Good ideas, middling execution: the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 reviewed

Lack of third-party support hampers some interesting multitasking ideas.

Read the whole story

 

[Aurich]

I would have liked to see Aurich do a hands on with the S-pen and Art apps.

Maybe when the idea gets a little more mature; I wouldn't be opposed to spending some time with something like that and giving my impressions. I don't really get the sense that I'm actually the target market this time around though. Seems to be more 'notes' and less 'artist'.

 

[Gpop]

IT has a STYLUS!?

what. the. hell.

This thing is automatically a piece of junk, on the basis of having something that went out the frigging door a decade ago!

 

[Penforhire]

I get that lots of people don't need or want a pen-based tablet. But good pen input is what will get me off the fence to buy one of these, eventually.

I'm a lousy artist but I am also an overloaded technical manager who brings a bound 8.5x11" notebook everwhere so I can permanently record information in meetings and during experiments. I want something less pricy than an iPad (or Windows tablet PC with OneNote) that will take a combination of text and graphical notes, using a pen. Handwriting-to-text is also a killer app for me. Searchable notes rock. Maybe I'm not a high-volume demographic but that's what I want.

 

[Mr. Stinky Pants]

Stylus is a stupid concept for a general-use tablet. It has a niche in graphics design, I get that, but everywhere else it just gets in the way of the user experience. It's also that thing you are most likely to misplace. What are they taking us back to ~2004?

No, a UI which requires a stylus is what gets in the way. I know someone said "if you see a stylus, they blew it," but that doesn't make it the absolute truth. There are applications which work better with a stylus and the option to have one available is a nicety.

I'm not sure I even buy this argument. Personally, one of the main reasons I think smartphones suck these days is because the UI is too much built around fingers, when a finger is usually a pretty poor input device.

Case in point, when browsing a page like this one on a mobile device I need to zoom in to make the link to the next page of comments big enough to hit with a finger, and then zoom back out again to read the comments. With a stylus I have enough precision that no zooming is necessary. That's fine for a webpage, but mobile apps are all built now with UIs designed for a big fat finger, which means you can fit a lot less information on the screen, which means you need bigger screens to get less information, etc... I was amazed when I sat down and thought about it, how many of the incredibly awful UI paradigms that we have today can be traced down to the obsession to make it "finger friendly."

Another bad point about finger based UI is, who wants to see a kid pick his nose while playing around with your tablet?

 

[alxx]

Sorry but its not a ars review unless its Casey reviewing it.

 

[Deleted member 1]

Coincidentally, my Note 10.1 just arrived!

Good stuff:
- Writing experience is the same as the Windows penabled tablets that I've used
- Pen isn't too small (I was worried about the length)
- Everything feels fast and responsive (I ditched the homescreen widgets though)
- Handwriting recognition is surprisingly good
- Palm rejection works perfectly for me
- Build quality seems fine... I don't really understand the complaints

Bad stuff:
- The low PPI is obvious compared to Nexus 7 and Nexus S
- A lot of the features are non-intuitive and hard to find
- It's loaded with all kinds of unremovable crapware
- S-note could be a lot better: vector based, custom templates (and ability to hide stupid templates), editable subject (I think I must just be missing something here)

Overall:
- It's my first tablet, and I've been waiting for one with a good pen for a long time. So far I am not disappointed.
- The only hardware-related "bad stuff" that I have is the screen resolution. Otherwise, there's a slim chance software improvements will fix everything (haha... right).

Here's a sample of me messing around in S-note: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4504287/Testing_01.jpg
The screenshot is "actual size" - I didn't zoom in when I did any of the writing, and the page filled the screen.

 

[ScifiGeek]

Coincidentally, my Note 10.1 just arrived!
- Build quality seems fine... I don't really understand the complaints

The complainst involve the flimsy deformable/creaking plastic shown in the two videos here:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/21 ... ld-quality

Yours is not constructed like this?

 

[headfoot]

Everyone who says "No one wants a stylus on their tablet" is dead wrong, and is vastly overgeneralizing. I've been wanting a GOOD stylus tablet for a very long time, since the XP Tablet days. The potential is there, but no one has executed on it well enough to get me to part with my money. If I could get a modern android tablet with highly accurate and reliable note taking capabilities I would get it in a heartbeat. I would use the handwriting/note taking facilities daily. But as it stands no stylus works reliably enough that I don't have to go back and proof what I wrote.

As a side note, if you think no one wants a good stylus tablet, go check out some of the old threads about Microsoft's dead Courier tablet concept. I would have loved that (provided it worked as shown)

 

[obarthelemy]

2 other Android Tablets have an active digitizer: the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet, and the HTC Flyer. It's kinda telling that the reviewer doesn't mention them.

 

[obarthelemy]

Very disappointing, I'm really desperate for a tablet which will allow me to make engineering and artistic sketches.

Hopefully we'll see an improved version next year...

Lenove Thinkpad Tablet, or stuff from Motion Computing or Fujitsu. Or even an HP Slate (watch out for the battery life on that one).

 

[obarthelemy]

I like the concept - I could really use a tablet with a good sketching stylus. The capacitive stylus I'm using (occasionally) on my Galaxy Tab 8.9 leaves rather a lot to be desired. I'm *exactly* one of those graphic artist types who would love to be able to rough-sketch concepts with clients in a meeting, as a means of clarifying what they really want. Sometimes only pictures will do...

However....

Much as I love my Tab 8.9's hardware, it's still sitting here on Honeycomb. Samsung originally promised ICS in Q2 of this year. Then it was July. Now it's August, and with just a few days left in that month, I'd say the odds of that happening are about zilch. They're not even updating the "update" page anymore - the Tab 10.1 has been getting ICS for a couple of weeks now and it's still listed as ICS "coming". Everyone who has asked Samsung about it either gets ignored or told, "It's coming soon." Zero transparency. And no "small" updates either - no improvements, no patches... nothing. My phone got ICS and a security update in half the time I've owned my Tab. From Samsung? Zilch.

Anyone buying Samsung's B.S. line that Jelly Bean will come to this Note 10.1 "later this year" is living in fantasy land. Samsung doesn't give a rat's rectum about keeping the device up-to-date once you've dropped your cash. If you like ICS and don't mind getting Jelly Bean a year after Kiwi (or whatever) comes out - maybe - then perhaps this is something of interest. But Samsung's idea of upgrading the OS is having you buy a whole new device. Period.

For that reason and that alone, I'll never buy from them again while this behavior persists. I've learned my lesson.

Who cares ? My Note recently got its ICS update, a bit after my Xoom. And frankly, I don't notice anything for either. I still run the same apps, equally well, as before.

Nerds are bitchy: when MS release a new Windows, they take glory in *not* upgrading. When they don't they the upgrade, they moan like the end of days had come.

 

[obarthelemy]

Coincidentally, my Note 10.1 just arrived!
- Build quality seems fine... I don't really understand the complaints

The complainst involve the flimsy deformable/creaking plastic shown in the two videos here:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/21 ... ld-quality

Yours is not constructed like this?

I'm not sure the situation is as dire as you'd like it to be.

1- most serious users will add a sleeve anyway
2- I've dropped my Galaxy Note a few time. Not even a scratch. My sister in olaw as dropped her iPhone twice (well, her kid slapped it out of her hands)... broken screen both time, and once the back, too. Sometimes flexing is actually good... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oak_and_the_Reed

 

[sonolumi]

I would have liked to see Aurich do a hands on with the S-pen and Art apps.

Maybe when the idea gets a little more mature; I wouldn't be opposed to spending some time with something like that and giving my impressions. I don't really get the sense that I'm actually the target market this time around though. Seems to be more 'notes' and less 'artist'.

I am disappoint. I understand your reasoning though. Still, the irony of creating another Tim Cook portrait masterpiece on a Samsung device seems like a missed opportunity.

In all seriousness, I look forward to tablet stylus combos becoming more artist friendly both in terms of utility and price.

 

[obarthelemy]

I would have liked to see Aurich do a hands on with the S-pen and Art apps.

Maybe when the idea gets a little more mature; I wouldn't be opposed to spending some time with something like that and giving my impressions. I don't really get the sense that I'm actually the target market this time around though. Seems to be more 'notes' and less 'artist'.

Agreed. Could someone test the "notes" scenarios then ? I tried on my Galaxy Note, and it doesn't work because it's too small, and between handwriting recognition snafus and size, I type much more quickly than I write. I'd still be interested though, as typing notes in meetings is kind of off-putting (especially with clients), and copying everything after the fact is a time waste, and scanning picture isn't as good.

it seems the recommended solution these days is a pen+special paper (I forgot the name)... I'd like to avoir Yet Another Gizmo, if at all possible.

 

[ScifiGeek]

Coincidentally, my Note 10.1 just arrived!
- Build quality seems fine... I don't really understand the complaints

The complainst involve the flimsy deformable/creaking plastic shown in the two videos here:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/21 ... ld-quality

Yours is not constructed like this?

I'm not sure the situation is as dire as you'd like it to be.

1- most serious users will add a sleeve anyway
2- I've dropped my Galaxy Note a few time. Not even a scratch. My sister in olaw as dropped her iPhone twice (well, her kid slapped it out of her hands)... broken screen both time, and once the back, too. Sometimes flexing is actually good... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oak_and_the_Reed

That isn't saying it doesn't have poor building quality, it is just making excuses and rationalizing it.

This kind of flimsy build is something some don't mind, drives others nuts. I would NOT accept it on $99 device, let alone a $499 one.

My $50 e-reader is nice and solid (plastic) with no flex or creaks. Yet my $30 Logitech K400 wireless keyboard while made of hard plastic (I can't deform it with a finger like in the Galaxy Note 10.1 videos above), but when I pick it up, it flexes and groans/creaks and that just screams: "Piece of junk" to me. So even on a $30 peripheral that is disappointing.

I have nothing against plastic, just flimsy/creaking plastic construction that feels like crap. On $500 tablet, there is no excuse for that.

 

[Deleted member 1]

Coincidentally, my Note 10.1 just arrived!
- Build quality seems fine... I don't really understand the complaints

The complainst involve the flimsy deformable/creaking plastic shown in the two videos here:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/21 ... ld-quality

Yours is not constructed like this?

Nope. I saw that review (while mine was on order!) and was a little concerned, but it's fine. I'll upload a video if I get a chance, but no matter how hard I squeeze I can't replicate the creaking noise.

That said, the back is flexy, though not as "trampoline-like" as the android police video. It kind of feels like a trackpad, with a bit of give to it. I'm guessing it's pretty much the same type and thickness of plastic as on the Galaxy S3, but the larger surface area gives it more room to flex.

Poking at the back of a tablet with my finger isn't part of my usage patterns, and I don't notice the flexiness otherwise. It really doesn't bother me. I realize I paid for the pen though, and to me it's totally worth it.

 

[obarthelemy]

Coincidentally, my Note 10.1 just arrived!
- Build quality seems fine... I don't really understand the complaints

The complainst involve the flimsy deformable/creaking plastic shown in the two videos here:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/21 ... ld-quality

Yours is not constructed like this?

I'm not sure the situation is as dire as you'd like it to be.

1- most serious users will add a sleeve anyway
2- I've dropped my Galaxy Note a few time. Not even a scratch. My sister in olaw as dropped her iPhone twice (well, her kid slapped it out of her hands)... broken screen both time, and once the back, too. Sometimes flexing is actually good... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oak_and_the_Reed

That isn't saying it doesn't have poor building quality, it is just making excuses and rationalizing it.

This kind of flimsy build is something some don't mind, drives others nuts. I would NOT accept it on $99 device, let alone a $499 one.

My $50 e-reader is nice and solid (plastic) with no flex or creaks. Yet my $30 Logitech K400 wireless keyboard while made of hard plastic (I can't deform it with a finger like in the Galaxy Note 10.1 videos above), but when I pick it up, it flexes and groans/creaks and that just screams: "Piece of junk" to me. So even on a $30 peripheral that is disappointing.

I have nothing against plastic, just flimsy/creaking plastic construction that feels like crap. On $500 tablet, there is no excuse for that.

There's a whole science to what feels cheap compared to what is actually sub par. High-end cars actually use the in-door speakers to make the doors give out a more satisfying (reassuring ? expensive-sounding ?) "thud" upon closing. I'm fairly sure flexing is better than breaking, and that a bit of give is better than cracks. Until we have numbers to the contrary, the rest is just unfounded snobism.

 

[null_interface]

Friend of mine bought one the other day and I experimented with it briefly. It was quite responsive. Android on tablets has come a long ways since the first one I saw (Motorola Xoom).

I found the lack of an obvious portrait orientation a bit confusing ... but I suppose its intended orientation is landscape.

No idea why the screen res is such a big complaint. Screen is crisp and it would be difficult to discern the difference between its 1280*800 & 1920*1080 short of holding it a twelve inches in front of your face (I suppose it's light enough that some sort of head mount could be arranged). Perhaps the ipad3's retina display just needs to be seen to be appreciated, but on its own the galaxy note wasn't bad to look at.

The built in smart remote application was amazing. It's very nearly what cable box navigation should be. Took appreciably less time to set up than my friend's logitech harmony remote did.

Stylus was kind of iffy. Stows neatly, but seems like it will also get lost if used regularly. Thankfully it's completely optional. Note-taking app wasn't the best thing I've seen, but wasn't the worst. Didn't play with handwriting recognition. Suspect it's going to be up to Samsung to improve that unless similar tech takes off with other manufacturers (unlikely).

Don't know why there is such harping on the build quality. Unless you were in the habit of dropping it or using it as a lever, it seemed solid enough. Honestly not sure how it could be made much stiffer given that it's jammed to the gills with display, chips, and as many watt-hours of lithium batteries as they could stuff in there. Probably not something for the kids to wrestle over, sure.

I liked the microSD port - makes it cheap to add storage (a bit important on a wifi-only model). Tangential, but the $50 price premium for the 8 GB >> 16GB jump on the Nexus 7 is a real downer on a product that's almost tempting me to make the plunge.

I thought it was quite spendy at ~$500. It would seem that only Apple can get away with that kind of price for such hardware - other manufacturers will need to go lower. Perhaps if Samsung knocks 20% off their entire line they'll see more traction ... as-is, casual buyers may well look at the ipad3 and go with what they're familiar with.

 

[ScifiGeek]

There's a whole science to what feels cheap compared to what is actually sub par. High-end cars actually use the in-door speakers to make the doors give out a more satisfying (reassuring ? expensive-sounding ?) "thud" upon closing. I'm fairly sure flexing is better than breaking, and that a bit of give is better than cracks. Until we have numbers to the contrary, the rest is just unfounded snobism.

I don't need any numbers to confirm that flimsy/creaking builds feel like crap to me. I want something that feels solid in hand and doesn't make noises due to flexing. If they can build a solid $50 E-Reader, there is no excuse for a flimsy/creaky $500 tablet.

Also, I have discovered an amazing solution to not breaking my gadgets: Not dropping them works for me. If you are terminally clumsy, you are going to want a protective case anyway, rather than relying on luck and bouncy plastic.

So How it feels when I hold it, which will happen every time I use it, vastly outweighs some nebulous, it might survive better on the off chance you drop it nonsense.

 

[name99]

I don't find the lack of NFC a con. It's a 10" tablet -- I'm not going to wave it at a payment device, and I'm not sure I want NFC anyway. Nor would I plan to take pictures with it -- holding up a device this size to take a photo would be an exercise in frustration.

No, but you might want to use NFC to transfer photos and such from your phone to this tablet. Considering Samsung has gone pretty hardcore into pushing the NFC capability on it's Galaxy SIII, it's very surprising that they haven't mandated that all of their other Android devices would have it.

It's not surprising at all. The point of NFC was to have something cool to show your friends, not to actually add an ongoing, useful feature to the product line.

Time to pull out again my description of the difference between coolness and delight.

- coolness is other directed. It was what other companies ship. It is about how OTHER people view you and your device. It is about having a few gimmicks you can show others so that they ooh and ahh.
- what Apple ships is not coolness, it is DELIGHT. Delight is SELF-DIRECTED. It is about devices that bring you joy day after day, and who cares whether they demo well, or can be shown to others.

Samsung, right now, is a company that cares a lot about coolness, and nothing about delight. That's why they ship this Note with two flashy features you can show your friends --- pen, and the equivalent of MacOS 1.0's desk accessories, allowing you to open multiple apps at once --- but both these features actually perform horrendously.
They do the cool job fine --- show them to your friends for a few minutes and they will be impressed --- but they do the delight job abysmally.

 

[Josh A.K.A CLF]

Ars is being overly nice to this tablet. I think I would have a reaction similar to this reviewer:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/0...iew-an-embarrassing-lazy-arrogant-money-grab/
The title: "Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Review: An Embarrassing, Lazy, Arrogant Money Grab"

Compare Ars review of the build quality to the review in androidpolice.com.

Just ... wow. I really wanted to like the Note 10.1. I've already been planning to only buy Nexus phones direct from Google in the future ... looks like I'll be doing the same with tablets.

Funny thing, though - the whole of my Android experience has been on Samsung devices (Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, Galaxy Tab 10.1). I wonder how much my impression of Android will change (undoubtedly for the better) once I finally get rid of Touchwiz.

 

[obarthelemy]

I don't find the lack of NFC a con. It's a 10" tablet -- I'm not going to wave it at a payment device, and I'm not sure I want NFC anyway. Nor would I plan to take pictures with it -- holding up a device this size to take a photo would be an exercise in frustration.

No, but you might want to use NFC to transfer photos and such from your phone to this tablet. Considering Samsung has gone pretty hardcore into pushing the NFC capability on it's Galaxy SIII, it's very surprising that they haven't mandated that all of their other Android devices would have it.

It's not surprising at all. The point of NFC was to have something cool to show your friends, not to actually add an ongoing, useful feature to the product line.

Time to pull out again my description of the difference between coolness and delight.

- coolness is other directed. It was what other companies ship. It is about how OTHER people view you and your device. It is about having a few gimmicks you can show others so that they ooh and ahh.
- what Apple ships is not coolness, it is DELIGHT. Delight is SELF-DIRECTED. It is about devices that bring you joy day after day, and who cares whether they demo well, or can be shown to others.

Samsung, right now, is a company that cares a lot about coolness, and nothing about delight. That's why they ship this Note with two flashy features you can show your friends --- pen, and the equivalent of MacOS 1.0's desk accessories, allowing you to open multiple apps at once --- but both these features actually perform horrendously.
They do the cool job fine --- show them to your friends for a few minutes and they will be impressed --- but they do the delight job abysmally.

Plain misdirected. There's pens for every tablet, you have to actually care about writing/drawing to see the difference between active digitizers and regular ones. As for multitasking, or rather displaying several apps and widgets, that's one of the most useful things I'd like my tablets to do.

As for coolness vs delight, it could be worse: they could have made their device out of glass so it looked cooler, and the expense of ruggedness. Oh, wait...

 

[studentx]

Kind of fail. Looks like an iPad but not even close to the true iPad quality .

Samsung innovation without stealing from Apple. Impressive all the way to the dump.

 

[Deleted member 1]

Agreed. Could someone test the "notes" scenarios then?

What would you like tested? Maybe a video of writing on paper vs. writing on the Note?

Or do you just want a report of what it's like to try to use it like a notebook during a meeting? I plan on doing that tomorrow, if I can face the harassment from my group over the new toy

 

[simeon]

You are comparing a utility device with consumption devices. If you know anything about HD screens you would know that it would be impossible to marry a Wacom digitizer pen with an HD screen with this processor and expect anywhere near acceptable performance. Even the upcoming surface tablet requires an Intel chipset at twice the price to drive an HD screen with quality pen input.

I agree to a point. If you want a toy that is long on pretty and short on functionality get the iPad or Infinity. However, if you want a tablet that is actually a tool you can use everyday in business or school, get the SGN10.1.

Seriously?? You're dragging *that* argument out?

An iPad is far, far more productive than this Galaxy Note 10.1.

I own a Wacom Cintiq 24HD. I use my iPad with a stylus and Procreate to do artwork on the go. There is absolutely *nothing* like Procreate on Android. There is nothing like Paper.

I write code and build games on my iPad. I've released a game on the App Store written entirely on my iPad. It's had 300,000 downloads. People love it.

I've heard that there are a ton of musicians using iPads, personally I've only created small musical projects on my iPad, but the tools are there. A lot of the Mass Effect 3 soundtrack was composed on an iPad, it's quite good.

The same tools, with the same polish, are *not* there on the Note 10.1. The stylus is cool, I've been a Wacom user in nearly my entire art career. But the software makes it.

Stop using this argument, because it's foolish, and at the moment an iPad is an incredible productivity device. It has been for most of its lifespan.

 

[JKT]

...But the software makes it...

And this is what makes this review so disappointing. What's the software like? Given that there are so few apps that support the multi-pane view and so few overlaid widgets, what are they like to use? The Android Police review gives the impression that the vast majority are worthless and not something you would use day-to-day, so is that the case or not? E.g. Would you actually use the stock browser (so that you could benefit from the multi-pane view) or is it so bad that you wouldn't bother and therefore never make use of one of the key differentiators this tablet is supposed to have?

 

[agenius]

What I really want to know about this tablet is how good the stylus is. Could this tablet replace a cheap Wacom? If I were to give this tablet as a gift to a graphic artist would they laugh at me or would they use it to make cool stuff?

Not only would they not laugh at u, but they might ask if you're single. I'm just sitting here reading all these comments, not to mention the so-called review (on my note 10.1, ironically enough), and grinning to myself. Why? Well, not getting something doesn't mean it sucks, just as expecting every tablet to be an I-pad isn't being a good reviewer, but rather is immature & moreover inconsiderate to ones supposed audience.

 

[lost]

Why reviewers use wrong graphics benchmarks so often?

It should be easy:
- when reviewing SoC/GPU, show offscreen benchmarks
- when reviewing tablet/phone, show actual device resolution benchmarks

Of course, you could always show both, although appropriate one should be used for comparisons. When you compare android tablets to iPads and other android tablets, use actual resolution benchmarks.

But in this review they show only offscreen results while clearly comparing tablet devices and not SoCs. I would expect that with so small resolution, this tablet would do much better on graphic benchmarks. Yes, it has bad resolution (as noted, and I guess everyone would agree), but then one positive side of such low resolution should be faster graphics - which this review failed to show or mention.

On some other reviews I noticed authors using actual resolution benchmarks to show which SoC/GPU is 'better', and it seems to me that in some cases this is not so much as incompetence of authors - but rather desire to show results that they would like more. In other cases it can be incompetence though ;p

 

[studentx]

Cheap, flexible plastic doesn't feel like a $500 tablet should

Who makes one and what is that $500 tablet supposed to feel like, and why do you feel the need to compare the look and feel of this one to that one?

How dare anyone compare this tablet to the competition!

 

[StarKruzr]

Stylus is a stupid concept for a general-use tablet. It has a niche in graphics design, I get that, but everywhere else it just gets in the way of the user experience. It's also that thing you are most likely to misplace. What are they taking us back to ~2004?

No, a UI which requires a stylus is what gets in the way. I know someone said "if you see a stylus, they blew it," but that doesn't make it the absolute truth. There are applications which work better with a stylus and the option to have one available is a nicety.

This. I remember things better when I write compared to when I type. I use my Galaxy Note for taking notes at work constantly.

 

[Tamsen]

Why? I'd much rather have no stylus than one that is half-assed to the point of being worthless. Same with the two apps on the screen thing. Further, I fail to see what any of those have to do with the build quality. It's not like they had to make a choice between putting the stylus in and giving it a decent build feel.

The stylus is not the problem with this device. Anyway, what I trying to get across is that yes, while the overall quality may not be fantastic, it has feartures that many other similar devices do not have and that therefore those other devices should be critised for not having them. Those devices don't even have the features, whereas the Note 10.1's problems are not, not having features, but rather having medicore ones (though still useable).

Digitizers are relatively cheap:

You can buy standalone digitizer tablets of similar size from Wacom for about $80 MSRP:
http://www.wacom.com/en/products/bamboo ... nnect.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Bamboo-Conn ... B005HGBEYS

The bamboo tablets use somewhat different technology; they don't have to be integrated with a display. The S-Pen technology is just a rebrand of Wacom's Penabled technology.

I'm sure there are healthy profits being made, but that is the purpose of companies.

Nope. I saw that review (while mine was on order!) and was a little concerned, but it's fine. I'll upload a video if I get a chance, but no matter how hard I squeeze I can't replicate the creaking noise.

That said, the back is flexy, though not as "trampoline-like" as the android police video. It kind of feels like a trackpad, with a bit of give to it. I'm guessing it's pretty much the same type and thickness of plastic as on the Galaxy S3, but the larger surface area gives it more room to flex.

Poking at the back of a tablet with my finger isn't part of my usage patterns, and I don't notice the flexiness otherwise. It really doesn't bother me. I realize I paid for the pen though, and to me it's totally worth it.

At least one commentator here actaully has one.

 

[got2bereal]

Samsung is just like most of Asia, emerging countries that can only copy and imitate because they have to.

Again, another 1/2 baked tablet built with mediocre parts and trying to push gimmicks like stylus writing without spending enough software engineering to make it work right.

That's the difference between Apple and Samsung, one that only release things when it's well thought out and engineered vs 1/2 baked trends.

 

[JamLizzy101]

Samsung is just like most of Asia, emerging countries that can only copy and imitate because they have to.

Again, another 1/2 baked tablet built with mediocre parts and trying to push gimmicks like stylus writing without spending enough software engineering to make it work right.

That's the difference between Apple and Samsung, one that only release things when it's well thought out and engineered vs 1/2 baked trends.

You blokes are so biased. You forget the fact that Apple doesn't make any of their components. It gets done in Asia. The screen and DRAM chip has been supplied to Apple by Samsung for your information