Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Review

Our friends over at Samsung have sent us the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 for us to review. Samsung has many tablets on the market, from the 7.0 Plus to the 8.9 to the 10.1 . And then they have WiFi, 3G and even 4G versions of the tablet. Well, many of your probably remember the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, it was the 7-inch tablet that did in a way start a revolution. Well, now we have the successor and that is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 . Although, it does have some enhancements that you will enjoy. And it has an amazing price point, it is only $249.99 which make’s it super consumer friendly. However, should you go out and get this device? We will answer that in the full review, which begins right now!

Design

Now, Samsung has made some pretty nice looking products and the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 does continue this tradition. The back of the device is plastic and it is a nice light grey/silver color. The device is pretty light, as it comes in at 0.76 pounds. It feels very comfortable to hold in your hands, Samsung must have taken this into consideration when designing the tablet. It is thin also at just 0.41 inches. It has a very similar design to that of Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, however it does have some of the high-end features that give it $420 price point. On the top of this device you have a microphone and headphone jack. On the left hand side you have your micro SD card slot, if you open up the little door you will find it. On the right hand side you have the power/sleep button, volume rocker, and the inferred sensor. On the bottom of the device you have 2 speakers and a charging port. Please note that this device has a propriety charging cord and port. Above the screen you have the VGA front facing camera and below the screen you have the Samsung logo. On the back you have the 3 megapixel camera with no LED flash, a Samsung logo, and some serial numbers and certifications. The rim going around the device is a dark grey. Samsung calls the over color of the device “Titanium Silver”, once you see the device you will understand why it is called this. Overall, the design of the Tab 2 7.0 is very similar to that of the other Galaxy Tabs.

Hardware

Now, onto the hardware inside of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 . The actual display on this device does not go fully to the edge, it stop before it. I personally like this, for instance if you prefer holding on to the front of the tablet you can still do this and see the display. It has a 7-inch 1024 x 600 PLS TFT display, now Samsung is known for there displays. I have a feeling that in order to keep the price low, they had to keep the hardware low as well. This does not mean that the screen is not good, if you have the brightness all the way up the quality is very nice. And viewing angles are also quite good as well on this device. For speed this guy has a 1GHz dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor with 1GB of RAM. This does keep the device moving, granted it is not as fast as a quad-core device. However, it does a good job on this device; Multitasking in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is a breeze and it moves very quickly. This is a WiFi only device and does have a very nice amount of storage. It has a 8GB of Internal Memory, a micro SD card slot that can hold up to a 32GB micro SD card, and something special. And the special thing is that with the purchase of the device you get 1-year of 50GB in DropBox for free. This is a $99.99 value, and it is your for just buying the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 . All you have to do is just sign up or sign in using the DropBox application on the Galaxy Tab and you are good to go. You get a 4,000mAh battery , that lasted around 7 and a half hours during our testing. And of course you get the charging cable and outlet plug-in the box with the device. Overall, the hardware is pretty good on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 .

Software: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich With Samsung TouchWiz

Now, finally we have devices coming to market with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on them. I am personally a huge fan of Samsung TouchWiz. And I am very happy to see that it is on this device. If this device is going to be someone’s first Android tablet, they will need to learn how to use it. And Samsung TouchWiz(In most cases) makes the operating system much easier to use. However, Samsung TouchWiz is much different from what the clean version of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich looks like. For starters widgets are back and they have been updated. In your homepage you get the Weather, Music Hub, Yahoo News, Music, widgets. You can also add the clock, bookmarks, calendar, contact, Dropbox, Facebook, Google +, Pictures, Program Monitor, YouTube, and many other widgets. One great feature is the ability to take screenshots from the home screen. Just simply touch the button next to the multitasking button and it takes a screenshot. You then have a chance to edit it, before you decide to save it or to delete it. In terms of preloaded applications you get all of the great Samsung one’s like Readers hub, Music hub, Media hub, and the Game hub. Game Hub is the place to find awesome free and premium games. You can see all of the applications that come on the device in the gallery below. As we mentioned before the DropBox application is pre-loaded on this device and by simply signing in or signing up you get 50GB of space free for one year. This is a great deal and I am happy to see that Samsung is continuing to offer it. Overall, the Software on the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is great!

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Camera

Samsung has included 2 camera’s on the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 . You get the front facing VGA camera and the back 3 megapixel camera. Most camera’s on tablets these days come nowhere near to replacing those on our smartphones or an actual camera. So, with that begin said the 3 megapixel back camera is really hit or miss on this guy. Most of the photos were a little washed out, but it was cloudy out side when we did test shots. Which you can see in the gallery below. Although the photo with the flowers did come out pretty good. However, I don’t think you should do professional photography with this device. Video was not the best either, however the VGA front facing camera was good for taking “selfies” or for video chatting. However, the camera application itself does have the option to time the photo, do effects, zoom in and out and more. Check out the gallery below!

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Bottom Line

Overall the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is a great tablet. It comes at a great price at only $249.99. For this price you are getting a great tablet, that will get the job done. This probably competing most with the Kindle Fire from Amazon. And I feel that for the extra $50 you are getting a better device. For starters it is the full version of Android with an awesome user interface from Samsung. You get a 7-inch display. 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal space, 50GB free form DropBox, 2 cameras, and more. If you’re in the market for a first time Android tablet or don’t want to spend that much and want the Android 4.0 Operating System, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is the device for you. To Get Your Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, Please Click Here. We would like to thank Samsung for providing us with a copy of the “Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0”.