Observing the need and growth of mobile devices, Apple at first launched the iPad trying to replace laptop for entertainment requirements. Laptops and Desktops are the bread and butter of the IT industry and its difficult to replace them with tablets for business use but Samsung has tried to do with its Galaxy Note PRO but is it able to fit in all the conditions? Find out in our review below.
Design
Samsung has launched two identical tablets the Galaxy Note PRO and the Tab PRO was announced at CES 2014. Both of them feature the huge 12.2-inch display, biggest ever on a tablet. The Note PRO comes with the S-PEN which is missing on the Tab Pro, because S-PEN comes only with the Note series tablets and smartphones. Samsung has designed this huge and heavy tablet to fit all the business requirements, giving a very professional look. If you have seen the Galaxy Note 3, you won’t be surprised because it actually the same design.
The front features a physical home button, recent apps and back capacitive touch button on the bottom, the top had secondary camera, proximity sensor and the Samsung branding in the middle. The edges house the loud stereo speakers, micro SIM and microSD card slots, power/standby button, volume rocker and IR sensor. It features a faux leather back with stitched edges just like the Note 3, Grand 2 or any other Galaxy handset or tablet with the faux leather back.
We have an unboxing video attached below which can give a better idea of the design and the placement of buttons on the tablet.
Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy Note PRO packs top notch hardware specifications. It features a 12.2-inches 2560×1600 pixels resolution LCD display with 247ppi pixel density. It is powered by a the new Samsung Exynos 5420 chipset which has an octa-core processor (1.9GHZ Quad-core + 1.3GHz Quad-core) with 3GB of RAM and 32GB internal memory. It has an microSD card slot which can expand the storage up to 64GB more. Apart from this, it has a 9,500 mAh battery, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 3G and Bluetooh v4.0 connectivity.
Camera
Tablets are never been good at cameras and we didn’t expect the Galaxy Note PRO’s camera to be any good either. The Samsung Galaxy Note PRO sports a 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 2MP front-facing camera which is capable to record high resolution photos and videos. The user interface is exactly what Samsung has been providing on all their Galaxy devices till now.
Sample Pictures are uploaded at this link in full resolution.
Software
Samsung’s first Android KitKat 4.4.2 running device out of the box, featured all the advancements of the latest mobile operating system. The user interface has been heavily skinned with TouchWiz which as always might be of some use but it hampers the performance. All the business related aspects have been kept in mind while designing the user interface. It features the Magazine UX swiping to the extreme left of the home screen. The Magazine UX features tile layout of your flipboard content right on the home screen. Samsung has really tried to fix this in between smartphone and laptops for business purpose providing S-PEN but the fact that most of the applications take the stylus just as a replacement of fingertouch makes it no better.
Performance
The Samsung Galaxy Note PRO gave some impressive benchmark results. There was no complaints when using it for general usage. The hardware is pretty much compatible to run any application even in multi tasking.
Due to its weight and screen size, we were usually found it working flat on a table. We found that if there could be some kind of kickstand provided with this product, it would been a lot better. The display is the primary attraction for this tablet, though still in grainy in some conditions. TouchWiz still have not made the best use of this display giving enlarged icons.
The tablet is only meant to be used in landscape mode because in portrait first of all the button placement will feel disturbed and secondly the display components get real bad.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Note PRO apart from being the first biggest tablet with such bright display has no other USP according to us. It is uncomfortable for hands, less apps for S-PEN and Android trying very hard to fit all needs isn’t working out well. The multi tasking feature though is nifty and easy to use but you won’t give the keyboard, trackpad and Windows or OS X for this. What we feel is that its not the fault of this tablet or Samsung but the way business still proceeds in the world requires much more than what Android offers. It is undoubtedly productive as an Android tablet but definitely not replaceable for a laptop. To show how big it is, click this link for a picture which we found on the web which belongs to The Verge.
Pros:
- Display
- Nifty performance
Cons:
- Huge, Heavy
- Expensive
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