Galaxy Note smartphone, only in a bigger, 10.1-inch form factor. The tablet comes with Samsung's S Pen digitiser stylus accessory, too, which not only gives users greater accuracy when using the touchscreen, but also opens up the tablet to a range of unique apps.
Perhaps more important to tablet shoppers, though, is this slate's high-end specs. Samsung slips its own Exynos quad-core processor into the mix, with each core clocked at 1.4GHz and 2GB of RAM in support. There is also a Mali-400 GPU included for handling heavy-duty graphics processing. Those who are familiar with the Samsung family will recognise that these are the same specs in the Galaxy S III available in Australia, plus a boost in RAM, which is probably necessary for handling the higher-resolution display.
Samsung's choice of screen isn't as "resolutionary" as it might need to be to compete with the current competition, though. It's 1280x800-pixel resolution falls well short of the pixel density of the iPad's Retina display, and Asus will soon have its full HD Transformer Infinity in stores, too. Many will think that this is a moot point, but it is surprising how many people speak about the iPad's screen when weighing up the merits of a tablet. Still, we are pleased that Samsung has opted for a PLS panel here, so even if it is a few (million) pixels short, it should offer a warm, colourful image with decent viewing angles.
Outlook
In the world of Android tablets, you either need a unique selling point, like the Asus Transformer's keyboard dock, or you need to be really cheap. We're not convinced that the Galaxy Note 10.1 ticks either box, but this doesn't stop us from being excited about seeing it in the labs for review.
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