Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsSeveral key improvements to last year's Galaxy Tab A 10.1"
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2020
Just received this tablet and after using it for a few days, there are a few key improvements over last year's Galaxy Tab A 10.1" (2019) that make this worth the upgrade to me... summary here, full details below:
+ The extra 1gb of RAM compared to the 32gb version makes a huge difference
+ the 4 speaker array (instead of just at the bottom) is so much better for watching movies
+ new placement of the front-facing video camera helps a ton for video conferences
+ face authentication!! there was no biometric authentication last year
+ The rounded screen is actually a nice design touch in my opinion.
- if tablet used in portrait, the ambient light sensor is placed where it will frequently get covered (and darken the screen if using ambient light sensor)
- really "cold" white and light bleed from edges of screen
- does suffer some lag when multiple apps open, but much better than last year's galaxy Tab A
- portrait/landscape rotation sensing is too sensitive
THE PROS
I used the Galaxy Tab A 10.1" over the past year since it was released. I thought the 2019 Tab A was a great tablet when I got it but after using it a year, I'd give it only 3 stars. These tablets aren't powerful enough except for browsing, watching movies or other media consumption, and a basic games. Last year, I chose the 32gb Galaxy Tab A which only had 2gb of RAM, and that turned out to be more frustrating than anticipated thus I wanted an upgrade. I had to frequently "close all apps" or suffer very noticeable lags or apps that wouldn't even open (apps linking into Amazon's Shopping for Tablet app as an example). This is definitely improved with the 3GB RAM this tablet has, although I will still "close all apps" about once per day.
1 frustration I have with the 6th gen 9.7" iPad (2018) and the Galaxy Tab A 10.1" (2019) are the placement of only 1 set of "stereo" speakers on the bottom of the device. In landscape, this always bothered me and was 1 thing I appreciated with Amazon's Fire HD tablets. The addition of speakers to the top of this tablet was almost enough alone to sell me on this tablet and if that matters to you, it makes a huge difference!
Since this is a tablet and with this new era of Zoom meetings, I found I actually care about front-facing cameras and I've noticed that the original positioning last year on the top of the tablet in portrait made it off-centered. It's not been moved to the side (or top in landscape) and this takes advantage of the screen for Zoom so much better. It also makes all the bezels symmetrical, which is kind of nice.
There is face authentication with this tablet! I'm sure it's not nearly as robust as my iPhones (And does not work in low light), but the addition of this is fantastic! Last year I was using Trusted Lock based on GPS location at my home combined with a PIN number, which was not a huge problem, but I love this addition.
Finally, the screen is rounded at the corners which I think gives it a nice little touch. It's not an OLED screen, but at this price I don't have any complaints. It's about the same as last years.
THE CONS
The ambient light sensor is next to the camera on the side, which if you use your tablets in portrait, is often where your hand is. This darkens the screen dramatically and so I have to turn this off since unless I'm watching a video, I'm always using this in portrait.
The default white balance is really cold, so I use the blue light filter a lot... Also, there is some light bleed on the edges of the screen. It doesn't bother me at this price point but was these are the main reasons I'd give this 4 instead of 5 stars.
This one is like 5 mm wider than last year's version.--not a big deal to me. Otherwise, the only other real con is it's not super powerful.
There is still some lag with this tablet, although again improved from last year. Overall, I think it's fair in the price point but this is not a performance tablet.
COMPARISON TO FIRE HD10 AND BASIC IPAD
I prefer this to the Fire HD10 though because it has Google Play Store on its own. I really like stock Android (and held onto the Nexus 7 2013 way too long because of that), but Samsung's One UI is pretty decent and not obtrusive enough that I miss stock Android much. The only customizations I did was replace keyboard with Google's and uninstalled several default Samsung apps; I didn't install Google Launcher or Nova. When I had a Fire HD10, which was not the most recent version, I also had trouble getting all of Google's basic apps to work.. not sure if that' s till an issue. I prefer the UI on these to Amazon Fire's, and overall it's worth the extra $50-$80 to me compared to the Fire HD10.
Compared to our iPad that mostly my wife uses, I do like the narrower form factor of this one. It's just a bit more comfortable to hold. Last year I almost bought the 7th gen iPad, but since the processor was same as our 6th gen, I went with this one thinking this year I might upgrade. This year's iPad does have a new processor and I was planning to get that until I saw this came out, but for the price (in between the 8th gen iPad and the Fire HD10), 4 speaker array, and biometric authentication, this tablet meets my needs and included key features I missed--so, thanks Samsung!
EDIT: followup 4 months later
- docked a star from 4 stars to 3 stars as it does suffer some performance lag with multiple apps open. I "close all apps" about once per day (although compared to last year's tablet, I was doing it every 15 minutes"
- I've found the portrait/landscape sensing to be super sensitive, to the point it sometimes gets annoying