If you are looking to buy an excellent 10.1 inch tablet that also allows you to write and convert your handwriting, then you should read this equally excellent and detailed Galaxy Note 10.1 review.

1. The New Galaxy Note
10.1 – The Best Tablet
In The Market Today
“The result after 3 days of use is "amazing." This should be the flagship/standard of Android
tablets.” - Takashi Takahashi
By Lionel McPherson
Samsung has just released the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet recently. If you are looking
to buy an excellent 10.1 inch tablet that also allows you to write and convert your
handwriting, then you should read this equally excellent and detailed Galaxy Note 10.1
review by Takashi Takahashi before you buy this new Galaxy note from Samsung.
Note that the Samsung Note 10.1 is the tablet version while the Samsung Galaxy Note II is
the hand held version.
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2. 5.0 out of 5 stars The
best tablet not because of S-pen nor multitask
(compared to transformer infinity), August 19, 2012
By Takashi Takahashi
============= Updates ================
9/3/2012
Week 2 update
1. S-pen - So I still don't use this feature on the Samsung Note 10.1, but just for fun I tried.
Quickly, this is the closest to paper as it can get. See the updated section of "handwriting".
2. Windows 8 Tablets - Since recent IFA Berlin showed several upcoming Windows 8
tablets, I have decided to give a quick comparison to them.
3. Future Potential - During IFA Berlin, Samsung announced the Jellybean update on the
Galaxy Note 10.1 is coming "very soon (changed from this year)" & showed many cool
features of upcoming Galaxy Note 2 (handheld) device features, which most likely be
included in the Galaxy Samsung Note 10.1 as well. See Future potential section for detail.
8/24/2012
After one full week of use, here is quick update.
1. Stability - The stability of this system is amazing. I had only a single crush of stock
browser, which at this point could even be my error of clicking pushing button by accident.
Even on the iPad 2, I still had at least 1 or 2 freeze/crush every other day or so. So this is
actually the most stable tablet/system I have ever used.
2. Lack of HD Screen - After 1 week of use, I had hoped that I would forget about my
experience with HD Screen on Transformer Infinity. Unfortunately this isn't the case.
Whenever I browse and open a web page, I simply have to zoom in to be able really read
things, which again wasn't the case with HD screen. So yes. It is really noticeable.
At this point, I can say basically Galaxy Samsung Note 10.1 is pretty much superior to
Transformer Infinity in every aspect except HD screen. However, the screen is one of the
major point so the choice still remains to be a bit hard. But once experiencing the stability &
speed of Galaxy Note 10.1, I don't think I can go back to infinity or any other android tablet
that gives us freeze or crush every hour.
============= Vs. Upcoming Windows 8 Tablets ============
I was actually hoping with IFA, at least one of windows 8 tablet announced be my dream
system i.e. customizability & flexibility of android, solid 8+ hours battery life, portability,
stability, speed and full HD screen.
In short, no system met this criteria. The major systems are ASUS Vivo series and Samsung
Ativ series. Among these, only Samsung Ativ Smart Pro is the only one has full HD screen
that Galaxy Samsung Note 10.1 lacks. However, this system like other full Windows 8
edition tablets are much heavier, battery life is mere 5 hours DVD play time, and price is over
$1100.
Other tablets that are portable, and has good battery life are usually Windows RT versions.
Given how stable Android OS on Galaxy Samsung Note 10.1, stability is no longer
comparison point. Just like iOS vs. Android, it becomes applications. Windows RT edition
only runs Metro specific applications. Though they will certainly grow, it will likely to take
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3. sometime. Given the rapid change in the technology, if you decide to buy a system with a
hope that the application will come, you may end up not enjoying your system as by the time
applications flourish on the metro market, there may be better spec systems with cheaper
price. Furthermore, it appears no Windows RT based system have stylus support.
So in conclusion, though Windows 8 tablets are not inferior by any means, there is no
upcoming Windows 8 tablet at this point that I can say "absolutely better" than the Galaxy
Note 10.1 or even Transformer Infinity. Both tablet have still their own places and target
audiences.
============= Original Review Below =====================
Quick background of myself, I had recently purchased a Transformer Infinity as upgrade
from my iPad 2, and Samsung Galaxy 10.1 4G. It was a great tablet of its own, but had
couple major negatives for the purpose of my use. So I had to seek for alternative. Given my
relative unhappiness with Galaxy 10.1 original and 4G, I was a bit sceptical about Galaxy
Note 10.1 but decided to give a chance. The result after 3 days of use is "amazing." This
should be the flagship/standard of Android tablets.
In the review of Transformer Infinity, I have discussed about iOS ecosystem vs. Android
ecosystem. In here, I am actually going to focus on comparing to the transformer infinity,
which is by many major review sites rated as the best android tablet. And I see several people
are considering this vs. the infinity.
WARNING: Do not trust some reviews you read on the websites. I just do not experience/see
the issues what some reviewers are saying.
============ Summary ===============
Compared to Transformer Infinity
Strength
+Battery life
+Stability
+Speed
+Audio/Speaker
Weakness
-No HD screen
-Samsung's very slow software update
-UI
Tie
*Build Quality
*Overall hardware spec
*Future potential
Note: I did not mention S-pen nor multitasking here because I personally don't use S-pen, and
multitasking is good but you can do pretty much the same with applications on the market on
any android device.
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4. Conclusion:
Do you want android tablet?
Are you ok with not having HD display?
Can you afford the price?
If yes to all three, then this is the tablet to get.
=========== Detail Review ================
1. Battery Life
This is one feature I really could not tolerate on the Infinity. It lasted 5 hours if I only use the
browser. If I play games, it lasted only 3 hours. Watching video or reading ebook without any
browsing is the only way to get close to 9.5 hours documented on the specification. But in
reality, I always surf net, so generally I can never get more than 6 hours from 100% full
charge. Galaxy Note 10.1's battery life is amazing. Over 6 hours of screen time I was still at
50% one time. Second time 9 hours of screen time including 2 hours of gaming, 3 hours of
constant almost pure browsing, 2+ hours of local video, and rest are ebook reading, I still
have 30% battery left. This will undoubtedly gives me 10+ hours of browsing time. In fact, I
am guessing this can even give 12+ hours easily unless I play games. Even with gaming
probably 8-9 hours.
Some review claims battery hours on this much shorter, or even compatible to the Infinity.
My guess on this is that they only either compared video play not included browsing but even
then the number won't differ much. So the most likely explanation is they used the 3G
version of Galaxy Note 10.1.
In any event, battery life on the Galaxy Note 10.1 is simply amazing. One key selling point
on Transformer series is the docking station, which has extra power. But specifically
comparing to the Transformer Infinity, I think galaxy note battery life is likely to match and
perhaps even beat that of Infinity with docking station.
Winner: Galaxy Note 10.1
2. Stability
This is in fact the biggest selling point of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. I was always
under the impression that by choosing Android ecosystem over the iOS, one thing we have to
give up is the stability. So when I initially got the Infinity, I had a hope but the hope of
stability quickly went away. Browser crushed/froze every hour or so. Other applications also
froze and crushed. In the android world, I guess it's called application not responding (ANR)
error. I don't think infinity had any more of ANR than the my old Galaxy 10.1 but definitely
did not seem less.
To my surprise, Galaxy Note 10.1 is actually extremely stable. In fact, I have used so far
approximately 20-30 hours and have not encountered a single ANR nor crush. Having stable
Android system is just an amazing.
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5. Winner: Galaxy Note 10.1
3. Screen
If you have never used HD display tablet such as the new iPad, Transformer Infinity or
ACER Iconia A700, you would probably not notice. But after using them for awhile, the
sharpness of text produced by these high definition screen are certainly noticeable. With
Infinity, I can load a page and without zooming in, I can basically read an entire page because
the resolution is so good. But with the Galaxy Note 10.1 , everything looks somewhat blurry
so I have to zoom in to really read.
This is a huge disadvantage of the Galaxy Note 10.1 and perhaps, the reason why every other
aspect on Galaxy Note 10.1 is better than Infinity because it does not have to drive HD. If
you need a HD screen android tablet, you have to go with the Transformer Infinity. Even
there is not much HD specific applications right now, you will notice the difference on every
day use.
Winner: Transformer Infinity
4. Speed
After doing some custom tweek on my Infinity, browsing on Infinity became much faster (at
least so it seems). When it is at maximum speed, the Infinity and Galaxy browsers loaded
pages in equal speed. I tested this by simply going to the same site at same time for a couple
pages. But after a couple hours of use, the Infinity browser always seemed to slow down or
crush. This does not depend on which browser I used; stock, Chrome, Opera, Firefox beta,
Dolphin beta etc. The benchmark sort of shows this. Sunspider benchmark of the Infinity was
decently fast so the browser should be fast, which again it was when working. But Galaxy
Note 10.1's Sunspider result is simply in another dimension. It's even faster than new iPad.
Since stock is so well on the Galaxy Note, I have not really tried much else on my Galaxy
Note 10.1.
Another example: I use Mantano Reader for my ebook reading. With Infinity, I could not
open couple files. One was 50MB, the other was 400MB. It simply took forever and gave me
ANR. If I was lucky and got it working after awhile, it only showed a couple pages and then
crush. I sent an email to Mantano asking for a fix as I could not believe with such high spec
on the Infinity this can be an issue. In fact, some files larger than 50MB opened fine on the
Mantano. Furthermore, other PDF applications such as Repligo, Adobe Reader opened these
files fine as well. So I had good reasons to blame on application itself. But the same file
opens instantaneously on the Galaxy Note 10.1 and obviously no crush or ANR.
So despite infinity being fast system on its own, I have to give this one also to Galaxy Note.
Winner: Galaxy Note 10.1
5. Audio/Speaker
Speaker on the Infinity was simply a weakness. So any system can win over this. I am not
expert on sound system, so all I cared was whether I can hear my sounds loud enough. With
Infinity, some of my video files were only barely audible even with maximum sound setting
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6. if there are any background sounds. This was different from any other tablet I owned. Galaxy
Note 10.1 is just like others and I had no problem hearing the sounds. It is what I expected.
With Infinity I had issues on listening to a video file that was on the micro SD using my
headset. Every minute or two, I hear small but definitely noticeable "beep beep." This was
fixed by copying files locally to the device. But this sort of defeats the purpose of micro SD...
This issue is not there with the Galaxy Note 10.1. So I can keep my video files on the micro
SD.
Winner: Galaxy Note 10.1
6. Software Update
No one can beat ASUS. Their reputation on the software update is the best of all android
tablet makers. In fact, they have already released jellybean on one of the transformer lines. So
it probably won't be too long for Infinity either. This will for surely be true for OS after
jellybean as well. In addition, Nexus 7 is made by ASUS and has very similar specification to
Transformer Prime, so future proof in terms of software update on infinity is the best on the
market.
In comparison, Samsung is one of the worst in terms of software update. One main reason is
that they make their own touch wiz customization. The original Samsung Galaxy 10.1 just
recently got ice cream sandwich. Samsung announced that Galaxy Note will be getting
Jellybean by end of the year, so we will get it but I don't count on the time. As far as the OS
after Jellybean, who knows when we may get it but that would be even further down the road
and it may even become irrelevant at the point.
Winner: Transformer Infinity
However, there is a catch on this. If the actual software is working perfectly, do we really
need/care about newer OS? I was looking forward to Jellybean when I had Infinity because I
thought it would make the system faster, and possibly more stable. However, Galaxy Note
10.1 is already extremely fast, and has perfect stability. So I am not sure if I am much to look
forward to in Jellybean.
7. User Interface
Transformer Infinity uses near stock interface. Their widgets are very clean. I loved their
transparent weather, and date widget. Touch Wiz on the other hand, I don't think as pretty.
Samsung Weather widget just don't fit well. This may be personal preference though.
Winner: Transformer Infinity
8. Build Quality
The actual external appearance of the tablet goes to Infinity. The metallic Zen design is really
great. It does look like expensive tablet. On the other hand, Samsung has plastic and I even
had my port plastic broken one time on my Galaxy 10.1 4G. Clearly, it is not common place
for accidental damage as it is simply so hard to break the piece by intention. But Samsung
totally refused to fix it and asked for $100 to fix this even though I only had the tablet for 5
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7. months. So I am sceptical for the durability of plastic tablet.
However, quality assurance seems better on Samsung. I had to try two Infinity. Both had light
bleed, one had loose screen i.e. I can get click sound by pressing corner, sticking button (first
one was volume, second one was power). According to XDA forum, this was very prevalent
issue and pretty much most people had one or other. On the Galaxy Note 10.1 I had none of
these, and seemed like forum is also pointing to the same direction with very minimal
complain on these matters.
Winner: Tie
9. Overall Hardware Specification
This is technical aspect. No matter what the specification is, in the end user experience is
everything; however, hardware spec can definitely affect the experience. Generally speaking
two are similar with one better on one regard and other on the other.
CPU: Tie - Atuntu scores are basically the same.
GPU: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - Galaxy Note 10.1 has the best GPU in any of Android
tablet on the market right now. Still not up to the level of the new iPad. Given it has to push
less pixels compared to Infinity, stronger GPU further makes difference. Having said this, I
don't think there is any application on android market currently that pushes to their graphical
limit. So not sure if extra GPU power makes much difference.
I/O: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - Supposedly I/O issue has been discussed on transformer
series before Infinity. But Infinity still has it. It had improved with the latest firmware, but
not solved. There is speculation that this is indeed hardware level of issue i.e. can go only so
much. The speculation is coming from an XDA developer who tested running things off high
speed SD card that gave much boost in the functions when compared to local storage i.e.
Flash storage is the conundrum. This is reflected on the benchmark. The Infinity had RL
benchmark score of 80-90's with the latest firmware (originally like 120's). Galaxy Note 10.1
has 20's. This actually does affect daily use as you save file, access file all requires reading
and writing from flash drive. Obviously, Infinity is not 4 times slower than Galaxy Note but
this may be reason why my PDF file opened fine on Mantano with Galaxy Note 10.1 but not
on Infinity.
Memory: Samsung Galaxy Note - 2GB. Since most tablets still have 1GB memory, we won't
likely to see anything that require 2GB memory for awhile. So it is only helpful when
opening multiple applications i.e. you may be able to cache more application than before but
otherwise, I am not sure if this helps much.
Screen: Transformer Infinity - See above.
In any event, both hardware are the best in the market right now. If these two systems cannot
handle any more update, application etc. then pretty much nothing else on the market can
handle them any more either. So as far as hardware goes, both are relatively future proof.
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8. 10. Future Potential
ASUS, the maker of Infinity, makes Nexus 7 and again it has similar spec as the Infinity's
ancestor Transformer Prime. So it should have good support from Google as well as future
application makers. Furthermore, recently ASUS became the Playstation partner. So you will
likely to see more Playstation games on it.
Galaxy Note 10.1 on the other hand is made by Samsung, who makes one of the most popular
smartphone: the Samsung Galaxy Series. Since Galaxy Note and SIII etc. uses Exynos CPU
design and the number of unit sold are so high, android software developers will/should
continue support them and hence, also supporting Galaxy Note 10.1.
Update (9/3): Samsung just recently announced it is bringing Jellybean to Galaxy Note 10.1
"very soon." No solid time here, but compared to "this year", this sounds much more
imminent. Only the time will tell, but it would be interesting how quickly Samsung can make
the update to change its reputation here.
More interestingly, Galaxy Note 2 (handheld) device was just recently officially announced
by Samsung. This device is very similar to the Galaxy Note 10.1. So new features coming to
the Galaxy Note 2 is highly likely to be added to Galaxy Note 10.1 as well. If you are
interested in seeing what these features are, search for [GALAXY Note II] First Hands-on
Video by Samsung on Youtube. These features appear very unique (at least to me).
Winner: Tie
11. Handwriting
For those of you who thinks S-pen is just another stylus, it is not. You can never write as
small on iPad, or Infinity because simply technology is different. So those who wants to have
closest to the real pen and paper experience, you need inductive pen device like Galaxy Note.
Updated 9/3/2012
Coming from the background of looking into tablet PC when still relatively new (back to the
windows XP era), one thing I can say to test whether stylus/pen on screen truly work or not is
write as small as you can and see if the tablet can recognize your writing. The conventional
touch screen tablet like iPad, most of android tablet including transformer infinity, you will
quickly notice the smallest you can write is not so small. You have some applications to
convert your bigger drawn handwriting into smaller text, but it certainly is not same
experience as you were to write on the paper.
Since I had time with this tablet, I had a chance to try this. Well, the smallest the tablet
recognizes is the smallest I can write. So in this sense, Samsung did phenomenal job.
Perhaps, this may be the reason why they could not include full HD screen.
Winner: Galaxy Note
============== Other less important features =================
Other things that I personally don't think much important are followings:
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9. 1. Split Screen
There are many applications on the Google Play that already allows you to watch video,
browse web, take note etc. while opening other window. So it is nice to include as a free
feature and emphasize such feature exist, but Galaxy Note's built in applications are limited
to certain applications. For instance, I cannot use the built in browser to watch a flash movie
while I read ebook. However, if I buy overskreen I can do that. And overskreen is supported
on Transformer Infinity as well. So I don't think split screen should be decision maker for
anyone.
2. Keyboard dock
This is mainly the feature of the transformer series. But Samsung does make keyboard docks.
Galaxy Note 10.1 version is not out yet, but it is in the process. The difference is that Galaxy
Note one (probably) won't have extra battery. But I don't think it needs that as by tablet alone
last so long and probably even longer than the Infinity with dock. Form factor goes to the
Transformer as it attaches and closes like laptop. My personal opinion about this is, it doesn't
really make difference. If I need keyboard I can still carry it. The total weight is the same. So
another factor, I don't think should be decision maker.
=============== Conclusion ==================
Given the stability and speed, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 truly provides the real android
experience. No crush, freeze is really nice and I forgot how nice it was. Galaxy Note 10.1
achieves this goal. Battery life is phenomenal too. Lack of HD is definitely a minus; however,
it may be necessary as even Galaxy note having the best GPU among all the android tablet
out there right now, it still does not match that of new Ipad, and probably there is a reason
why apple had to put such powerful GPU on it. Other HD Android devices may be suffering
from relative instability (compared to zero crush on the Galaxy Note 10.1) because they
simply don't have enough hardware power i.e. the technology is just simply not there. So it is
a trade off/decision you have to make. But if you can give up on the HD screen, this is the
best Android Tablet on the market!
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10. Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - Product Features and
Technical Details
Product Features
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, 10.1 inch Display,S Pen included
Samsung Tablet 1.4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
2 GB RAM Memory, 32GB On-Board Memory
Camera Front: 1.9 MP, Back: 5 MP
Processor, Memory, and Motherboard
Hardware Platform: PC
Processor: 1.4 GHz Tablet Processor
Number of Processors: 1
RAM: 1 GB
RAM Type: SDRAM
Hard Drive
Size: 32 GB
Manufacturer: SSD
Type: Serial ATA
Cases and Expandability
Size (LWH): 7.09 inches, 0.35 inches, 10.32 inches
Weight: 1.31 pounds
Power
Battery Type: Nonstandard Battery
Wireless
Wireless Type: 802.11bgn
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11. Where To Get Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1?
You can get the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet at most electronics stores. However it is
easier to order online. Many online merchants sell the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 but I would
like to recommend buying it from Amazon. The reason is due to Amazon's refund policy
whereby you can get refunds for the product you purchase if it is not up to your expectation
(check out the details at Amazon).
Click here or the image below to buy the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 from Amazon.
If you still need a more information on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, check out this link for
extensive and comprehensive information.
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