Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 w/ Verizon 4G LTE Tablet Review

Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE 16GB Tablet

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 touchscreen tablet has gotten a ton of media attention in recent months as the company has faced legal action from Apple. Apple has filed lawsuits against Samsung saying that the company has chosen to “slavishly” copy Apple’s innovative technology, distinctive user interfaces, and elegant and distinctive product and packaging design. The suit specifies that Samsung devices too closely mimic the rounded corners of Apple’s devices, as well as the design of its app icons. The suit doesn’t matter to us and in reality we find it funny since Samsung is a major supplier of chip to Apple. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has had sales halted in Germany and other countries due to the lawsuit though, so if you happen to live in a country that has halted sales, you are out of luck.

In the United States the Samsung Galaxy Tab hasn’t been pulled from the shelves at all and is hands down one of the most popular tablets on the market today. One of the reasons that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is so popular is that it is one of the thinnest tablets on the market today. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is actually thinner than the Apple iPad 2 by a small, but measurable amount.

When it comes to buying a Galaxy Tab 10.1 there two types of the tablet that you should be made aware of. The first is the original Wi-Fi only versions that were announced on February 13, 2011 and they are the models that have been around for nearly eight months now. You can get the Wi-Fi only version in two either 16GB or 32GB storage capacities and also white or metallic grey.

• Galaxy Tab 10.1 w/ 16GB Memory in Metallic Grey: $492.26
• Galaxy Tab 10.1 w/ 16GB Memory in White: $499.99
• Galaxy Tab 10.1 w/ 32GB Memory in Metallic Grey: $542.95
• Galaxy Tab 10.1 w/ 32GB Memory in White: $599.99

Samsung announced a new ‘carrier version’ of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G LTE connectivity with Verizon Wireless on July 26, 2011. Verizon Wireless will offer two 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 models
both priced with two-year customer agreements: $529.99 for the 16GB
model and $629.99 for the 32GB model. Both models are available in metallic grey and white once again. The big feature different with the ‘carrier version’ is obviously the 4G LTE network, for which you can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage areas. Having a Verizon 4G LTE model allows you to access the Internet almost anywhere, at wireless network-level speeds. To enable 4G LTE though you will have the option to choose one of the following mobile broadband data plans that you should take into consideration since it does add to the overall cost of a tablet.

• $30 monthly access for 2GB monthly allowance
• $50 monthly access for 5GB monthly allowance
• $80 monthly access for 10GB monthly allowance

If you use more bandwidth than this you are charged $10 per GB for usage.

The version that we will be looking at today is the newer Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G LTE that has 16GB of internal storage and the metallic grey finish. The retail boxing of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is fairly straight forward and has both the Samsung and Verizon logos on the front.

Lifting the cover off the retail box we find you’ll see the Galaxy Tab 10.1
sitting right before you! Samsung places a thing protective cover of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 that clearly states that the top slot is for a microSIM card and not a micro SD storage card. When the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was originally released the Google Android 3.0 operating system didn’t yet feature support for accessing a micro SD card, so Samsung opted not to include one since there wasn’t a standard to follow. Other companies like Motorola launched their tablet called the Xoom around the same time with a non-functional micro SD card slot. It wasn’t made functional until Honeycomb 3.2 came out nearly six months later.

Once you remove the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from the box you’ll see the charger, USB data transfer cable and the
users manual that goes along with the tablet. Since ours if the 4G LTE Verizon Wireless version we also get a free $25 Media Hub credit from
Samsung, good towards TV
program purchases.

The wall charger that Samsung uses for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is pretty slick as it has a removable wall plug that can be changed for international travel and wall charger has a USB connector on the end. The included data/charging cable has a standard USB connector on one end and the other has a 30-pin connector that connects to the bottom of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The included cable it 39.5″ in length.