Gadgetory

the Galaxy Note 3 marked a new beginning for Samsung not just in design choices but also when it came to the s-pen however as a line the note range also includes tablets and its biggest iteration has come along for the ride as well hey it's Josh regard from Android I thought he what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition for the most part the much bigger sibling of the galaxy note 3 adopts many of its design philosophies and that is a very good thing what you get here is a design with generally flat sides and corners that while rounded are definitely more decisive in their angles and is a far cry from the pebble design that we may have grown accustomed to from earlier Samsung devices the 10.1 inch screen beckons and is above the same classic button layout the home button flanked by back and menu the power button and volume rockers are found up top and to the left and are pretty thin but still press down with a nice tactile feel over the corner we have the headphone jack above one of the two speakers comprising the stereo setup thrown over to the opposite side the other speaker is there underneath where the s-pen calls its home further below that is a micro SD card slot if you're wondering where the micro USB port is it is found down on the bottom and is not the USB 3.0 port like on the note 3 this is to me a peculiar spot to have the charging port because if you are standing the tablet up pretty much any which way plugging the power in becomes more difficult than I think it should be the back while not removable is made up of the new textured plastic that has been given a very welcome change for Samsung devices and etching around the edges gives off the general feel of leather in the hand the textured plastic definitely helps it feel very nice and helps provide a nice grip for usage while one-handed usage is very difficult with such a large device you can actually still grip it easily by resting your thumb over the just rightly sized bezels around the screen it's unsurprising that a 10-inch tablet should be rather heavy and though this version of the Note 10.1 is lighter than its predecessor it is still hefty at 540 grams handling the Note 10.1 is about as good as it can get and it is definitely as stylish as its little sibling which is probably the best part a great display should come with a great tablet and that is definitely the case here as Samsung has outfitted the Galaxy Note 10.1 with a LCD screen capable of 2560 by 1600 resolution at a more than adequate 299 PPI all content looks great on this screen as colors are nice and vibrant making especially the TouchWiz UI pop this might not be the bigger version of the stell Super AMOLED display found on the note 3 but it is really close I really enjoyed watching YouTube videos and playing extensive sessions of dead trigger 2 on here text is given a nice sharpness that even when you bring it close up doesn't show any real sides of pixelation rest assured your viewing experience on this Note 10.1 will be an enjoyable one another area where Samsung definitely doesn't skimp out on is the performance aspect while there are different versions of the Note 10.1 that will get different processing packages this Wi-Fi only version did come with the fabled Exynos 50 420 the octa-core beast that is supposed to bring even more speed than the Snapdragon 800 that is found in other notes consider for a second how high the resolution of the screen is and thus how much processing power is required to make the Note 10.1 blaze then consider that the antutu benchmark scores are comparable to the smaller galaxy note 3 that sports the Snapdragon 800 now that's very impressive and for those same reasons I am okay knowing that here there isn't the buttery smoothness that you would find on the note 3 but that also doesn't mean that getting worked and played done on here will be hindered even in the slightest 3 gigabytes of RAM helped the Note 10.1 perform all of its multitasking and extra s-pen functions handily and the mall et 628 graphics helped make even the most intensive games run well at high quality the newly released dead trigger 2 did experience some noticeable but generally negligible stutter on the other hand or as some other devices might lag on the low quality setting the note provides a smooth and enjoyable experience killing them zombies in the hardware department it's definitely focused around the s-pen but that doesn't mean this big tablet doesn't come with some extra good features I will say that without the many sensors found in the Galaxy s4 or the note 3 you won't be able to use your hand for air gestures or air view those smart stop and scrolls are available here they included 32 or 64 gigabytes of storage is bolstered by the microSD card slots and while not removable you do get a massive 80 to 20 milliamp hour battery unit inside that Samsung claims will be able to go for nine hours of usage in my testing I once play dead trigger for about 45 straight minutes after taking the time to download it beforehand after that one and a half hours of total usage 80% battery life still available which i think is pretty impressive considering everything I was doing in that short amount of time one of the new features is definitely the dual speaker stereo setup the sound is crisp and quite rich music sounds good even if using headphones might generally be more preferred and when shooting zombies you can still easily hear another one coming up from behind and finally of course is the s-pen which has been given a more symmetrical design that allows for it to be inserted more than just one way as for its usage on the larger screen it is as good an experience as the note 3 and having a larger canvas to work with will definitely help anyone looking for just that it's pretty rare that a tablet camera exceeds our typically low expectations for them and on paper one could understandably come into the Note 10.1 with them compared to the standard 13 megapixels of other top-tier devices this tablet comes with an 8 megapixel shooter the app is very much like we've seen in other Samsung iterations but doesn't come with nearly as many extra features though drama and eraser modes are baked in it is in the picture quality though that we find our expectations surpassed as this tablet camera actually performs pretty well colors have a good punch to them in pictures and sharpness is at a nice high level even if the 8 megapixels do put this camera more in galaxy s3 territory its quality actually puts it closer to the Galaxy s4 with picture quality like this we can almost forgive public shooting with a big tablet like this almost before I get into the main parts of the software I do have to say one thing while TouchWiz is undoubtedly in need of a refresh I find that it works very well on larger screens well we would otherwise call bloated in there earlier or let's say smaller devices fits almost perfectly on a big high-resolution display if I needed to use TouchWiz I would take it on a note device any day to be fair the TouchWiz on these newer note devices look and generally feel the way you remember it and while it does make some different choices in the tablet version a couple could use another look like the notification drop-down that shades the entire screen rather than shows in sections like in stock tablet Android despite this general familiarity TouchWiz on the new Notes comes with the new S Pen functionality and an improved multi window multi window has been given the ability to run two of the same app at once easily drag data from one to the other and even provide some multitasking within the segmented windows multi window fans will love using the new version on this larger screen and it might become a routine the S Pen on the other hand got the new air commands menu which replaces a few of the functions from previous note devices inside it are five easy to access functions like the contextual action memo and the powerful s finder search these and the s note or sketchbook apps give you a great level of control whether that's creative or not as this experience is pretty much exactly like the note 3 you can see my future focus video on the S Pen for the smartphone for a more in-depth look at all of these functions has a pretty complete package paying for a very powerful tablet with its little stylus friend will set you back five hundred and ninety-nine dollars this makes sense considering all that the Note 10.1 offers but is understandably a little steep which begs the question while the note 3 can be used without the S Pen and still provide a great smartphone experience does that translate to the tablet if Samsung put out a pretty average tablet experience and then tacked on the much-loved s-pen functions on top that would be a pretty easy no but in the Note 10.1 you get the updated great S Pen nestled inside one of the best executed tablets currently available speed a wonderful screen the XE knows 5420 an accessible overall design and form factor and a surprisingly above-average camera making this a pretty complete package it's a home or office assistant the media viewer the book the portal gamer and even a second camera we're still on the fence about that last one though and so there you have it thank you very much for watching as always and I hope you enjoyed this review of the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition like I said before if you want a closer look at the s-pen and everything that it can do you can see my feature focus video on it and even though it is on the Galaxy Note 3 the experience is very much largely the same as always stay tuned to Android authority for all of the best coverage drop us a like on our videos and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already and once you're done with all of that don't forget to head over to Android authority comm because we're your source for all things Android