“For better or worse, Samsung’s sticking to the durability of its signature plastic enclosures. Brushed aluminum backs, it would seem, are for other OEMs. So if premium builds are tops on your checklist, you can safely stop reading now,” Joseph Volpe reports for Engadget. “There’s no two ways about it: the Note 10.1 looks and feels kind of cheap. Starting with our most serious complaint, it’s prone to the squeaks and creaks of inferior budget devices, which is definitely not something you’d associate with a $499 product — let alone a flagship. Despite our protestations, though, this is Samsung’s M.O.”
“For all its girth, the S-Pen still feels as light as a feather — and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Like the tablet itself, the pen conveys an inferior and ultimately disposable feel,” Volpe reports. “Ding, ding, ding. That’s how many times the bell should ring to count out the Note 10.1’s 1,280 x 800 TFT LCD display. Samsung obviously made a compromise to keep costs down, but there’s really no reason for the company to have settled on such a middling display… ”
Volpe reports, “What about the iPad? Indeed, Apple’s tidy iOS ecosystem is where most consumers will instinctively want to invest their dollars based on the tab’s nigh-ubiquitous market death grip. And we’d be hard pressed to direct their attention otherwise since Cupertino’s newest tablet iteration lays claim to the best panel available today — a 2,048 x 1,536 Retina display — and bears the same $499 pricing for a 16GB configuration. Laid out plainly as this, the Note 10.1’s case as a compelling tablet alternative is unavoidably weak… Ultimately, no matter how deftly executed and streamlined the S-Pen experience may be, this tab still feels like a niche device, especially since the suite of compatible applications is still pretty small.”
Much more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: More plastic garbage from Samsung. This time with a stupid, anachronistic stylus.
Again, people don’t want cheap, plastic pretend iPads designed by lawyers and saddled with terminal cases of AppLack™. They want real Apple iPads and the lush, vibrant, spacious ecosystem that comes with them.
Related articles:
The Verge reviews Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1: A disappointing Android tablet – August 15, 2012
Apple iPad surges to grab nearly 70% share of worldwide tablet market – August 14, 2012
Why an Apple iPad mini will cripple the efforts of Google, Amazon and anyone else in the mini tablet market – August 8, 2012
Samsung sucks !! Can’t innovate at all . Always imagine it can live with its crap !!
So if premium builds are tops on your checklist, you can safely stop reading now
And you expected NOT lazily designed crap from Samsung because WHY?
You can also get the iPad 2 with a similar resolution for $399.
I see a Big Lots liquidation for $99.00 apiece in Samsung’s future.
I think they might sell well in North Korea.
Love big lots
When copying your competion is a good thing and can not be a legal issue, Samsung has no interest. Quality and feel to a customer is important. Why does Samsung fail to copy this? Like Microsoft, no class.
Ultimately the market will decide whether it is a device they want. There are a lot of people out there who was settled for this. It’s not that they’re cheap are stupid they just simply haven’t used the iPad. But if it’s same price as an iPad, then they are stupid if they buy it. Life is tough. Life is tougher when you’re stupid.
Sic ’em Jean Poole…
Hey Weekend, could you fix the link under your name please.
Sure.There.Better?
“a stupid, anachronistic stylus” I respectfully disagree with that take and Jobs’ stylus=fail. Fingers are great for most things, and that concept is one of the many reasons that the iPad is as organic and revolutionary as it is. But I write notes and sketch ideas on my iPad, a lot. And for those specific tasks I simply do not want to use my finger, I don’t finger paint, i use a brush!. Alas, no-one as yet has designed a pen tool that works well for the iPad. And Apple doesn’t seem interested.
This tutorial good enough for you?
Kyle Lambert at MacWorld 2011
I like their strategy. I like it a lot.
Right On MDN!
Heaven and Earth baby, it’s still Heaven and Earth….
Really surprised this is engadgets review. Those fanboys usually eat up any flimsy, plastic, POS that Samsung throws out.
This is possibly the most narrow minded site I’ve ever been to…welp I’m leaving for good..have a nice life you cultist suckers