Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Tablet Review

Introduced earlier this year to the South East Asian region at the Samsung Forum 2011, the latest Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not just an evolution from the Galaxy Tab tablet that was introduced last year, but it brings a whole shebang of improvements with it apart from the increased screen real estate. First off, the device is a super-sleek tablet designed to look somewhat like its competitors although with its plastic back and thinner size.
Its slimness hides the fact that this tablet packs NVIDIA Tegra 2 processing capability, along with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage space. While it is as thin as the current tablet benchmark, the Apple iPad 2, it comes with a battery with slightly higher capacity at 7000mAH along with a weight reduction despite its hardware. It feels solid in the hand despite having a huge amount of plastic covering its back. Although the device is thin, it does not seem to flex and our fears of it breaking in half are pretty unfounded unless it is dropped on one of its corner.
With the review unit updated to Android 3.1 (instead of the 3.0 stock ROM), the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 did not come with Samsung’s usual TouchWiz interface instead employs tweaks such as the Live Panel on the home screen called TouchWiz UX. Samsung also included their recognizable widgets called Mini Apps which look somewhat similar to the applications you get in their smartphone range. Despite its Tegra 2 chipset, the tablet did feel laggy, especially in stock homescreen condition, no thanks to five rotatable homescreen pages that were chock-filled with widgets. This might be attributed to the OS update itself as previous version of this tablet scored higher on synthetic tests.
The screen is gorgeous, sporting a 1280 x 800 IPS panel while also having eye-popping colors at the same time. The same can be said whether we were viewing text, watching a HD video or flipping through our image library. This is due to its high pixel density which rivals the iPhone 4’s Retina display in terms of sharpness. It comes with Wi-Fi and HSDPA/HSPA+ wireless radios although a SIM with a data plan is needed for connecting to mobile networks.
Combining a set of stereo speakers, it is sufficient to say that playing back high-res movies on the tab 10.1 is highly amusing prospect. The only problem lies when you’re transferring large files over to its internal memory – the USB cable is, as always a proprietary version despite looking similar to a rival’s 30-pin connector. Although the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has niggles such as lag and a slightly different way in which it is executed, it is the closest Android tablet so far which made us wish that there were more apps for the OS to better show-off its capabilities. For now, that is the main reason we’re not too keen on Android tablets although if history repeat itself, they will be smashing new sales record pretty soon.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Specifications :
Processor : 1GHz dual-cre NVIDIA Tegra 2
Display : 10.1 touch sensitive TFT screen with 1280 x 800 and multi-touch
Connectivity : Bluetooth 3.0 and A2DP and EDR, Compass, A-GPS Quadband GSM, headphones jack, WLAN 802.11b/g/
Memory : 1GB RAM, 16GB/32/64GB models
Dimensions : 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.6mm
Weight : 565g w/battery

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Kingston USB 3.0 Media Reader

USB 3.0 is fast, surely, but it’s been only working with USB 3.0 devices, with the most portable being a USB 3.0 pen drive. What about SD-cards, and CF-cards, and microSDs? Can’t they have the USB 3.0 treatment too? Well, fortunately, they can, with the Kingston USB 3.0 Media Reader. This is essentially a media reader (or multi-card reader, you pick) like any other, only that it comes with a USB 3.0 cable which, naturally, means it gets to read regular media in USB 3.0 speeds. The Media Reader supports SD cards (up to SDXC), microSDs and Memory Sticks (all the way to M2). It’s also USB 3.0 compatible, so no harm getting it for when you finally have USB 3.0 in your systems.

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HTC Evo 3D Smartphone

We could see it as HTC said it – the HTC EVO 3D is a little more than just a phone slapped with a 3D-capable screen; it’s a wholly new 3D experience, freshly ground into a smartphone mould, and meant to usher a new 3D-steered direction. But does adding 3D deepen an experience? And – most importantly, of course – how good is the experience itself?
So we go along answering this burning question by doing the physical experience first, which is the phone’s built. It’s large, perhaps on the monstrous side. It’s also expectedly heavy, though not so bulky that it perturbs the pocketing process. What we would readily say is that it’s solidly built, and that the core design is unproblematic.
What stands out most for the EVO 3D is, firstly, the dual cameras at the back (which juts out slightly), and a toggle switch that sits beside a dedicated camera button. This is one part of the camera’s 3D experience; it can capture 3D images and video, and can do so with a simple button toggle. It’s a great feature, which would’ve been better quality, but alas; you can see a light dip in colors and resolution with 3D images.
The qHD screen, on the most part, does a great job; it’s not as reflective and the screen display brightly and colorfully enough. Of course, it’s really the glasses-less 3D display that matters most, and it’s mostly commendable. With the best of 3D content, the 3D effect is great, but it’s not a perfect 3D viewing experience, as it requires the user to look at the right angle for the best view, and sometimes the slightest change losses it.
Running a dual-core processor at 1.2GHz, you can expect the EVO 3D to perform with the right amount of snappiness and speeds when running apps. Battery life is surprisingly decent, despite the screen, it won’t last for days, but at least we managed to reach midnight with decent amount of use.
It’s not a defining moment in smartphone history, but the HTC Evo 3D puts a wholly realized 3D experience to a solidly-built and powerful smartphone. While the 3D experience could be better, it’s undoubtedly a new, fresh and overall a good experience.
Pros : Powerful performace, 3D shooting capability, Glasses-Free 3D viewing
Cons : 3D viewing isn’t perfect
HTC Evo 3D Specifications :
Operating System : Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
Processor : 1.2GHz Dual-Core Processor
Frequency : HSDPA 2100 / 900 EDGE / GPRS / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 /1900
Screen : 4.3 inch qHD 3D Touchscreen
Connectivity : Bluetooth, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, 3.5mm audio
Others : 5.0 megapixels dual camera, glasses-free 3D viewing capabilities
Dimensions : 126.1mm x 65.4mm x 11.3mm
Weight : 170g

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Samsung SA950 3D Monitor

The Samsung SA950 monitor has a lot going for it. It stands there in a paragon-esque stature; you can tell from its design that it’s outright designed to make a point, that this is a premium monitor that sails the flagship proudly and ostentatiously. And for all that’s worth, it deserves the praise and our applause to go with it.
The beauty of the SA950 shows up immediately in its aesthetics. When have seen a monitor designed as such to immediately shun away from monitor design conventions, culminating into a single carving of elegance and grace? It’s a beautiful monitor, with wonderful curves forming a Tate-Art style piece. The screen is amazingly slim, and it flows gently into a flat base stand.
Still, despite its slim stature, the monitor takes up more space than it seems, and aside from slight tilts to the screen, you can’t position it as flexibly as any monitor would. Price of beauty, we suppose.
Which puts us now to its display quality, and that’s the SA950’s second beauty. You’ll be getting crisp, sharp and bright display here, with good response time and nice dark-image performances. The screen is only slightly reflective, but overall, it’s one display quality to match some of the nicest in the market.
The SA950 is a 3D monitor, and it comes bundled with its own 3D glasses. The best part about the SA950’s 3D is that it doesn’t require 3rd party software to do its 3D – this also applies to its 2D to 3D conversion feature. Everything can be selected and configured using the touch-sensitive buttons and menus, and you don’t need an external emitter. We suppose this is how you make a true 3D monitor.
The 3D in itself is great, showing good depth and clarity. The conversion, on the other hand, works pretty good; it doesn’t look as natural as actual 3D content (naturally), but it does a good job giving it depth without making as much error in alignment. You can even set the value of depth, too!
The Samsung SA950 3D monitor is a great piece of creation – aesthetically pleasing design aside, the display quality and great 3D features make this monitor essentially a TRUE 3D monitor, and one not afraid to step away from its own boundaries.
Pros : Gorgeous display, Nice design and aesthetics, 2D to 3D conversion
Cons : Takes up space
Samsung SA950 3D Monitor Specifications :
Resolution : Up to 1920 x 1080
Screen : 23-inches
Response Time : 2ms
Stand : Tilt
Others : 3D, 2D to 3D conversion
Dimensions : 533.0 x 424.5 x 185.5mm
Weight : 5.3kg

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