Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10-inch and 7-inch Review

Competition in the tablet market is getting fierce, and it's getting increasingly hard for manufacturers to stand out among the competition. Although Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 tablets don't have a lot of features that make them different than other tablets on the market today, they have the benefit of Samsung's well-known brand. These tablets also offer many of the baseline specs users are looking for in a mid-range tablet including a dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, though we have to flag Samsung for going with an older generation SoC (System on a Chip) architecture for the main processing engine.

Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, Click to enlarge

Price is always a big consideration when it comes to tablets. The 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 2 costs $399.99 while the 7.0-inch model runs $249.99. There are other 10.1-inch tablets on the market that feature quad-core processors for a similar price such as the ASUS Transformer Pad 300. As a result, the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 seems a tad overpriced. For the 7.0-inch Galaxy Tab 2, there's plenty of competition as well, with the Barnes & Nobel Nook Tablet as well as the Amazon Kindle Fire offering slightly lower price tags and similar specifications. The fact that both Galaxy Tab 2 tablets are missing a micro HDMI connector and microUSB port is a bit of a disappointment, but not necessarily a deal-breaker.

Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Click to enlarge

Overall, we enjoyed our time with both of the Galaxy Tab 2 tablets. Although neither tablet topped the charts in our performance benchmark tests, both still offered good performance and a smooth user experience. In addition, the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 offers excellent battery life, which is a major bonus for any tablet. Both tablets also look good and are comfortable to hold and use. Finally, both of these tablets ship with the latest version of Android (Ice Cream Sandwich) rather than requiring users to upgrade the tablet at a later time. There's nothing earth-shattering going on with either the 10-inch or 7-inch versions of Galaxy Tab 2 but with their on-board IR blasters for TV remote capability and powered by Android 4.0, these are relatively well-equipped lower cost tablets.

Battery life, particularly with the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Android 4.0 Price	No micro HDMI port No microUSB port Camera performance TI SoC not quite up to par performance-wise