Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7-Inch, Wi-Fi) is a brand new product from Samsung. If you looking for this device, you can get the best deal and special offer from
Amazon. Amazon offer price $199.99, You can get discount and it costs only $179.00. I recommend you must buy from amazon because amazon (and pretty much any other site's) lowest price available for an online deal for this device.
There are a lot of tablets at or below this price but they are mostly very low end devices with slow CPUs, poor screens and built for non-US markets. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 makes none of the compromises typical of this price point and provides the same kind of performance you'd expect from the rest of the Samsung Galaxy Tab portfolio. It's fast, slick, has a great screen and even has Android 4.03 (Ice Cream Sandwich). I do like the new operating system and adapted to it in minutes. In addition to front & rear cameras there is bluetooth and even an IR blaster so you can use it as a remote for your TV. It only took a minute to set that up and get a program guide downloaded. All the apps on my Gingerbread phone loaded up to the Tab and run fine on the ICS platform. I can't comment on battery life yet as I plugged it for the initial charge and setup and haven't run on battery yet. As far as WiFi reception goes, it picks up all the same signals at the same strength as my laptop so no problem there.
I have to say, the
Galaxy Tab 2 is an excellent choice for a budget shopper. It is very fast and the screen is very sensitive and easy to use. The battery does not last as long as the iPad, but this is a smaller unit. It fits perfectly in your hands and is easy to type on due to the perfect size. The iPad is rather large for typing and sometimes too big for easy surfing. This is an excellent bargain. The expandable memory is awesome! Very well designed.
Performance
The device responds quickly to commands, plays media flawlessly, and runs every app without incident, but after a week of using the device, there was an odd slow down of the home screen that occurred for about 5 minutes, I did not get the issue again since, that is the only issue I have had with the performance. I think it was the stock TouchWiz interface, I have since switched to GOLauncher, it's great.
Battery Life
The battery life is great so far, after being charged to 100% I got 2 days of use without charging, tasks on the device included a little web browsing, browsing and installing apps, and some video/picture taking.
Networking
The device is WiFi only; I have had no issues with it, reception is no different than the other WiFi devices in my household.
Interface
The device uses Samsung's TouchWiz interface; which to my guess is a modified 4.0 interface, it is a nice interface, without lag, but the lock screen seems a little boring, I will probably look into using the default 4.0 interface, or something else.
Screen
The screen is very good in my opinion, it displays content nicely, and it is very responsive. There have been a few instances where I have sworn I tapped the screen and nothing happened, it could be my error, or the device's.
Audio
The device features two speakers at the bottom of the device, which sound nice but are not the best I have ever heard. The microphone is located at the top of the device near the 3.5 mm headphone jack, from a little use of the Google voice command feature, I have found no issues.
Cameras
The device features a front and rear camera, the rear camera is 3 MP which takes decent photos, while the front camera is a VGA camera that is good for video chat, it is no SLR camera, but has good cameras.
Ports
The Tab 2 features a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top, Micro SD slot with door, proprietary Samsung USB port at the bottom. The most interesting is a built in IR Blaster located on the right side, which is supposed to be used with the included Peel Remote app ( I had to manually update the app before being able to use it) which worked very well with controlling my devices (LCD TV, Sony Surround system, Comcast DVR). My only true gripe is the lack of a Micro USB or micro HDMI port to be used with projecting content onto a TV screen, one must purchase Samsung's adapter to do so.
Buttons
The Tab 2 features only 2 buttons, which are located on the right side of the device, the first button is the usual lock/wake button, and a volume up/down button, I would of liked to see a Home button, but the 4.0 interface takes care of that.
Build Quality
The Tab 2 has a solid hard plastic build, the back of the device features a soft metal like shell that feels good when held.
Pre-installed Apps
This is one of my gripes with the Tab 2, the device comes pre-installed with a suite of bloatware, that cannot be installed as far as I have discovered, I prefer the default Android apps, with apps I choose to install. It does come with some useful apps such as Netflix and Kindle bookstore.
