三星 Galaxy Note 10.1 (GT-N8010) 平板电脑测评

We already discussed the fact that the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 uses its own Exynos 4412 SoC which features four ARM Cortex A9 cores and an ARM Mali-400 MP4 quad-core GPU. What we did not discuss is that the Galaxy Note 10.1’s two GB of RAM puts the tablet far ahead of most other current tablets. As Samsung envisions the Galaxy Note 10.1 as a high-end tablet designed to run two applications simultaneously, this generous amount of RAM is likely to be particularly beneficial for multitasking.

In terms of internal storage, however, Samsung has been less generous. With 16 GB of storage capacity, the Galaxy Note 10.1 ranks toward the lower end in this category. Samsung justifies this choice by suggesting that this configuration is better suited for price-conscious customers and that one can easily increase storage capacity by up to 64 GB using a microSD card. The tablet’s datasheet also mentions a 32 GB version but we currently have no information regarding this.

We found two surprises in terms of features with one being rather minor and the other being rather major. The first of these is the infrared port located on the top edge which allows the tablet to serve as a universal remote control when paired with the appropriate app. We were able to successfully control both a Sony television and a Yamaha AV receiver using the Galaxy Note 10.1. The other surprise is the S Pen stylus which is located in the lower right corner. We will describe its functionality in more detail in the “Input Devices and Operation” section.

The remaining features are fairly typical. The Galaxy Note 10.1 uses a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. By comparison, other manufacturers such as Asus and Fujitsu already use 8-megapixel cameras. It should be noted that a higher pixel rating is no guarantee of higher quality pictures.

Central to any tablet is the display and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is no exception with its capacitive touchscreen. We observed that the display’s glass surface allowed fingers to glide smoothly and precise control was consequently possible. Scrolling through menus and long websites was possible without delay or judder. Only when we enabled the power saving profile, in which CPU speed is reduced, were individual judders noticeable. The automatic rotation of display contents from portrait to landscape and vice versa required a short, one second delay but nonetheless worked very reliably. When flipping the display by 180 degrees, the display turned black for a brief moment.

Upon removing the S Pen stylus from its slot in the case’s lower right edge, the tablet emitted an audio notification and a list of programs optimized for the stylus appeared. Among others are the S Note notepad app, the S Planner calendar, and the Crayon Physics game. The S Note program clearly demonstrated its aptitude for stylus-based writing and we felt the stylus, which can be used universally as a finger replacement, worked very well. The S Pen is based on technology from Wacom, a “household name” in the field of graphics and drawing tablets. As power is provided by the display, the stylus operates passively and requires no batteries. This allows the stylus to remain very compact.

The S Pen also provides handwriting recognition. This functionality persists throughout the system and can be used an alternative to the virtual keyboard. We were quite surprised by how well handwriting recognition worked. Our previous, perhaps ancient, experiences with hard-to-remember and esoteric stylus gestures from the Palm PDA days are definitely gone. In our opinion, the S Pen is a genuinely beneficial addition to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 when compared to other current tablets. After using the stylus, one should be mindful to place the S Pen back into its slot to avoid potentially long searches for the misplaced writing tool. During such searches, this author found a number of things that he never knew he had misplaced.

The TouchWiz interface and virtual keyboard also worked perfectly. In this custom interface, a few context related button changes proved to be helpful. For example, the “www.” button automatically changed into a “.com” button after useful.

Another one-of-a-kind feature among current tablets is the Galaxy Note 10.1’s “Multi-screen” function which allows two apps to be displayed side-by-side. This function worked perfectly in our testing and we feel this feature could provide a real advantage in practical use.

For the display, Samsung chose to use the established 1280x800 10.1-inch display which is essentially standard for devices of this class. While we had hoped for a higher resolution for a top-of-the-line model, this is perhaps an unrealistic criticism. Samsung provided no information on the display technology. However, our measurement of a black level of 0.47 cd/m² and our subjective impression of the less-than-fully-saturated colors allow us to exclude AMOLED technology. We observed very good viewing angle stability which suggests that the display is a high-quality IPS or Super IPS panel. We observed a sufficient maximum brightness of 378 cd/m². While great for notebooks, this is merely adequate for a tablet that is likely to be frequently used in direct sunlight. The measured contrast ratio of 804:1 and illumination of 90 percent are both very good.

Our subjective analysis of the display’s image quality was thoroughly positive. Dark movie sequences were displayed with saturated blacks and high-contrast photographs did not lack brilliance. The colors appeared natural even if they were not particularly bright. It should be noted that the colors were not always particularly bright in real life either. Overall, we were very satisfied with the Galaxy Note’s image quality.

Temperature

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 had no issues regarding temperature. Even after long periods of full utilization during our stress test, the Galaxy Note did not become excessively warm. While the upper left corner exhibited slight hot spots on both the front and back side with temperatures of 45.9 degrees Celsius (115.6 degrees Fahrenheit), this temperature is still rather trivial considering the fact that our test was conducted on a hot summer day. During daily use, the surface temperatures of the tablet remained comfortably cool and under 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit) at every measurement location. The internal components showed no risk of overheating in any case and even the AC adapter barely warmed up.

The moderate power consumption of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 helped the tablet achieve good battery runtimes. With our reading script, the tablet managed to last just under 14 hours using the low brightness setting and power saving mode. This result places the device in the upper-middle range in this category. When fully utilized at maximum brightness, the Galaxy Note exhausted its battery after 3 hours 12 minutes. The most relevant test, our Wi-Fi surfing test, uses a dimmed, generally-usable 150 cd/m² display brightness and active power saving profile. In this test, the Galaxy Note managed a satisfactory result of seven hours. Compared to long-lasting competitors such as the Acer Iconia Tab A510, Samsung’s flagship tablet came up short.