Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs. Sony Tablet S, which will you pick up?

Not to be outdone, Sony has finally jumped on the Android tablet bandwagon and delivered one of the most surprising tablet designs of the year. The Sony Tablet S hits stores at a price of $499.99, exactly same as Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Both are classy iPad 2 alternatives. Assuming the prices are justified, which one is the better choice? We see how Samsung’s big Galaxy Tab 10.1 compares to Sony’s new Tablet S.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs. Sonly Tablet S

Design & Portability

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 - 256.7x175.3x8.6mm, 565g
Sony Tablet S - 241.2x174.3x10.1-20.6mm, 598g

Both the companies offer most beautifully designed tablets to its consumers. Samsung’s device is the larger of the two but it is more than a touch lighter thanks to being a mere 8.6mm thin. The Sony Tablet S goes with an ergonomic folded-magazine design that thumbs its nose at the thinness wars. We’d have to say the Sony looks more interesting; however, the lighter and thinner Galaxy Tab has its advantages.

Winner – Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Display:
Samsung brings the titular 10.1-inch 1280x800 touchscreen, it’s a PLS TFT capacitive at the same resolution as its competitor, resulting in a lower pixel density of 149ppi. Against this Sony’s Tablet S features a 9.4-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, the resolution is a hefty 1280x800 pixels giving this display a pixel density of 161 pixels-per-inch (ppi). We have to side with Sony’s crispier pixel density on this one.

Winner – Sony Tablet S

Processor and OS:

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 features 1 GHz Tegra 2 processor with 1 GB of RAM, its rival Sony Tablet S has exactly the same processor. Galaxy Tab 10.1 uses latest Honeycomb 3.1 version, which is also used in Sony Tablet S.

Winner - Draw

Camera:

Galaxy Tab 10.1 brings a 3.15-megapixel camera as its primary shooter, with 1080 HD and 720p HD video capture and supports video calling. The camera creates images up to 2048x1536 pixels. There’s also a secondary 2-megapixel camera. On the other hand, the Sony Tablet S is better catered for thanks to its 5-megapixel primary camera at a higher resolution of 2560х1920 pixels, along with a VGA secondary. Sony Tablet S also comes with 2 cameras one in front and other in back. Both tablets have video calling support.

Winner – Sony Tablet S

Storage:

Both Samsung and Sony have options for 16GB or 32GB of internal storage capacity and come with 1GB of RAM to back up the processor. However, the Samsung has an ace up it’s sleeve, with an additional third option for a much higher 64GB of onboard space. Sony’s Tablet S supports regular SD cards up to 32GB, and while we’d prefer microSD which we can share with most phone handsets it’s certainly a much better option than the Samsung in this regard.

Winner – Draw

Multi-media entertainment:

The good thing is, both of Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Tablet S feature Bluetooth, WI-Fi, DLNA connectivity options and support up to 1080p HD video playback. Sony fans will love the universal remote. This uses Infrared to allow you to control your TV, PlayStation 3, Blu-ray player and other Sony gizmos, all from the comfort of your living room. With Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 it is also easy to stream videos as the AllShare DNLA client is preinstalled. One thing to mention is that the Galaxy Tab supports more video formats. The stock video player supports 3gp, mp4, avi, wmv, flv, mkv (Codec: MPEG4, H.263, Sorenson H.263, H.264, VC-1, DivX/XviD), while Sony Tablet S supports mp4, wmv, m4v, 3gp format (Codec: H.263, H.264, MPEG-4, WMV) and does not handle AVI or MKV video. Anyway, this could be made up by installing third-party media player software or transcoding. There are various Video Converter applications available if you need to convert movies for Tablet S.

Winnner- Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Overall:

For the most part, there are more similarities than differences here, both tablets equally have quite a lot to offer. The Sony just has a slight advantage with a better display and camera, plus some external storage if that’s a priority for you.

Tags : galaxy tab vs tablets s, galaxy tab 10. review, tablet s review, compare galaxy tab 10.1 with tablet s