Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Specs

A couple of bit earlier, i just showed you one tablet from Samsung, which i thought could be a pretty good choice for a 10-inch media-consumption tablet.

(Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Specs)

That tablet was the 10-inch model of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 – the WiFi-only and 3G variants.

According to what i’ve seen from this tablet – despite having the same exact GPU as iPhone -, i don’t think this tablet is a pretty neat gaming tablet.

I’m not saying that this tablet will be horrible for playing games.

Well, that is so WRONG because there are still many 3D games released in early 2013 that can be played smoothly on this tablet.

However, given that this tablet is powered by the same exact TI OMAP dual-core 4430 processor just like the 1st-gen Kindle Fire tablet – plus, it’s sporting 720p display, as opposed to the low-resolution 1024x600 pixel display on Amazon’s tablet, then the gaming performance of this tablet might not be so great especially compared to Amazon’s tablet.


But the good news is, if you decide to pick up the LTE model of this tablet series, you’ll probably have much better luck than the WiFi/3G model of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.

As i mentioned earlier in my previous review, the LTE model of this tablet is luckily packing Snapdragon S4 Plus dual-core processor, accompanied with Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM - which on paper, already look good compared to the TI OMAP 4430 and PowerVR SGX540 GPU inside the 2 other variants.

As i’ve already seen on one other tablet with this same type of specs (Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960, Adreno 225 GPU, 1GB of RAM and 720p display) - Asus Transformer Pad TF700KL - this tablet has pretty good gaming performance, with many older graphically demanding games running smoothly and the most importantly in full graphics – although the latest games like Asphalt 8, Modern Combat 4, N.O.V.A 3 or GTA San Andreas might not run so great in full graphics setting on this tablet.

Well, if you’re interested to know more about this tablet, as well as its gaming performance compared to the WiFi-only and 3G models, then here you go, my personal review of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE. Be sure to check it out!


As we all know already, Samsung has always been really aggressive in releasing its GALAXY devices with so many choices of models - carrying some different types of specs, ranging from low-end, mid-end to the high-end variants.

If you count them in total, there are probably like around 3 or 4 different models with different screen sizes, not to mention, they are all divided again in some different variants with different cellular supports (WiFi-only,3G and 4G LTE models).

So everytime Samsung releases its new GALAXY series, it means Samsung will release around 7 to even 10 models of that device series.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE CDMA

It goes the same when this company outed the second-gen of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 to the market. There are many different models released by Samsung under this series – as i mentioned above.

The LTE model of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is one of those many models.

Interestingly though, this LTE model packs the different processor – as well as GPU – compared to the WiFi-only and 3G models of this series, with LTE model receiving the Snapdragon and Adreno 225 treatment, while the WiFi/3G getting the TI OMAP and PowerVR SGX540 GPU, which on paper are slightly less powerful than the ones inside the LTE model.

Anyway, from the hardware standpoint, there are some great things to be liked on this LTE. First of all, of course its LTE support which enables you to have a really fast internet connection.

Meanwhile, in the performance department, this tablet will be taken care by the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus processor with 1GHz clock speed, 1GB of RAM and Adreno 225 GPU, which are similar with the ones inside Asus Transformer TF700KL tablet (although this Asus’ tablet is packing a 1080p display, as opposed to the 720p display on the Samsung’s tablet).

In the photography sector, there are 2 cameras – 3.15MP on the rear and 1.3MP on the front – which allow you to take photos/videos or do selfies as well as video call.

So with all of these goodies provided by Samsung on this tablet, does Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE have what it takes to be a good gaming tablet?

Is this tablet still relevant to be positioned on today’s tablet market, competing with iPad Air, Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet or Samsung GALAXY flagships?

Is it worth it to get this tablet just for the shake of its LTE and processor?

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• 4G Network LTE
• Weight 581.2 g (1.28 lb)
• SIM
• Released 2012
• 10.1 inch PLS TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 800 x 1280 pixels, (~149 ppi pixel density)
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait Qualcomm S4 Plus MSM8960 Snapdragon Chipset
• Adreno 225 GPU
• Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• microSD Memory Card slot for up to 64 GB
• 8/16 GB of Internal storage
• 3.15 MP rear-facing camera
• VGA front-facing camera
• EDGE
• GPRS
• HSDPA
• Bluetooth
• USB
• GPS
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• HTML5 Browser
• No Radio
• Java MIDP emulator
• Colors Black/Silver
• TV-out
• Accelerometer, gyro, compass
• Non-removable Li-Ion 7000 mAh battery

From the hardware standpoint, the LTE variant of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE can still be considered as a tablet with good set of hardware specs.

It features a 10.1-inch display sporting the 720p or 1280x800 pixel resolution,

• a dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus (MSM8960) processor with the clock speed of 1.5GHz per core,
• 1GB of RAM,
• Adreno 225 GPU,
• 3.15MP camera on the back which sadly does’t have LED flash and autofocus,
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS,
• TouchWiz UI,
• 4G LTE connectivity,
• VGA front-facing camera,
• a huge 7000mAh power battery
• and some other standard features.

As an older-gen tablet released in 2012, it’s great to see that Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE already sports the 720p resolution on its 10.1-inch display (with the pixel density of -149), which used to be the industry standards in 2012.

In real world quality, the 720p resolution on 10-inch screen might not deliver such a sharp and crisp looking display, so you’ll still need to do a lot of pinch-to-zoom gesture especially when reading books or browsing the web, when the text looks really small or the images don’t look that good in overview.

But still, for a media-consumption tablet, having a 720p resolution on a 10.1-inch display is still acceptable especially since this tablet was released 2 years ago.


Similar just like any other Samsung Galaxy Tab models, this tablet also comes pre-installed with the same-as-usual TouchWiz UI, based on the Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS build.

So there will be the standard homescreen, widgets, icons, that large weather and digital clock widget on top, app shortcuts, drop-down notification window and some skins and wallpapers that Samsung specifically provides for this tablet series.

However, the great thing of having this UI is, TouchWiz UI has been well known to have a lot of great and useful features – like multi-window mode, multitasking apps, etc -, so you’ll have a lot of fun playing with this tablet in the long run.

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When it comes to overall performance, the LTE version of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 will likely be similar with the WiFi and 3G models.

This tablet will deliver a pleasingly smooth experience for doing any basic tasks that you throw on it, even all at once.

And that’s thanks to its dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processor with the clock speed of 1.5GHz that has no problem at all in executing any of these tasks in smooth performance.

Meanwhile, in graphical environment, the Adreno 225 GPU inside this Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE will also ensure that all the graphics-related tasks on this tablet – like browsing the web, using live wallpaper, editing videos/documents or the rendering of photos/videos – can be executed perfectly without giving too much impact to the overall performance.

And if you love multitasking many apps at once, then you’re in great hands with this tablet because it 1GB of RAM will always have the room to process many apps at once in the backgrounds.

However, given that 1GB of RAM on this tablet will be mostly used for the system and the pre-loaded features, then you must be really wise in opening many apps at once and if the overall performance is starting to show some stutters or lags, then you might want to close or kill any apps that you don’t really need at the moment.

As for playing games, this tablet probably will have the similar performance (not the same exact performance) with other tablet that is equipped with the same type of specs (Snapdragon S4 Plus 1GHz dual-core processor and Adreno 225 GPU).

For example like Asus Transformer Pad TF700KL that also comes with the same Snapdragon chipset and Adreno GPU, although this Asus tablet is sporting a 1080p display, as opposed to the only 720p display on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE.

So the gaming performance of Samsung’s slate will likely be better than Asus’ tablet given that the pixels that must be executed by the Snapdragon S4 Plus processor are lower than the ones found on Asus Transformer Pad TF700KL.

So with that being said, the games on Samsung’s tablet will perform much faster and smoother in full graphics than on Asus’ tablet.

Talking about the games, there are many older games released in early 2012 that would work seamlessly and in full graphics setting on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE – like ShadowGun, Samurai Showdown, Dead Trigger, Modern Combat 1 and 2, N.O.V.A 1 and 2, Asphalt 5 and 6, Need for Speed Most Wanted, GTA III, Gangstar Miami Vindication or PES 2012.

However, for the latest graphically demanding games like Modern Combat 4, Asphalt 8: Airborne, GTA San Andreas or N.O.V.A 3, i have doubts that these games will run smoothly in full highest graphics. But i might be wrong because – as we all know already - Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets have been one of the selling tablets in tablet markets all around the world.

And this really helps a lot to convince many game developers to well-optimize their games specifically for any Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet, including this Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE.

So probably, the latest games aforementioned above - like Asphalt 8, N.O.V.A 3, GTA San Andreas or Modern Combat 4 – probably have been well-optimized to run smoothly and perfectly even in full graphics on this tablet – despite its low-grade hardware.

But basically, with things like a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, Adreno 225 GPU, 1GB of RAM and medium-resolution 720p screen used on this tablet – this tablet will be a pretty good gaming tablet - if not great, let alone the best.


Continuing the tradition on all Samsung Galaxy Tab series, this tablet still inherits the same 3.15MP camera on the rear side, which sadly without the helps from LED flash and Auto-focus.

So you just cannot expect this tablet to be able to deliver you some decent shots, especially in low-light environment.

It goes the same with the front-side camera that hands over the job to the VGA camera, which is still nice, allowing you to do selfies or video calls everytime you need to do it.

However, when it comes to quality, there’s just nothing to write home about on the camera of this tablet. So the quality will leave a lot to be desired, especially for those who love photography.

But you should still be grateful to have this rear-facing camera on this tablet.

It might come in handy in case you forgot to bring your smartphone camera or digital camera by your side.

The photos or videos taken with the camera of this tablet might not look as great as the photos/videos taken with some flagship tablets out there, but at least, it still gets the job done.

And who knows, the photos are still worth showing off to your Facebook or Twitter followers.


Similar just like the WiFi and 3G models (of course), the LTE version of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is also powered by 7000mAh power battery, which is quiet nice because this battery capacity is really huge and probably could deliver you an all-day-long of battery life.

So even if you’re a power user, you can still expect to see this tablet last about a solid day, of course in one full charge. But it also depends on certain conditions.

I mean, if you’re gonna use this tablet for doing some heavy intense tasks without resting the screen at all – like for watching TV shows/movies in marathon or playing games in the row -, then its battery could probably drop drastically to just around 6 to 8 hours or maybe even less.

Not to mention, the battery life of this tablet will decrease much ever further if you keep activating the LTE connectivity on this tablet for the entire time, not to mention its WiFi signal – which both are battery hogs.


So in conclusion, despite being an older-gen tablet and having low-grade specs compared to today’s rivals, i personally think that Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE is still a pretty good device, especially as a media-consumption tablet.

It’s great for watching movies, it’s great for browsing the web, it’s great for reading books/magazines or any kind of media-consumption tasks.

The most prominent sectors of this tablet are its Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, Adreno 225, a 10.1-inch 720p display and the staggering 7000mAh power battery.

Oh yeah, not to mention, its LTE connectivity, which allows for insanely fast download and upload speed than 3G.

It goes the same with its gaming performance, which is still considered as pretty good – if not great – especially in handling most of the older-released games like PES 2012, Modern Combat 1 and 2, N.O.V.A 1 and 2, Miami Vindication, Need for Speed Undercover, SHIFT and Most Wanted, Asphalt 5 and 6, GTA II or any other older games released in early 2012 – which all will run perfectly and in buttery smooth performance even in full graphics.

However, for the latest graphics intense games like Asphalt 8: Airborne, GTA San Andreas, Dead Trigger 2 or Modern Combat 4, i don’t think these games can be played smoothly in full graphics setting.

So if you’re a tablet gamer and you always want to be able to play the latest games released in the near future – all in full graphics -, i suggest you to pick up other 10-inch tablet with more powerful hardware specs than this tablet (like Sony Xperia Z2/Z, Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro/Tab S, LG G Pad 8.3, iPad Air or Google Nexus 10.

So finally, for the questions i asked previously above, here are my answers:

1. Yes – this tablet has what it takes to be a good gaming tablet. However, this tablet is not that great for playing games, given its mediocre hardware specs that are not on par anymore with today’s standards. Yes – you can play most of the older games released in 2012 in full graphics and smoothly, but for the latest graphically demanding games, i don’t think this tablet is capable to handle these games in full graphics.
2. No – in today’s 10-inch tablet market, the hardware specs of this tablet are not relevant anymore with the current tablet market. Most of 10-inch tablets today already adopt 1080p display or 2.5K display, Snapdragon flagship processors (Snapdragon 800/600/S4 Pro/801) and bigger 3GB/2GB of RAM. However, if this tablet is priced at the mid-to-low-end market, then this tablet can still be 
3. Yes – it is worth it to buy this tablet. Despite being an older-gen tablet, there are some sectors to be liked on this tablet – like its 720p display, Snapdragon dual-core S4 Plus processor, Adreno 225, TouchWiz features, 4G LTE or its huge 7000mAh power battery.

Have any question? Leave your comment here!