Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0

Price

Samsung has once again hit a pretty sweet sub-$200/£200 price point. At the time of writing you can pick this unassuming 7-inch tablet up for $179.99 (£180)

Design

Samsung has put out a new designline with the Galaxy Tab 3. We are talking about the hardware home button and touch buttons here. This is a Samsung’s first to place these on their tablets. If we compare the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 with the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 our very first impression is that the tablet has become smaller and thinner, this way it has become more comfortable to hold in your hand.

Time to take a look at all sides of this device.
Front – 7 inch screen, level sensor, 1.3 megapixel front camera, home button and two touch sensitive buttons.
Left side – Micro SD opening
Right side – Microphone, Lock Button, Volume rockers
Top – 3.5 mm plug
Bottom – 2 speakers, micro USB connector and a microphone
Back – 3 megapixel camera

Interface

With the new Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 Samsung is using their new Touch Wiz Nature UX interface. Unfortunately this is not the latest version of their Touch Wiz Nature UX. For example, the icons are not that sharp as it is the case with the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 , this is a small loss. Also we noticed that this tablet unlike its bigger brothers runs on Android 4.1.2, where its bigger brothers have inherited Android 4.2.2. We expect Samsung to update this tablet to Android 4.2.2 in the coming months, and than we also expect sharper menu icons after this update. 

Generally everyone knows the Touch Wiz Nature UX interface of Samsung. So we will not dive into this content.

Multimedia

In the multimedia section, this tablet does the same things as the Galaxy Tab2 7.0. Unfortunately we have to ask ourselfves why Samsung has forgotten the simple thing like multi-window. However, this tablet comes standard with the new gallery which will give this tablet or a more expensive appearance. All in all we have no complaints about its multimedia options, although this tablet has no radio application.

Screen

The Galaxy Tab3 7.0 is using a 7 ich TFT display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 (WSVGA) and the pixel density here is 170. This resolution we know back from the previous generation Galaxy Tablets. Samsung probably has some screens left over or this is the cheapest way to produce these tablets to keep the price as low as possible.

Camera

The Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 is using a 3 megapixel camera on its back and a 1.3 megapixel front camera. Only the front camera has been updated from the Galaxy Tab2, unfortunately the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 still uses the old camera interface. However, there are some features and photo scenes present to make reasonable photos. Touch Focus is not present wich is kind of odd but there is a digital zoom up to 4 times, which is going to the expense of the picture quality.

Performance

Samsung has installed a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor in the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 .This processor is good enough for every days use. Samsung increased the Galaxy Tab 3’s processor with 0.2 GHz compared to the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Of course, this tablet is not the fastest but what do you expect from a entry level tablet with this price.

Battery

The Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 uses a 4000 mAh battery, in our opinion the battery has a descent amount of juice for a tablet. According to the information of the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 which also has a 4000 mAh battery, this tablet has a Standby Time Up to 1000 Hours, of course this is not bad!

Smart Functions

Where Samsung nowadays implants their smart functions in every product, that is not the case with this tablet. Even the basic Smart Stay is abcent, bad thing Samsung! Of course this tablet is very cheap but this feature in our eyes could be there considering the Galaxy Tab3 8.0 has this function. Now we do have voice control in this device (if you can call this a smart function).