This is a great tablet.
If you are wondering if the extra money is worth it to have a pen, the answer is yes.
Samsung knows how to make a good Android tablet, and this one is another in their line up that provides a great value. Not the most powerful in their line up, it is also not the most expensive one, either. I've had this tablet for a few months now, and I completely feel that tthe price vs cost breaks very hard in my favor. This is a great tablet at a great value.
I have a Galaxy Tab 4 from my cell provider, and I like that one also, but I wanted a larger screen. I use my tablet primarily for four things: reading books, taking notes during meetings, displaying speaking notes, and streaming movies from netflix or pureflix. I pondered getting the larger version of the kindle fire, but this was cheaper and it had a pen... and in the end, I'm VERY glad I purchased this tablet rather than the kindle.
The Kindle app, of course, works perfectly. Reading on this screen is quite comfortable. Taking notes, as I'll describe in a bit is HANDS DOWN the greatest asset of this tablet for me. I don't carry a paper notebook any more... which for me is a big deal. Streaming works perfectly (more on that in a bit), and I've watched many, many baseball and football games on this thing... it handles Netflix and Pureflix perfectly also.
THE PEN IS AWESOME. it is NOT simply a "stylus", but it is a pen similar in function to Microsoft's Surface. I use the android version of OneNote to take handwritten notes, and then I can view those notes - and translate them to typed text - online, once my tablet syncs my notes to the cloud. The pen works VERY well, and I've had very little issues with it. There is a small region just left of center where the RF locator seems to have problems tracking the pen, but I typically scroll the screen up or down a bit, and move on, hardly noticing it. I think there's a wifi antenna or something under the screen messing with the RF location reader or something. It works, but my handwriting looks a bit different there for some reason. The spot is about the size of a nickel, and the rest of the screen works perfectly.
The tablet is very responsive. Things happen quickly, and I don't notice problems with lagging at all. While I don't play games, my son does, and he hasn't complained about performance either. I feel its adequately powered in terms of CPU strength.
While I take notes mostly with my pen, I also bluetooth pair a keyboard, and type happily away, writing email, or writing rough drafts of papers on word. It works well for that, and has really taken the bulk of the workload away from my PC, because its so handy to have around.
I got a 64 GB SD Card, and I'm able to move the applications and data to the card for most apps that I use, so I'm not feeling constricted in terms of space. I have more than 200 apps (waze, office apps, kindle, netflix, pureflix, amazon music, accuweather, espn, mlbTV, NFL mobile... the list goes on and on), and I have 6-7 GB left on the device... more than enough to do what I want.
I stream movies and games a lot. The screen is bright and clear, and Netflix, Pureflix, mlbTV, and NFL Mobile all stream perfectly. The screen is crisp and clear, amply bright, and the color is awesome.
The speakers aren't fantastic, but they work well enough, and when I'm home I bluetooth to a nice speaker, and then the sound is awesome... but that's how it's been with every tablet I've had. Its no worse or better than any other tablet, that I can notice... don't let that be the thing that keeps you from getting it.
Like I said, I've owned this for several months now, and I literally use it every day. I am VERY glad I purchased this tablet, and I heartily recommend it, without the slightest hesitation.
| Standing screen display size | 9.7 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1024 x 768 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1024 x 768 Pixels |
| Processor | 1.2 GHz Tablet_Processor |
| RAM | 1.5 GB SDRAM |
| Hard Drive | 16 GB |
| Chipset Brand | SAMSUNG |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Wireless Type | 802.11abg |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 8 Hours |
