Engadget reviews the Verizon Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE

[Bateluer]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/21/samsung-galaxy-tab-7-7-review-verizon-wireless-lte/

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is one of our favorite Android tablets to date, and fortunately Verizon's version doesn't give us any reason to doubt our feelings at all. It still keeps the same solid design, good performance and gorgeous display, and it offers better battery life using LTE than what we were able to eke out of its HSPA+ compadre. If you're specifically interested in a tablet that runs Android, we can't imagine you'd find much better elsewhere.

Unfortunately, you're also paying a hefty premium for the device: it only comes with one storage option (16GB) and will run you $500 when you sign up for a two-year commitment. Sans contract, you'll be forking out $700. You might be getting the best available tablet in that size and form factor, but you can also shell out close to the same amount of money for a new iPad or Transformer Prime. Oh, the anguish of decisions. We suppose there could be worse things to worry about in this life, right?

Seems they liked it quite a bit, but they point out the AT MD&G opinion from the launch thread. Its priced itself right out of the market.

 

[sciwizam]

I want to know what kind of sorcery Samsung is using to get those insane levels of battery life out of a 5100mAh battery. Tab 7.7 LTE has the longest life in Engadget's test (12.75hrs), beating out the Tab 7.7 HSPA+ (12hrs)

 

[alent1234]

you need to read the small print in their test conditions

 

[shortylickens]

you need to read the small print in their test conditions

Well, Anandtech is getting slower every month with their reviews.

 

[sciwizam]

you need to read the small print in their test conditions

I'm assuming they are professional enough to put test all the devices through the same test conditions.

 

[alent1234]

Exonys is 32nm, A5X is still 45nm

either apple is too big in that they can't just order tens of millions of next gen CPU's due to the issues in making them. or they pissed off samsung to the point where they were told you don't get anything better than 45nm

there is a reason why apple had to put such a big battery into the ipad 3, it sucks up electricity and apple had to hide the fact somehow or face a PR firestorm

 

[Oyeve]

I want to know what kind of sorcery Samsung is using to get those insane levels of battery life out of a 5100mAh battery. Tab 7.7 LTE has the longest life in Engadget's test (12.75hrs), beating out the Tab 7.7 HSPA+ (12hrs)

Samoled, black means off so better battery life?

 

[Red Storm]

Wow, that is some beastly battery life. Impressive!

The only thing wrong with this tablet is the price, and the display's resolution.

 

[ponyo]

Wow, that is some beastly battery life. Impressive!

The only thing wrong with this tablet is the price, and the display's resolution.

Honeycomb and lack of phone function.

 

[Bateluer]

Honeycomb and lack of phone function.

Anyone using a 7in+ tablet as a phone is just as much an idiot as the people taking pictures with their iPads.

Pricing is the major factor on this, not the screen resolution though. 500 dollars on a 2 year contract is obscene, and 700 off contract is offensive. Should be 200 on contract and 400 outright at max, 150/300 to really move any product though.

At these prices, you're better off buying other products.

 

[dagamer34]

Exonys is 32nm, A5X is still 45nm

either apple is too big in that they can't just order tens of millions of next gen CPU's due to the issues in making them. or they pissed off samsung to the point where they were told you don't get anything better than 45nm

there is a reason why apple had to put such a big battery into the ipad 3, it sucks up electricity and apple had to hide the fact somehow or face a PR firestorm

Exynos is still 45nm, but the new iPad uses a lot of power on the screen, not LTE.

 

[cheezy321]

What an obscene price. Regardless of all the features, why the hell would you buy this product at $700. There is no reason to. Just buy a transformer if you want android.

 

[Qbah]

Good performance? Seriously? Did anyone watch the video? My iPhone 3GS runs better... D:

Battery life is impressive though, so is the design. Let's hope for anyone getting one, ICS will make it run smooth, cause that video... I had to laugh. I could really feel sarcasm when the guy was talking about the tablet and what I saw on the video...

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Exonys is 32nm, A5X is still 45nm

either apple is too big in that they can't just order tens of millions of next gen CPU's due to the issues in making them. or they pissed off samsung to the point where they were told you don't get anything better than 45nm

there is a reason why apple had to put such a big battery into the ipad 3, it sucks up electricity and apple had to hide the fact somehow or face a PR firestorm

Exynos is built on the same 45nm process as A5X.

The Super AMOLED+ display used in the Tab 7.7 is one of the reasons it has such good battery life but that still does not explain the improvement you get going from the 3G version to LTE. I suspect Samsung must be using a new LTE radio that we haven't seen in any devices before now.

What an obscene price. Regardless of all the features, why the hell would you buy this product at $700. There is no reason to. Just buy a transformer if you want android.

People would buy it because it has the best screen currently available in a tablet. The iPad 3 does have higher resolution but the Galaxy tab is superior in every other category such as response time, contrast, black levels, viewing angles, and color gamut.

 

[lothar]

Wow, that is some beastly battery life. Impressive!

The only thing wrong with this tablet is the price, and the display's resolution.

-It's a Verizon product. It probably won't get ICS for months or years.

 

[alent1234]

Oops
Thought all exynos were on 32nm

 

[Brian Stirling]

I have this and like it a lot but would appreciate Verizon/Samsung rolling out ICS ASAP. If you can tolerate the larger size and squarish form factor the iPad3 is the better tab, but I hate the size and form factor of the iPad and paid a premium for a tab that is more to my liking.

The problem Android faces in the tablet space is there are not many people that are willing to pay the price for a non-Apple tab and higher end Android tabs are canabalized by the cheaper ones. With the most popular Android tabs being offered at below cost by content providers that consider the tab a "loss leader" that helps to bind the buyer to there stores.

If Apple gets serious with the 7.85 model they just might kill Android in the tablet space. It would be a shame, but the Android buyer is just not as likely to shell out premium dollars for the higher end model -- they'll stumble along with a Kindle until they get an iPad...


Brian

 

[kaerflog]

What kind of sorcery is Samsung using to price this at $700 ??
If you can't release a comparable tablet to the iPAd at least $100 cheaper, don't bother releasing it.
Heck even at $100 cheaper, you're still competing against the iPad2 so you're SOL too.
Make a $300 WiFi only tablet with decent specs and you have a fighting chance.

 

[QueBert]

I have this and like it a lot but would appreciate Verizon/Samsung rolling out ICS ASAP. If you can tolerate the larger size and squarish form factor the iPad3 is the better tab, but I hate the size and form factor of the iPad and paid a premium for a tab that is more to my liking.

The problem Android faces in the tablet space is there are not many people that are willing to pay the price for a non-Apple tab and higher end Android tabs are canabalized by the cheaper ones. With the most popular Android tabs being offered at below cost by content providers that consider the tab a "loss leader" that helps to bind the buyer to there stores.

If Apple gets serious with the 7.85 model they just might kill Android in the tablet space. It would be a shame, but the Android buyer is just not as likely to shell out premium dollars for the higher end model -- they'll stumble along with a Kindle until they get an iPad...


Brian

Apple doesn't need to do anything with Tablets this expensive Android will pretty much self destruct for any non entry level tab. The pricing on this is beyond WTF. The CONTRACT price is still too high imho.

 

[bearxor]

What kind of sorcery is Samsung using to price this at $700 ??
If you can't release a comparable tablet to the iPAd at least $100 cheaper, don't bother releasing it.
Heck even at $100 cheaper, you're still competing against the iPad2 so you're SOL too.
Make a $300 WiFi only tablet with decent specs and you have a fighting chance.

To be totally fair, its only $70 more than the 16GB iPad 4G.

 

[dagamer34]

To be totally fair, its only $70 more than the 16GB iPad 4G.

Im pretty sure you still have to pay activation fees any time you want to enable LTE.

 

[Bateluer]

Im pretty sure you still have to pay activation fees any time you want to enable LTE.

I'm not sure about the activation fees, but aren't they often waived? Either way, cheapest Verizon data plan for it is 30 dollars a month.

Its a nice tablet, but priced right out of the market.

 

[kaerflog]

To be totally fair, its only $70 more than the 16GB iPad 4G.

Did I say anything differently in my post ??
I said they had to release a comparable tablet at least $100 cheaper just to compete.

 

[cheezy321]

I'm not sure about the activation fees, but aren't they often waived? Either way, cheapest Verizon data plan for it is 30 dollars a month.

Its a nice tablet, but priced right out of the market.

I believe the cheapest verizon data plan is $20 / month. That is the plan I just bought for my iPad 3. Unless the Gtab has different plan pricing...

 

[AznAnarchy99]

For $500 I'd rather get an iPad 3 wifi..