Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Quad Core Tablet Review

Name: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (WiFi) Tablet
Brand: Samsung

by Marco Chiappetta — Thursday, August 30, 2012, 11:18 AM EDT

In an attempt to quantitatively measure the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1's battery life in a controlled benchmark environment, we ran a test in which we set up a webpage with a mix of graphics, Flash media and text. The page automatically refreshes every three minutes. This is a simple baseline test that measures up time with web browsing.

Battery Life Tests

Untethered Up-Time Measurements

For this test, we set the Galaxy Note 10.1's display to 50% brightness, which is still plenty bright and easy on the eyes and connected to the web via 2.4GHz Wi-Fi. The stock browser was used.

Please note that when the Transformer Pad 300 is docked, its internal battery is augmented by a supplemental battery in the dock, which boosts total battery life significantly. While docked, the Transformer Pad 300 lasts the longest of all the tablets represented here. Versus all of the other tablets, however, sans dock, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 offers the best battery life by over a half-hour.

The 7000 mAh battery in the Galaxy Note 10.1 ensures plenty of uptime, but we'd also like to mention the device's excellent stand-by time. When the Galaxy Note 10.1 goes to sleep, its battery is barely utilized. Excluding our battery life test, we've only needed to charge the Galaxy Note 10.1 once in about a week's time. If you're only a light tablet user, expect the Galaxy Note 10.1 to last multiple days without needing a charge. Battery life is excellent with this device.

Tags: Samsung, Android, tablet, touchwiz, ICS, Galaxy Note, s-pen

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com