Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 vs Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 Specs Comparison

Written by B Johnson January 27, 2015
Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 vs Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 - Specs Comparison
Hi guys, welcome back to this site!

Around a couple of days ago, i’ve already made the comparison review between the LTE variant of Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 VS the WiFi-only model.

(Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 vs Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 - Specs Comparison)

The main reason behind this review was actually because both of these models are powered by 2 different processors – Snapdragon 800 for the LTE model, while the WiFi-only variant receives Samsung’s in-house Exynos 5 Octa 5250 octa-core processor.

And with different processor, comes great responsibility, upps, sorry... i mean, comes different overall performance of course.

In fact, the performance difference of both tablets are quite significant to see and that’s what makes me really interested to compare these 2 devices in my previous review.

And as expected, the LTE model came out as the winner because in some reviews on YouTube (including theVerge), the one with Samsung’s own 5 Octa Exynos 5250 processor apparently is not up to par in overall performance with the LTE model (Snapdragon 800).

And that’s shown perfectly when deployed with some heavy stuff like when opening news feed for example.

Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 vs Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 benchmarks and gaming performance

Anyway, today i’m really interested to talk about the same tablet again in my next comparison review (which you’re reading right now).

However, this time, i’m going to put Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 into the ring against its sibling in Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro series (not Note Pro given that it uses 12.2-inch screen).

I think this could be quite interesting to see because both of these devices come with entirely different UIs and software, which can create a huge impact to their overall performance.

Well, if you want to learn more about the comparison between these tablets and see how they perform for gaming and in graphical performance as well, then here you go, my comparison review between Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1.

Introduction

One of the most prominent differences found on both Samsung’s tablets is definitely on their software. And this is very significant because it’s probably the very first time that Samsung creates a complete overhaul to its TouchWiz UI.

Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 tablet comes with the standard TouchWiz UI just like many of its siblings, of course with the additions of new features and pre-loaded apps that are well-optimized for its S-Pen experience.

However, the basic design concept of its UI is still practically similar with the regular TouchWiz UI found on many GALAXY devices from Samsung, especially the flagship ones, which basically is based on standard stock Android UI with homescreen, widgets, drop-down windows and many more.

But apparently, through Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro series, Samsung wants to try something entirely different than its usual TouchWiz UI. The UI of this “Pro” series is now called as “Magazine UI”, which basically looks and works pretty similar like the Live-Tile-based Metro UI on Windows-powered devices.

I actually kind of like this UI because it looks unique and more professional than the standard TouchWiz UI that is more prominent with the “fun” aspect instead of “productivity” concept found on Magazine UI.

Interestingly, despite using 2 entirely different looking UIs, the whole specs found on both devices are actually quite identical one to another.

So if the Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 ships with a 10.1-inch display sporting the 2.5K resolution, Snapdragon 800, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 8MP and 2MP cameras back and front and 8220mAh battery, then the same exact internals found inside the faux-leather-body of Tab Pro 10.1. And the same goes to the rest of their standard features.

But of course, as a tablet released under the Note series, it’s obvious that Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 comes packed with the S-Pen, which Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro doesn’t have it.

The good thing is, Samsung makes up its lack of stylus by giving this Tab Pro tablet with a more productivity-dedicated Magazine UI, compared to the standard TouchWiz UI on Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1.

However, the questions remain. With all of the same high-powerful specs and great performance found on both tablets,

Which one between Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 that deserves to be the best gaming tablet in this comparison review?

Which one that is a much better tablet in the whole aspect?

Is it worth it to buy any of these tablets, especially for playing heavy 3D games?

Well, hopefully we’re about to find out more about the answers of these questions at the end of this review. So be sure to stick around!

Design

When it comes to design, both Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 actually runs in the same path. So if the regular Note 10.1 tablet is hugely inspired by the same looking design of its flagship sibling - Samsung GALAXY Note 3 -, then the same goes with the Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1.

So basically, just like the phablet variant, both Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 deploy the same “fake” elements on their coatings – from the faux leather case, fake stitching and the fake metal trim all around the side.

To be honest, i actually really this design even from the flagship Samsung GALAXY Note 3. And i think it’s a good decision by Samsung to stick with the same design on all of the Note and Tab Pro models.

Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 (LTE) vs (WiFi-only)
Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 (LTE) vs (WiFi-only)
Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 LTE
Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 LTE

It looks really elegant, more professional especially with the faux leather and i also like the sharp looking design on every corner of these 2 tablets – as opposed to the fully rectangular corners on previous-gen devices.

It makes it look more professional especially when used by professional career people – like employees, bosses, students, etc.

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Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 LTE
Released October 2013
* S Pen stylus
10.1 inch Super clear LCD capacitive touchscreen, 2560 x 1600 pixels, (~299 ppi pixel density)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 CPU (LTE model)
Adreno 330 (LTE model) GPU
3 GB RAM
Android OS 4.3 Jelly Bean Samsung TouchWiz UI
microSD Card slot for up to 64 GB
16/32/64 GB Internal storage
8 MP rear-facing camera, LED flash
2 MP front-facing camera
Micro-SIM
GPRS
EDGE
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
Radio TBD
Java
Bluetooth
Infrared port
GPS
USB
Non-removable Li-Po 8220 mAh battery

    LTE (Micro-SIM)
    Released March 2014
    477 g (Weight)
    10.1 inch Super clear LCD capacitive touchscreen, 2560 x 1600 pixels, es (~299 ppi pixel density)
    Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
    Adreno 330 GPU
    2 GB RAM
    Android OS 4.4 KitKat - Samsung TouchWiz UI
    microSD card slot for up to 64 GB
    16/32 GB Internal storage
    GPRS, HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps
    Wi-Fi 802.11
    Bluetooth
    Infrared port
    microUSB v2.0
    8 MP rear-facing camera with LED flash
    2 MP front-facing camera (1080p@30fps video recording)
    No Radio
    GPS
    Java MIDP emulator
    White, Black Colors
    Non-removable Li-Ion 8220 mAh battery

    As mentioned above, both Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 actually ship with the same identical spec sheets on their hardware specs.

    So they both come with the same 10.1-inch display sporting the same 2.5K resolution (2560x1600 pixels), a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 8MP and 2MP cameras back and front and even the same 8220mAh battery.

    It actually goes the same with the WiFi-only variants of these 2 tablets, with Samsung 5 Octa Exynos 5520 processor running the entire show of their machine, along with Mali-T628 MP6 handling the graphical performance.

    But of course, as 2 entirely different category tablets, there should be something that sets them apart. Their UI is actually the one that makes them different.

    So Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 comes with the regular TouchWiz UI that is well-optimized with the S-Pen experience of this device.

    Meanwhile, Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 looks more professional especially as a productivity-centric tablet with Magazine UI, which brings a complete overhaul to the design layout and features of TouchWiz UI.

    Screen

    As far as the display goes, both Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 ship with the same exact quality display. They both feature the same 10.1-inch screen sporting 2.5K resolution with -299 ppi.

    Not to mention, they also use the same Super Clear LCD display. So it’s quite obvious that these 2 tablets are no doubt on the same level, especially when it comes to sharpness.

    It actually goes the same with their great color saturation, which looks really gorgeous with well-saturated colors.

    User Interface

    Just like i mentioned already above, Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 deploy 2 entirely different looking UIs on their platforms – TouchWiz UI for the regular Note tablet, while the Tab “Pro” variant gets injected with Samsung’s new fully-customized Magazine UI.

    However, they both are still running on the same Android of course, although the Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 gets the latest-gen KitKat version, as opposed to the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean found on Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1.

    To be perfectly honest, i think the UIs of these 2 tablets are really great equally.

    I mean, the TouchWiz UI found on Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 – which has been well-optimized for the writing and drawing experience of S-Pen -, is really rich in features and it has a lot of cool things for users, especially the ones related to its stylus experience.

    It goes the same with the Magazine UI on Tab Pro. This tablet may not come packed with the stylus, however, i really like how the entire look of its UI is really tidy with box-shaped Live Tiles, even for the widget element as well.

    Not to mention, both tablets have that ‘split-screen’ multiwindow mode that allows users to float 4 different windows of apps on the same screen, which is kind of cool actually because it really uses the full potential of its huge screen.

    Back to Top
    The graphical and gaming performance of both Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 is actually not very different one to another.

    As a matter of fact, both of these devices are equally great in terms of performance, especially for playing games.

    And that’s not really shocking because either Snapdragon 800 processor and Samsung 5 Octa Exynos 5520 processor found inside the LTE and WiFi-only models respectively, are both high-grade quality processor even in today’s standards.

    So basically, either with the LTE or WiFi-only variants of Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1, you can play even the latest and most graphically demanding games like Modern Combat 5, Asphalt 8: Airborne and GTA San Andreas. All of these games can be executed perfectly and smoothly, even in full highest graphics.

    However, as for the GTA game, i kind of have doubt these games can run so smoothly in full highest graphics.

    And that’s because, on some reviews on YouTube, i’ve heard that this game couldn’t be played smoothly in full highest graphics on Samsung GALAXY Note 3, even with Snapdragon 800 equipped. But i might be wrong about that because RockStar Games (the developer of this game) probably has released the well-optimized version for both of these tablets.

    Even so, either you pick the LTE or the WiFi-only model, you can still totally count on them for playing games.

    But if you ask me, i probably would go for the Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 because this device comes with a lot of improvements and tweaks especially on the hardware and software, which makes this tablet perform much better than the regular Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1, despite using the same exact processors and GPUs.

    The difference of performance between all of these models is actually more prominent to see on the regular Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1.

    So just like i already mentioned above at the beginning of this review, the LTE variant of this tablet apparently performs much faster and smoother than the WiFi-only model that ships with Samsung 5 Octa Exynos 5520 processor.

    So despite using an 'octa-core' processor, weirdly the one with Snapdragon 800 'quad-core' processor is capable to run much smoother and consistently, compared to the WiFi variant of this tablet, with many stutters and lags here and there on its software.

    According to theVerge, the lags can be seen quite significantly when opening this news feed that comes pre-installed on this device.

    When sliding the screen to the next other news, the transition is pretty laggy and the rendering is not that smooth, as opposed to the LTE model that can easily execute this news feed app with no lag whatsoever.

    I believe this has been fixed by Samsung on the Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 – especially the one with Samsung 5 Octa processor.

    So there will be no laggy issue anymore on these 2 Tab Pro 10.1 tablets (LTE and WiFi).

    Cameras

    Just like on the display and performance sectors, the cameras found on both Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 are actually identical one to another.

    So they both are equipped with the same 8MP camera on the back along with LED flash, as well as the 2MP front-facing camera that’s able to do 1080p video recording.

    When it comes to quality, i think it’s not necessary to talk a lot of their cameras because any of these tablets is no doubt great for taking photos and recording videos.

    Actually, most of Samsung’s flagship devices have great cameras.

    So you can totally expect the same thing on this device. They both take decent quality shots that not only look great on their sharp looking 2.5K display, but also look amazing even on a larger HDTV in your house.

    Long story short, if you’re looking for a decent powerful tablet that has great and sharp taking cameras, then Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 or Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 can be your great choice here.

    Battery Life

    Apparently, it’s not just their cameras, display and processor that are identical, but also their battery capacity.

    So inside the rear-case of both Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1, there is a huge 8220mAh battery powering each of these devices. According to GSMarena, both tablets are able to deliver a promised battery life of 10 hours in talk time (multimedia).

    Meanwhile, for music play, the regular Note tablet could survive in 98 hours, as opposed to the 147 hours of battery life found on Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 for the same purpose.

    My Personal Opinions

    So my final conclusion of this comparison review is, i think both tablets are equally great in the whole aspect.

    That’s probably not that hard to guess because both Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 are equipped with almost the same identical specs on their hardware.

    They both use the same 2.5K resolution on their 10.1-inch display, the same processors and GPUs (Snapdragon 800/Adreno 330 GPU on LTE, Samsung 5 Octa Exynos 5520/Mali-T628 MP6 on the WiFi-only variant), the same set of cameras, the same battery capacity, the same looking design and pretty much almost everything about these 2 tablets are really identical.

    So when it comes to the entire quality, of course both of these 2 tablets are no doubt ‘on the same level’ in many ways.

    I mean, on the sectors like display quality, sharpness, performance, graphical power, camera, battery life and some other standard features, both Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 are equally strong on those departments.

    However, as 2 entire different category tablets – with Samsung Note 10.1 being a note-taking device, and Samsung Tab Pro 10.1 being a productivity-centric tablet -, of course there will be something that separates them apart.

    One of the most prominent differences of these 2 tablets is definitely on their UI.

    Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 is more convenient with the regular TouchWiz UI that is well-optimized for its S-Pen.

    Meanwhile Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 feels more confident with Magazine UI, which is a huge departure from the standard TouchWiz UI – especially in terms of design layout and features.

    Not only that, as a note-taking device released under the Samsung GALAXY Note series, there will be the S-Pen found on the regular Note 10.1 along with its port/hole on its back, while Tab Pro 10.1 doesn’t have them all.

    So at the end of the day, the final decision to buy any of these tablets will come down to your personal preference and needs, plus budget of course.

    If you’re looking for a note-taking tablet with great performance and fully-featured UI, then Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 is definitely your destination here.

    However, if you’re in the search for a decent powerful tablet especially for doing some productivity stuff and enjoying media contents, then Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 can also be a great choice for you.

    The regular Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 actually is also good as a media-consumption device, but i think Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 looks more refreshing with its new Magazine UI.

    And i believe you will like it even more than the standard TouchWiz UI of Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1.
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