Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus review

We've already established that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a great tablet. Then, just recently, we summarily found that the 1.2-inch smaller Galaxy Tab 8.9 is an even better tablet -- at least for anyone who wants to take their slate places. So, following that logic, the even more petite Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus should be the best of the three, right?

Not so fast. We've been here before, and things weren't exactly great. The original Galaxy Tab was, of course, a 7-incher and wasn't universally well received thanks to a number of problems -- the first being a $600 MSRP. Another issue was an Android 2.2 build that tried its best but was ultimately ill-suited for tablet duties. This new 7-inch installment packs a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a tablet-friendlier build of Android 3.2 Honeycomb and a somewhat more palatable $400 price tag.

So, it's clearly better equipped than its predecessor, but that one shipped a whopping 12 months ago. How does the newer, fancier Tab compete in this newer, fancier present? Read on to find out.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus review

Hardware
Samsung's last tablet really did look like a slate that was run through the wrong washing cycle and came out a size 8.9 rather than the 10.1 it started as. The 7.0 Plus, however, is a rather different beast, slotting in somewhere between the 8.9 and the Galaxy Note both in terms of styling and, of course, size.

Smartphone Buying Guide

Before developing a purchasing strategy, organisations first need to understand the market including the major players and their operating system (OS) roadmaps. For example, Google’s Android platform and Apple’s iOS combined currently command 60 per cent market share.

The following guide outlines the top platforms and the roadmap issues that need to be considered prior to any significant investment.

Google

Android continues to be the platform of choice gaining 40 per cent of the smartphone market in 2011. Moreover, the platform will continue to mature driving developer interest in its ecosystem.

“The release of the Ice Cream Sandwich version will make the platform more appealing to developers, as the OS will unify user interfaces (UIs) across smartphones and tablet form factors,” according to Gartner analyst, Roberta Cozza.

Android’s position at the high end of the market will remain strong, but its greatest volume opportunity in the longer term will be in mid-to-low smartphones. Gartner expects Android to hold 50 per cent market share by 2015.

Nokia

Symbian’s appeal over the next two years will be limited to emerging markets and more price-sensitive consumers in mature markets. Following its alliance with Microsoft, Nokia is expected to retire Symbian during 2012 and to migrate to Windows Phone as its main smartphone OS.

This will impact Symbian’s market share, which is expected to drop globally to 21 per cent in 2011 and 6.6 per cent in 2012, Gartner said.

Nokia will push Windows Phone well into the mid-tier range of its portfolio by the end of 2012, driving the platform to be the third largest in worldwide rankings, ahead of RIM, by 2013.

Apple
Apple’s iOS will remain the second-biggest platform worldwide until 2014, according to Gartner. However, falling prices and increasing volumes of lower cost devices will impact Apple’s market share.

“Our assumption is that Apple will be interested in maintaining margins and profit, rather than pursuing market share by changing its pricing strategy, this will limit adoption in emerging markets,” Cozza said.

Blackberry

The transition to QNX will enable RIM to bring to market more competitive products which will mitigate an overall decline in market share during 2013, Gartner said.

With the migration of legacy Blackberry devices to QNX (the OS used on the Blackberry PlayBook in 2012), RIM will be able to offer users a consistent experience across its whole product portfolio and create a single developer community.

Gartner said organisations most interested in this platform will be those that have already deployed RIM infrastructure or have stringent security requirements.

HP

HP is currently undergoing a major transition. Earlier this year HP announced it would stop producing hardware based on the webOS with plans to explore new alternatives. The announcement came after continuing poor sales of new webOS smartphones and the TouchPad’s failure to capture consumer interest.

Although the webOS platform had potential as a modern OS with a good UI, Cozza said a lack of applications, services and content limited its appeal.

Samsung

Gartner said Bada has done relatively well at the low end of the smartphone market. But one problem with the platform is that it offers no development path for tablet devices. Users want to share applications across devices so this is likely to limit uptake.

Intel Without the support of Nokia, Gartner believes MeeGo has little potential to become a relevant platform in the smartphone market.

Intel has plans to merge MeeGo with another open source effort, the LiMo Foundation, to create a new platform called Tizen. Gartner said both MeeGo and LiMo have, as separate entities, failed to attract mind share and the support of developers.

“Gartner remains unconvinced that a combined effort will change that much,” Cozza said.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus with 4G, available for $250

We were already expecting to see the WiFi-only version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus make its American debut on November 13th, but it may be worth waiting an extra three days if you'd like to have some good old-fashioned HSPA+ connectivity on T-Mobile.

Indeed, the carrier announced its 4G-ified iteration of the tablet will be ready for your purchase on November 16th for a $250 down payment after a mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract. Oh, and that's not the only fine print: you'll need to shell out twenty monthly interest-free payments of $10 in addition to your normal data plan.

To sum up the specs, the seven-inch tablet has Android 3.2 preinstalled, runs on a 1.2GHz Exynos CPU, has 16GB of internal storage and takes advantage of a 3MP rear-facing camera and 2MP front-facing cam for video chat. Still intrigued? Read on through the press release to learn more about your potential Tab life.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus will join the recently announced T-Mobile® SpringBoard™ with Google™ and Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1, as well as the T-Mobile G-Slate™ with Google, to offer an affordable and compelling portfolio of 7-, 9- and 10-inch 4G tablets with down payments ranging from $179.99 to $399.99***.

Beginning Nov. 16, customers can purchase the T-Mobile SpringBoard for a $179.99 down payment and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus for a $249.99 down payment at T-Mobile retail stores. Each require a $50 mail-in rebate, with a T-Mobile Value Mobile Broadband plan, two-year service agreement, and 20 interest free monthly payments of $10 on approved credit. Overage-free Mobile Broadband Value plans start at $29.99 per month, and T-Mobile postpaid voice customers enjoy $10 off their monthly mobile broadband service. For more information, visit http://mobile-broadband.t-mobile.com/tablets.

Android Problems Solved

Whether you’ve got a Desire, Galaxy S, Droid or Nexus One our troulbleshooting guide will help you solve these common Android problems.

How do I re-install purchased apps?
You need to make sure that you have setup your Google account on your Android device, the same account you used to purchase the app, and then go to ‘My Downloads’ to retrieve the app. Free apps are not held in the My Downloads section, but can be retrieved direct from Android Market.

How can I soft reset my Android phone?
Try pressing the End, Send and Menu keys at the same time. This should restart the phone in working order, but if it does not try a battery pull.

Can I tether my Android phone to my laptop?
Yes. Many Android phones are supported by EasyTether which will allow most of the popular models to stream their mobile data via a laptop or desktop. Remember that a 3G connection is required at the very least to make the experience worthwhile.

Why are some apps not available in the Android Market?
Some apps will only work on specific phones with set screen resolutions. Check the developer’s product page for more information regarding which phones are compatible.

Should I worry about OS updates?
The Android OS does get updated often, but the only real advice is to buy the best model you can afford which should ensure that it will cope with at least the next 2 or 3 updates.

Is it safe to run Android on a Windows Mobile phone?
This is a difficult one because it is in many ways, but the overall experience will not live up to Android on a phone that has been designed for the OS. Some people have ported the OS, but a full backup should be a minimum precaution before you attempt to do this.

My phone can’t connect to my home Wi-Fi!
This is a common problem on some Android phones such as the Hero, but some quick steps could solve it. Wireless N routers are problematic with some Android phones so make sure you switch on B/G compatibility and that you have the latest router firmware installed. With luck your problems will be solved.

Can I send group SMS messages?
This has been a problematic issue for a while now, but there is a solution. Look for ‘Text Easy’ in the Android Market which has the features which allow you to create groups and select multiple contacts. It is free as well.

Where did my new contact go?
Sometimes when you add a new contact on an Android phone it will not show up in the contacts list. It is without doubt a problem that needs fixing, but the quick solution is to go to Google Contacts in GMail and you will see the new contact. Now, click the Groups button and then the ‘Add to My Contacts’ button. It will now appear on your phone.

Viewing photos is too slow!
Trying to view lots of photos in the native Android gallery app can be painfully slow especially if you have recently cleared the cache. The best solution is to search for alternative solutions in the Android market, of which there are a few, and see which works best for you.

Wrong email headers?
Some Android users suffer from an anomaly where email subjects do not match the emails themselves. The way to fix it is by resetting up your email account and clearing the original data. Go to Settings / Applications / Manage Applications and then choose the email application and ‘Clear Data’.

Can I back up my Android phone online?
Lookout Mobile Security will do the trick and allows you to backup your personal data and to also access it directly online. It is a free download and should offer some peace of mind.  Image: lookout.tiff  Lookout will look out for your data.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Times have changed substantially from the days of the Samsung Instinct. That was a sad dumbphone that tried to compete with Apple;s iPhone. Now, though, the Samsung Galaxy S line of Android smartphones are among the best in the business, but can we say the same about their tablets? Well, let’s have a look at one of the best in the bunch in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. It’s name is pretty much self-explanatory: this is a Samsung tablet with a 10.1-inch screen. Does it stand out?

Features and Specs

Quite unlike the original seven-inch Galaxy Tab, this version isn’t running on a stretched out version of a smartphone operating system. Like the Asus Eee Pad and Motorola Xoom, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has Honeycomb under the hood. There is some customization with TouchWiz too. It’s still unclear whether this will be upgradeable to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich at some point in the future, but I’m perfectly happy with Honeycomb for now.

This particular review is of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G from Bell Mobility, but it’ll largely be the same Tab 10.1 as you’d find elsewhere like the recently “leaked” date from T-Mobile on November 2.

It’s not Super AMOLED Plus, but it’s still very bright and vibrant. It boasts a 1280×800 pixel resolution. As with so many other tabs of this ilk, it gets a dual core 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB storage, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and so on. The camera on the back is a 3MP unit capable of 720p video recording. The “4G” part of the name refers to the HSPA network compatibility with speeds up to 21Mbps.

The Skinny Tab

“Wow. This is thin.”

That was the first thought that struck me when I opened up the box. Yes, I realize that most tablets are relatively skinny these days, but with just a 8.6mm profile, I believe the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the skinniest of them all. That may or may not be a good thing, depending on your personal preferences. I had a friend say that he didn’t like that it was so thin, because it made it more difficult to get a good handle on it.

Coupled by the fact that the back is a slippery glossy plastic and you can see how grip might become a bit of a concern. Contrast this to, say, the slightly thicker Asus Eee Pad Transformer with its more textured back and you’ll notice the difference right away. Even so, I didn’t find the slippery back and super slim size to be much of a problem at all.

The design is actually very simple with just three buttons in total. There’s the power button, of course, and the two volume control buttons. That’s it. Ports are very simple too: you get a headphone jack, a charging port, and a slot for the SIM card. This relative simplicity is both a blessing and a curse.

It’s Honeycomb All Over Again

There’s not a lot to say about the UI, since you’ve seen it all before. Yes, Samsung has gone through the trouble of putting a few tweaks here and there with TouchWiz, like several of the Samsung-specific home screen widgets, but they’re relatively minimal. I did like how there was a dedicated screenshot “button” near the home, recent apps, and back “buttons” on the screen, though, but not everyone will want or need that kind of functionality.

The settings menu looks a little different too, but I wouldn’t say that it’s necessarily any better or worse. Getting at the hotspot functionality seemed a little simpler, including the ease of changing the security and password settings, but these are all really minor.

Battery life was again on par with other Android tablets, getting somewhere around 8-10 hours under constant usage. Naturally, your mileage will vary considerably here depending on how and how often you use the tablet. With intermittent usage, I could get a couple days before needing to reach for a power outlet.

Quadrant Standard and Speedtest Benchmarks

To give an objective test to the performance, I put the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 through Quadrant Standard. The results were within the realm of expectation, getting anywhere from 2022 to 2288 in the few iterations that I attempted. This range is similar to other Honeycomb tablets with similar specs.

General everyday performance felt reasonably smooth most of the time and it stood up to par with other similarly equipped Honeycomb tablets that I have tried. The exception was when I tried to play YooNinja, a game where a ninja runs quickly across the screen. The game played much more slowly than I had experienced elsewhere, but I’m not sure why: other games seemed to be just as smooth as elsewhere.

As far as the 4G network was concerned, I ran a few tests with Speedtest.net in the Vancouver area. Ping was typically under 100ms with the download speed in the 2-3Mbps range. This is a far cry from the claimed maximum of 21Mbps. It is nice to see the upload speed approach the 2Mbps range, though, which is certainly handy if you’re going to be uploading any of that 720p video you’ll be shooting. This is nowhere near 4G LTE, but for a tablet, it does the job just fine.

Conclusion

Considering that we are on the eve of Kal-El, it’s harder to recommend a current Honeycomb tablet like the Galaxy Tab 10.1. You can’t get it in certain countries and I can see why Apple would say that it’s a little too similar to the iPad in some regards. Even so, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a seriously solid tablet with an attractively slim profile, decent performance, and a svelte user interface.

If you’re looking at current dual core Honeycomb tabs, though, I would still take the Eee Pad Transformer over this, if only for the added flexibility of the keyboard dock. In general, I like the Samsung over the Motorola Xoom and LG Optimus Pad, but that could be because of the brighter screen and overall better-looking package.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (Wi-Fi)

Bigger isn't always better. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is pretty much just the Galaxy Tab 10.1 ($499, 3.5 stars), minus 1.2 inches. It's a shrunk-down version of Samsung's flagship tablet, at a slightly shrunk-down price: $469 instead of $499. We judge it a slightly better deal all around and one of the best Android tablets, although the Apple iPad 2 ($499, 4.5 stars) is still our top tablet choice.

Physical Design and Networking
Samsung is currently making the best-looking Android tablets in the business, although its tablets look too much like the iPad for some Apple lawyers' comfort. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is no exception; it's a black and silver slab with no physical buttons on the front, just a bright and somewhat-reflective 1280-by-800-pixel display; the same resolution as the larger panel on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Since the 8.9 is a smaller screen, the pixels are denser, which is more pleasing to the eye.


The Tab 8.9 is very slim, and relatively light at 15.7 ounces and 9.1 by 6.2 by .33 inches. There are power and volume buttons on the top, along with a 3.2-megapixel camera on the back and a 2-megapixel camera on the front. The back is a smooth gray plastic; you can't open up the tablet to replace the battery. On the bottom, along with the stereo speakers, is the single port, a proprietary docking port.

A Wi-Fi-only tablet, there's no 3G/4G option for the Tab 8.9. You do get Bluetooth, which supports both mono and stereo audio, and built-in GPS. In my tests, the 6100 mAh battery powered the tablet for a very good 8 hours, 15 minutes hours of video playback.

Performance, OS, and Apps
Just like Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1—and a number of other current Android tablets—the 8.9 runs Honeycomb 3.1 on an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. Benchmark performance is identical to the 10.1 and to many other Tegra 2-based tablets. I didn't encounter any bugs, problems, or major slowdowns in my testing. But there's no schedule for an Android 3.2 update, according to Samsung, so you should treat this as an Android 3.1 device. The company has dressed up the interface with TouchWiz, a set of widgets and interface extensions that seem to slow the tablet down a bit, but make some activities more convenient.

Samsung throws a bunch of default widgets onto the seven home screens, which I like because it makes the tablet appear to be more than just a blank slate. Most of the built-in apps have had subtle aesthetic redesigns. The Mini Apps Tray is especially welcome: It's a set of six frequently used apps/widgets which can pop up from the bottom of the screen. For more on TouchWiz, check out our review of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Thus far, Google's Android Market for Honeycomb isn't a winner on tablet apps, showing too many apps that run poorly on tablets. So along with the standard Google stuff, Samsung has packed this slate with tablet-centric stores: its own 7digital-powered music store, both Samsung's and Google's video stores, and even Samsung's own app store. As an Nvidia Tegra 2 tablet, the Galaxy Tab also works with Nvidia's Tegra Zone game store.

Unfortunately, none of these stores solve Honeycomb tablets' most critical problem: not enough apps. Samsung's app store, for instance, only has from one to five apps in each of its categories. Samsung insists thousands of phone apps run well on its tablet, but thousands of others don't, and there's no guide to distinguish them. That makes all Honeycomb tablets far inferior to the iPad with its 90,000+ well-tailored, tablet-specific apps.

Seven-inch tablets running Honeycomb 3.2, such as the Acer Iconia Tab A100 ($329, 4 stars), get around this problem somewhat by presenting phone apps better than those with larger screens. But bigger tablets without Honeycomb 3.2's zoom mode give you ugly interfaces when you try to run many apps designed for Android phones.

The Galaxy Tab syncs contacts and calendars with Samsung's Kies software on PCs, and lets you drag and drop files in Windows Explorer onto the tablet. But Mac users should beware: There is no Mac USB compatibility here.

Multimedia
There are lots of media options to fill the Tab 8.9's 13.1GB of free storage. (You get no memory card slot.) Samsung provides the aforementioned 7digital-powered music store where songs average a dollar each, and a more promising video store where TV shows cost $1.99, but you can get a bunch of children's and reality programming for a penny. I downloaded an episode of "Avatar" (the kids' show, not the movie) and it looked sharp.

All of our sample files played on the Tab, both music and video, and sounded unusually good through the device's stereo speakers. The Tab also includes a pair of earbuds, but it has both a standard 3.5-mm headphone jack and Bluetooth, so you can use whatever headphones you have lying around.

There's one false note here, though: There's no video out, so you can't play your movies on a big screen. Samsung advertises a dock with HDMI out but it's not included with the tablet; the only port here is the unique dock port, and the only cable you get in the box ends in a male USB plug.

Streaming video options are mixed. The TV.com app is available, but Hulu and Netflix, notably, aren't.
The Tab's two cameras are both of very good quality. The 3.2-megapixel camera on the back takes razor-sharp, if not terribly quick photos at 1.1 seconds of shutter delay. The 2-megapixel camera on the front is similarly sharp. Both cameras record 720P HD video.

Conclusions
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is really just a tweak of the existing 10.1-inch Tab, but that tweak makes it a bit more appealing. It's a little more portable and a little less expensive, without losing a pixel of screen resolution, a hertz of processor speed, or a byte of storage.

That said, we have the same problem with this tablet that we do with most high-end Android tablets this size: It's going up directly against the iPad, which has far more apps and a stronger ecosystem. Seven-inch Android 3.2 tablets at least have the benefits of being more portable and having phone apps look decent in zoomed mode. But it's hard to argue why the masses, when presented with this device and an iPad, should pick the Tab 8.9. If you're not an Apple fan, though, and you want the thinnest Android tablet you can get, the Tab 8.9 is a solid choice.

Nokia Lumia 800 vs. iPhone 4S vs. Nexus Galaxy

Nokia is betting its future on Microsoft’s mobile OS, and on Wednesday introduced its first Windows Phone 7 device, the Lumia 800. If the Lumia 800 looks familiar, that’s because it’s similar to the Nokia N9, which runs OS (MeeGo) soon to be ditched. The Lumia 800 brings a few improvements over its relegated sibling, including a faster processor, but compared to the big boys, the iPhone 4S and the latest Android Galaxy Nexus and Droid RAZR, Nokia’s flagship is still falling behind.


The Lumia 800 has a smaller curved 3.7-inch screen than the N9, which had a 3.9-inch display -- a change needed to accommodate the three hardware buttons Windows Phone 7 OS requires under the display. Lumia’s display is slightly larger than the 3.5-inch screen on the iPhone 4S, but significantly smaller than the huge 4.65-inch display on the Galaxy Nexus.

Nokia’s phone also has the lowest display pixel density at 800 by 480 pixels, a far cry from the Nexus Galaxy’s resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels, or the Retina display on the iPhone 4S, which has the highest pixel density in the comparison.

Nokia can’t brag about how slim the Lumia 800 is. At 12.1 mm, it’s the thickest phone in the line-up. It’s also the heaviest, at 142 grams, a hair more than the iPhone 4S and the Nexus Galaxy.

On the inside, the Nokia Lumia does not feature a dual-core processor: it has a 1.4GHz single-core processor with 512MB of RAM. In comparison, the iPhone 4S runs on a 1GHz dual-core chip with 512MB of RAM and at the top of the line there’s the Galaxy Nexus with a 1.2GHz dual-core chip and 1GB of RAM.

The Lumia 800 is a mixed bag in the camera department. It has an 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens on the back, like the iPhone 4S, but unlike Apple’s phone, it doesn’t record 1080p HD video, only 720p. Even Galaxy Nexus’ 5-megapixel-camera records 1080p video. Surprisingly, the Lumia 800 doesn’t feature a front-facing camera for video calls, which makes it the only phone in the comparison without one.

Overall, Nokia’s Lumia 800 could be an interesting proposal for those who want a smartphone that’s not an iPhone or Android, with solid guts and shiny looks. But when compared to its competitors, the Lumia 800 does not have anything extraordinary to offer: it’s not the thinnest or fastest of phone, nor has it the best camera or extra features (no expandable storage, no secondary camera, no HDMI, no NFC).

Nokia didn’t say which US carriers would sell the Lumia 800. The phone becomes available in November for around $584 unlocked.