The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G LTE is the first Android tablet to support Verizon's high-speed 4G LTE network, providing very fast download and upload speeds. However, these high speeds come at the cost of short battery life and requiring expensive data plans from Verizon. While the tablet is thin, light and fast, its battery life is disappointing at around 4 hours of active use. For users seeking speed, it provides the fastest cellular connection of any tablet, but lengthy commitments to Verizon are required.

1. Samsung Galaxy Tab 4G Review
The blinding pace at which new tablet computers are reaching consumers
only serves as a reminder that we want the machines themselves to be
blazing fast. And the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G LTE I’ve
been testing is all about speed. It recently became the first Android tablet
to exploit Verizon Wireless’ zippy 4G LTE technology.
LTE is shorthand for the Long Term Evolution wireless network that
Verizon has been rolling out across the country.
Word was that the Motorola Xoom would be the initial Android tablet to
get to the LTE finish line, but the upgrade to make it happen hasn’t come
to pass yet.
Galaxy Tab mostly lives up to its high-speed notices. But you’ll have to
sign onto costly data plans and will have to sacrifice battery life along the
way.
If you think the Galaxy Tab 10.1 bears more than a slight resemblance to
the iPad, you’ve got company. For months now, Apple has been
embroiled in lawsuits against Samsung claiming that the Galaxy tablet
and some Samsungsmartphones violate Apple’s intellectual property.
The disputes extend beyond America’s borders. Reports out of Australia
this week suggest that Samsung delayed launching a version of the tablet
Down Under. But Samsung said in a statement that a “Galaxy Tab 10.1

2. for the Australian market will be released in the near future.”
But Galaxy Tabs have been available in these parts. And on July 28,
Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G LTE went on sale in the U.S. at Verizon
Wireless stores.
Sprinter-like speeds are this slate’s main draw, and it’s what I mostly
focused on during this review. That said, Galaxy Tab is beautiful: slim,
sleek and slick.
Side by side, the Toshiba Thrive Android tablet I reviewed last week
comes off as the overweight ugly sibling. Unlike the thicker Thrive,
however, Galaxy Tab lacks such niceties as a built-in SD card slot or
full-size USB and HDMI ports. You’ll need optional adapters to add such
features. The iPad also lacks these built-in connectors.
As with the Thrive, Galaxy Tab runs Android’s Honeycomb operating
platform for tablets. It has a splendid 10.1-inch widescreen display, five
customizable home screen panels, a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera with
flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. The browser can handle
Adobe Flash sites. You can purchase or rent movies or TV shows through
Samsung’s Media Hub store.
In the specs battle against Apple, Galaxy weighs in at a mere 1.25 pounds,
making it a tad lighter than the iPad. It’s ever-so-slightly thinner, too.
Of course, Apple’s has a ginormous advantage vs. all Android tablets in

3. available apps.
Then again, Apple’s tablet, at least to date, cannot equal Verizon’s blazing
cellular speeds when Wi-Fi is out of reach. Verizon says customers
exploiting LTE coverage areas can expect download speeds of 5 to 12
Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps. In certain areas of New York
City and the surrounding suburbs where I did my testing, I consistently
bested those download benchmarks by a wide margin. Using Ookla’s
standard Speedtest.net, I topped out at 29.0 Mbps downstream and 4.67
Mbps in the other direction.
Such results translate into rapid downloads of apps, speedy browsing and
fluid video playback.
But I also frequently slipped into slower 3G areas and, during my travels,
occasionally even ended up in pokier territory. In my own house, I
sometimes saw the tiny 4G at the bottom right corner of the screen
indicating the machine was taking advantage of the faster network. But
sometimes that 4G indicator turned to 3G.
For the record, Verizon says LTE is available in 102 markets across the
country, covering a population of more than 160 million. By the end of
the year, those totals are expected to hit 175 markets and 185 million
people.
Of course, you can also tap into Wi-Fi if available. And you can use the
tablet as a mobile hot spot capable of connecting up to 10 Wi-Fi-ready

4. devices in 4G or up to five Wi-Fi devices in 3G.
High speeds on the Galaxy come with costly tradeoffs, however.
First there’s the hardware price: $529.99 for 16 gigabytes or $629.99 for
32 GB. (You can choose between metallic gray or white models.) Granted,
that’s $100 cheaper than respective iPad 2 (3G) models with the same
storage capacities. But Galaxy owners must sign up for a two-year mobile
broadband data plan. On iPads with 3G, you can opt in and out of a data
plan with no penalties or lengthy obligations.
Starting today, Verizon also will sell a 16-GB Wi-Fi-only Galaxy online
for $499.99.
Verizon charges $30 for 2 GB of monthly data access, $50 for 5 GB and
$80 for 10 GB. Overage charges are a hefty $10 per GB.
Battery life turned out to be a major disappointment. Verizon made vague
claims of 12 hours of use on a single battery charge. But in my harsh test,
in which I cranked up the brightness level to about 75%, used cellular and
(for part of my test) Wi-Fi connections while streaming videos, I barely
approached 4½ hours.
A second similar test (without Wi-Fi turned on) yielded nearly identical
results. As I watched movies during those tests, the brightness was
automatically dimmed after I received low-battery warnings to preserve
what little juice remained.

5. For sure, that’s frustrating. But you’d probably fare a lot better with
“normal” usage. And if you’re in the market for an Android tablet, you’ll
be hard-pressed to find a model with Galaxy Tab’s combination of good
looks and speed.