Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 Review

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 is the biggest out of the Tab 4 bunch and if 7 or 8 inch tablets are just too small for you then Samsung’s got you covered with the 10.1.  The hardware is not unlike any Samsung product we’ve seen before being entirely constructed of plastic with a fake leather texture on the back and a chrome trim wrapping around the perimeter of the tablet.  For being plastic it feels very solid and lightweight making it very comfortable to use for long periods of time. What separates the Tab 4 10.1 besides it’s  larger display is the dual speakers on the left and right sides which is a big improvement from the tiny single speaker on the 7 and 8 inch models.  They’re loud with great clarity and while they still don’t hold a candle to front facing speakers the speakers are placed in such a way that you’ll never accidentally block them with your hands whether you’re holding the tablet in portrait or landscape.

Related: Best Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 cases & covers.

The display is bigger but the resolution is unchanged at 1280×800.  While it isn’t the sharpest or pixel dense display in existence it’s perfectly usable.  Pixels are noticeable if you look close enough but it’s an otherwise great looking display with bright and vivid colors like most Samsung panels typically are which makes it very enjoyable for consuming media.  It’s a midrange tablet so the specs aren’t going to blow you away with it’s 1.2 GHz quad-core processor 1.5 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage.  The general performance through day to day usage however, is very respectable with few hiccups.  Web browsing performance could be improved but other tasks such as gaming, opening up apps, multitasking, run fairly smooth.

The camera around back is a 3 megapixel fixed focus camera and while it’s not going to outdo the more powerful camera on your smartphone it provides for a viable secondary option if you absolutely have to use it.  It performs best when outdoors or in well lit areas but picture quality diminishes quickly in low light resulting in grainy photos.  Battery life however is quite impressive with it’s 6,800 mAh battery lasting me a couple days with very heavy usage and 8 and a half of screen on time.  I have no doubt that with more normal usage this tablet will easily last 3 to 4 days without a charge.

On the software side the Tab 4 10.1 is running the latest version of Android with 4.4.2 KitKat and Samsung’s TouchWiz on top and while I’m not the biggest fan of TouchWiz it certainly is an improvement over previous iterations and the version on the Tab 4 line is much lighter in comparison to what we see on the Galaxy S5 or Samsung’s own PRO series of tablets.  Many features from their high end offerings are not present here but Samsung’s most staple features of  TouchWiz are still included such as multiwindow, palm swipe, and smart stay.

The Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 is available now for 349.99.  It WiFi only but there will be 3G/LTE variants coming to carriers later this year if you plan on using this tablet on the go.  It’s a decent tablet with a decent display, good build quality, dual speakers, and solid battery life.  It doesn’t have the latest and the greatest specs out there but it wasn’t meant to and whether this tablet is worth it not will purely be up to you to decide.  If you do decide to go out and pick one up you just might like it more than you think as I found it to be the most enjoyable one of the bunch.