Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 15, 2011 1:23 AM ESTBattery Life
I ran through our standard general use battery life test for tablets on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE. The test involves looping MP3s while browsing a predefined list of web pages (without Flash). At the same time a high volume email account is checked periodically. The display is set to never turn off/dim, auto brightness is disabled and screen brightness is calibrated to 200 nits.
With LTE disabled, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 lasts about as long as the Motorola Xoom on EVDO. Our test isn't incredibly network intensive so moving to LTE doesn't change things all that much. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 lost about an hour with LTE enabled. With a huge battery, getting 7.55 hours of use on LTE isn't bad at all. In fact I'd say I'm pretty impressed by battery life of Samsung's first LTE tablet.
The Best LTE Hotspot?
It would be a downright shame if the LTE Galaxy Tab 10.1 didn't support the creation of a WiFi hotspot. Thankfully it does. Like almost all modern Android devices you can share the cellular modem in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G among multiple clients over WiFi. You can also share the connection with a single client via Bluetooth or USB.
I ran our standard hotspot battery life test on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. I used a single computer connected over WiFi to the LTE Tab to run four instances of our web browsing battery life test (two with flash and two without). Our test also plays back a 128Kbps stream from smoothbeats.com. During all of this the test tablet was asleep with its display turned off.
I also ran another hotspot battery life test on the tablet to look at the worst case scenario. For this test I downloaded files from a server to a WiFi tethered PC at the maximum speed of the LTE connection, averaging around 2MB/s. I continued to download until the tablet's battery died.
The results are just awesome. In our standard test the Galaxy Tab 10.1 lasted over 13 hours as a LTE hotspot. In our worst case scenario, we still got over 7 hours of continuous use out of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. If you were considering an LTE MiFi and a tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G may be a good option. My only complaint here is the LTE connection is only shared over 2.4GHz WiFi. Although the Tab's hardware supports 5GHz, you can't choose to use the higher frequency 802.11n for the WiFi hotspot. This is a problem in areas where there are a lot of users occupying the 2.4GHz spectrum. At least there's USB tethering support.
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claytontullos - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Thanks for the review. Data plans in general are the current cash cow for service providers.Any word on when the winner of the giveaway Tab will be announced?
webmastir - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
wondering same thing =/dendysutrisna - Monday, August 29, 2011 - link
Yes thanks for tablet comparison table.And i agreed, How expensive Verizon's data plan , though someone took a 10GB quota, with a speed 10X 3G, it does not mean anything if its use is not wise. Anyway remains its an internet connection will run only no more than half a day.
Mugur - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
The 16GB 3G European version (21.6 Mbps) is 400 euros plus taxes, less than iPad 2 3G...Too bad it is removed from the shelves by that Apple patent dispute. Anand, did you really feel that it is an iPad clone by "looks and feel"? :-)
TypeS - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
While I don't agree with the patents granted to Apple or the legitimacy of its numerous suits against Samsung/Motorola/HTC, you can clearly tell by looking at the front fascia that Samsung can't claim innocence and ignorance as to just how much it looks like the iPad.And before someone replies saying "Well there's only so many ways to design a tablet!", take a look ASUS EEE Transformer. Do you see Apple firing snide remarks or starting suits with ASUS?
The Samsung Galaxy S II's aesthetics also mimic the iPhone's look to an extent (did they really need to exaggerate the home button against the other two beside it; which are almost non visible). Motorola won acclaim with its' Droid and it's successors and you don't see Apple suing them over how similar the phone looks at least.
While I have high respect for Samsung and the innovations they've brought to the LCD market, they're a Korean company and Korean companies often like to mimic (rip off) highly successive models. Look no further than Hyundai's cars and their outward styling, they look like premium Japanese or German luxury cars.
Where Toyota and Mercedes may not care that their car styles are mimiced, Samsung caught the eye of Silicon Valley's "magic making" CEO, and they did quite brazen and stupidly.
Mugur - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Well, I had both of them in my hands and the only thing common to both and uncommon for the others is the great quality of the materials. I also checked on the net the European patent Apple is hanging on and it'a 2 page sketch of "handheld computer" from 2004 that looks like every tablet from Star Trek to ... any tablet. Just a rectangular surface with round edges. In my opinion, Apple just wanted to bury its best competitor...robinthakur - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
No, it looks like a White iPad 2 unless you look very closely. Having seen a Galxy S 2 over the weekend up close, it does bear a very close similarity to an iPhone 4, and the Galaxy S 1 looked like a 3GS. These occurences are not accidental, they are designed to fool the honest consumer! Samsung should not be able to get away with this, however you slice it.MonkeyPaw - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
And when you say "very closely", do you mean reading the labels or using the OS? Those are pretty big differences, IMO. There's no giant Apple on the back, there's no home button on the front, one runs iOS, the other Android. Logos aside, the back even has different details, and the charge port, while similar, is not the same, and isn't even found on the same side as iPad. Will the Tab even work with Apple's extras, like cases and adapters?To me, the Tab 10.1 just might be more magical than iPad2, and THAT is why Apple is firing back at it. Good thing Apple doesn't make cars, or we'd all be screwed.
kmmatney - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
I checked out my co-workers Samsung phone, and I have to say even the general software layout looks like an iPhone clone. You can see for yourself in this image:http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images...
pretty much a complete iOS ripoff...
medi01 - Monday, August 15, 2011 - link
Claiming that Android is a iOS ripoff, wow...