Until Amazon's Kindle Burn hitting the market late concluding twelvemonth, no Android-powered tablet had made even the smallest of impacts on the market. With its $199.99 toll tag and customized user interface, the Kindle Fire was a existent success.

Samsung is at present aiming to grab a meaning piece of that success by edifice its own depression-cost Android tablet. The take hold of is that Samsung's new entry, the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, looks annihilation merely low-price. In fact, it features a much better spec canvass than the Kindle Burn down, and uses the same streamlined trunk design as its more than expensive brethren.

With a price of $249.99 for the Wi-Fi-only model, the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is an instant best buy. And when yous consider that it is one of the few devices on the marketplace to offer Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as its operating system, it's fifty-fifty more than of a steal.

Hardware

From a hardware perspective, the Milky way Tab 2 vii.0 looks much like any other recent Samsung tablet. This item model features a blackness forepart with a titanium argent rear cover, and information technology feels very nice in your hands. At that place's a lot to exist said for the 7-inch tablet form factor.

The vii-inch TFT display on the Tab ii 7.0 offers users 1024 x 600 pixels of resolution. The colors it generates are very bright, and the brandish's viewing angle is surprisingly good for such an cheap device.

Dual speakers flank the 30-pin Samsung connector that is establish on the bottom of the tablet (when held in portrait fashion). The volume and power keys are on the upper right edge of the tablet, and a three.5mm headphone jack can be found up top. The 3.5mm jack also supports a line-in office.

The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 measures upwardly at 193mm x 122mm x x.4mm (7.6in x 4.8in x .41in), which makes it a bit thinner than Amazon's Kindle Burn down, though its tapered design makes it feel fifty-fifty thinner than it really is. It weighs a perfectly fine 345g (12.2oz), making it a device that you can hold for hours on cease without fatigue.

Usability

While Android isn't as convenient as, say, webOS or iOS, Samsung has at least added a few things that make the system more usable than stock Android. Users will enjoy, for instance, the mini-apps that can be overlayed on the screen at whatever time. Mini-apps like the calculator and music role player are invaluable. Samsung'south updated main menu is besides a big bonus, since users tin can re-suit apps into whatever club they like.

While Android 4 shares much with the three.2 Honeycomb Os that nosotros saw on the kickoff round of Android tablets, there's a flake more than shine to how things work, and the effect is a better overall feel. As long as you're using the included apps, that is. Apart from those, there are few third party apps currently available that are actually designed with tablet grade factors in mind.

Merely still, Samsung's congenital-in apps, like the email customer and the screen capture feature, experience simply fine and make the about of the tablet's form cistron. Contacts can be pulled in from either Gmail or Facebook, simply there's no real social network support on the device otherwise. You'll have to load your own apps for that. The keyboard offered on the 7.0 is also pretty bones, and you won't detect loftier-end input systems like Swype pre-loaded.

Merely at least the dual-cadre 1GHz processor seems to have more than enough power to provide a shine experience when using the tablet, and that'due south worth a lot. Particularly at its bargain price.

Calling / Information

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 offers no built-in wireless network support apart from Wi-Fi 802.11b/1000/due north for connecting to a domicile or public Wi-Fi access point. The seven.0 does feature a microphone and speaker, as well every bit a forward-facing camera, which make it ideal for employ with VoIP applications like Skype.

The Tab 2 7.0 also features USB connectivity through its proprietary 30-pivot Samsung connector, and there'due south always Bluetooth three.0 for using the Tab with devices like wireless stereo headphones and speakers. An infrared port allows the Tab to work as a Telly/dwelling house amusement remote command, too.

Users looking for HDMI output will need to utilize an adapter or a docking station (not included), only the tablet does support DLNA through Samsung's AllShare application.

Messaging

One thing that the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 does real well is messaging. Fifty-fifty though its vii-inch screen offers relatively low resolution, it is even so more than adequate for a dainty split-screen electronic mail messaging feel. In that location is an included dedicated Gmail client for Gmail users, but the Samsung email app tin can exist used for accessing about any type of email account - including corporate Exchange servers.

Samsung'south ChatOn messaging system is too bachelor, and users of Google Talk instant messaging will also observe their app in identify. Social network users tin download free Twitter, Facebook, and other apps from the Google Play Store if the included Google+ client doesn't cover things.