Whilst the operating system was not Ice Cream Sandwich at time of testing, instead being loaded with Honeycomb 3.2, we found it works a treat. We are referring to one of the new Galaxy Tablets from Samsung – at 7.7” it’s easy to hold but sizable enough to make it suitable for those people whose eyesight isn’t quite flash enough to read the telephone book in subdued light.
Our intention with this review is to evaluate the 7.7” Samsung Galaxy tablet from a slightly different perspective than other reviewers. We intend to try and assist those readers out there who are of differing minds as to what to buy – Size? Purpose? Function? Brand? Price?
So read on and we will tell it how it is!
Let us state right from the onset what attributes we initially set out looking for. We were after a tablet that was not too problematic to learn to operate and would also be reasonably future proof (as much as you can in the “here today, gone tomorrow” world of electronics). We wanted a good brand name that had few operating problems and one that was up there with the best in terms of being light and yet still of high quality.
After taking a good look at the huge range of various tablets available at Mobicity online, we narrowed our “must have” down to the GT-P6810 Samsung Galaxy 7.7” 16GB with WiFi. Whilst Mobicity www.mobicity.com.au were happy to send us anything within their immense selection, we selected this particular one and they were kind enough to send it us for an in depth review. Whilst commenting on Mobicity – Yes they do have telephones that they will answer, as well as an instant on line chat. This is definitely unlike thirty other online stores we tried to contact who had NO ‘phone nor any reasonable contact medium that made one feel secure if something went wrong with the order. SO BE CAREFUL when buying your tablet online from any other on line store!
What’s in the box?
• USB to Tablet cable
• One pair earphones
• One pair of replacement earplug covers
• Samsung Galaxy Tablet 7.7” unit
• Charger with different country adaptors
We liked the way it was packed with the protective screen cover which ensured it would handle reasonably rough transit to our door.
Specifications
Manufacturer Samsung
Model P6810
Condition New
Stock Status Extended Delivery
What’s in the box? Tablet, Battery, Original charger, Adaptor plug, Australian wall charger
Expected Release Date N/A
Network Band No
Recommended Networks No
Sim Size No SIM
Handset branding No
3G No
Next G Compatible No
Telstra 4G Compatible No
Form Factor Touchscreen, Tablet
Height 196.7 mm
Width 133 mm
Thickness 7.9 mm
Weight 335 g
Volume No
Screen Size (Diagonal) 7.7 inches
Screen Resolution 1280 x 800 pixels
Screen Technology Super AMOLED Plus
Touchscreen Type Capacitive
Input Type Touchscreen QWERTY Portrait, Touchscreen QWERTY Landscape
Ringtone Type MP3
CPU Dual-core 1.4GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset
Internal Memory 16GB storage, 1GB RAM
Expandable Memory Up to 32GB
Included Memory Card N/A
Camera 3MP
Camera Flash Yes
Secondary Camera Yes
Operating System Android 3.2 or above
Messaging Instant Messaging, Email
Bluetooth Yes
NFC No
Radio No
Speakerphone Yes
Wi-Fi Yes
GPS Hardware Yes
Games Yes
Standby Time Up to 1500 hours(2G) / 1200 hours(3G)
Battery Capacity (mAh) Li-Po 5100 mAh
Talk Time Up to 49 hours(2G) / 27 hours(3G)
SAR Rating US No
SAR Rating EU No
Generic Charger Type N/A
Download Manual the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 Manual / User Guide
Note that on the screen all of these displays are perfectly central ( Photo lies)
Operation
Now, whilst you get a little booklet headed ‘quick start guide” to assist you, once you turn on the tablet it’s pretty much plain sailing as you are directed by prompts and options. We are not people who are computer geeks so we experimented extensively. When loading app’s (Applications top left of screen) we played in all sorts of fields ie Markets and Samsung Apps. Some we found OK, but some we found terrible. They do vary in price from being free to costing a few $s. What is interesting is that with any of the App’s we played with, you had an option of uninstalling within 15 min and you get your money returned. We played around so much so, that we actually caused some delay problems with our tablet. However, by simply following prompts and using the unit’s settings, we successfully completed a “factory reset” on the device and then started over. By the next requirement for a reset, we had acquired sufficient knowledge to remove App’s by using task manager rather than factory reset the device each time.
Incidentally, to reactivate the Tablet after it has been turned off, you need to touch the screen and quickly drag your finger to unlock it. Don’t despair if you have difficulty as we had a bit of trouble getting it to unlock when we first started but after some practice sessions we now wonder why we had found it difficult. If you are already a user of these types of devices then you will have already mastered it. We did experience difficulty in finding epub books to download into our already loaded “epub library”, but it did not really seem to matter anyway as you can still change the fonts etc. by being in “books”. We also put in a 32 GB Class 4 Silicon Power Micro SD card and also trialled a 16 GB Class 10 Silicon Power Micro SD card. We established that neither caused any lagging response times even when playing HD movies. Our understanding is that Silicon Power have just released a 32GB Class 6 Micro SD card and so all 3 are now available from www.tasco.com.au
What we especially liked
• The unit is lighter than most other tablets, but be aware you wouldn’t want any heavier if you are watching movies or reading books unsupported by anything else other than your own hand.
• The ability to remove icons from the unit by “press, hold and drag to corner of unit” – and it’s gone.
• If you have “Google mail“, then you can choose to be notified that you have mail waiting to be read even when the unit is sleeping.
• Screen clarity is excellent and is amazing for watching HD movies.
• Screen can be set to automatically dim for existing light conditions.
• The use of a voice input to browse and dictate emails in Gmail and using the settings you can stipulate USA, English or any other language and yes, even Australian to enhance recognition ability.
• One click gets you to a scrollable string of pictures of where you have last been in the various App’s such as YouTube, Browser, Gmail and Markets etc.
• Tap in “search field” and you get similar to above.
• If watching a movie where you would like a full sized screen, simply tap an icon that shows 4 little corners (note that you need auto rotation off).
• We especially liked the fact that there are two sort of segregated systems. The Operating system “rear” App’s found by tapping bottom right icon then settings are really about the unit’s management Applications, whilst the top right icon gets you to “front” Apps that you download in. .
• If you have a movie on a USB storage device, simply buy a female ended USB cable plug it into the Samsung and watch your movie, or alternatively drag and drop it into the Ext storage Micro SD card.
• Very impressed with regards to the battery life, especially when we ended App’s by simply holding the arrow down until second beep then ending all App’s or individual App’s. We found that we would get pretty much 2½ days use before a quick battery charge was needed.
• It provides an instant hassle free access to functions such as Gmail taking 12 seconds rather than the 2 minutes taken on our tower PC (a huge amount of time taken to start up the tower when you are waiting for it).
• Another feature that is worth mentioning is that of “contacts”. The Tablet has provision to put anything you could possibly desire against your personal contact list. It will also even tell you how to get there!
• We observed that whilst marginally too big for an average woman to comfortably hold for long periods unsupported, it is more suited to the males who typically have a larger hand span.
What we did not like
• Temporarily and marginally confusing for a new older person who has had limited exposure to new technologies.
• Navigating by “touch expand” or tilt for zoom is harder to accomplish than just open and use on a larger screened laptop or tower PC and large monitor.
Conclusion
In terms of His and Her tablets we are sure that for him and maybe her as well, this is definitely the way to go!
We started off as non-believers and now we rarely turn our laptop or tower PC’s on. It is important that you note that if you have other Samsung products, then this unit is capable of interacting with them. i.e. control your TV or send movies to it to play. I would suggest this would also apply to telephonic add on systems as well.
All in all, we loved this product. However let’s face it though, bigger is better if you need to construct lengthy documents in Excel or Word from the beginning, but Polaris Office certainly makes it feasible to have a portable version with you.
We think that as a “jack of all trades” easily carried convenient device to read emails at home, watch a movie in the car or when you travel, listen to songs and pretty much do everything a PC and GPS and camera can do, then because it’s portable it has no equal. Just keep your big PC or Laptop for the “big “jobs where size does matter. If you like to lie in bed and read books or answer emails then this is the go!
At a low RRP cost of approx $579 Aud, this is good value.
