Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro hands-on review: CES 2014

Samsung has announced a range of new tablets at CES 2014. Here’s our hands-on review of the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1  tablet from Las Vegas.

The tech giant that is Samsung launched no less than four tablets at this year’s technology show, three of which are under the new Galaxy Tab Pro name. We took a look at the 10.1in model but Sammy has also made smaller and bigger models to cover more bases. The Galaxy Tab Pro will also come in 8.4 and 12.2 versions.

While the 8.4in model feels a little small and the 12.2in alternative is a little too big for a tablet, the 10.1in feels about right. The device is both thin and light at 7.3mm and 469g. The design follows on from last year’s devices and can be thought of as a super-sized Galaxy Note 3 since it has the same edges and stitched rear cover – it just doesn’t have the S Pen which is where the Galaxy Note Pro comes in.

The Galaxy Tab Pro has an impressive WQXGA resolution so that’s 2560 x 1600 on a 10in display which results in a pixel density of 299ppi. Almost needless to say, the screen on the Tab Pro looks stunning with Samsung’s now iconic eye popping colours.

See also Best tablets.

Specifications on offer match what one would expect from a high-end tablet. The device is powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa 5420 processor. It’s got four 1.9GHz A15 cores and four 1.3GHz A7 cores and we didn’t notice any lag whatsoever during our time with the tablet.

Also under the bonnet is 2GB of RAM, 16- or 32GB of internal storage and plenty of other tech. The Galaxy Tab Pro offers microSD (up to 64GB), an 8Mp rear camera, 2Mp front facing camera, Bluetooth 4.0 and 11ac Wi-Fi. It will also come in a 4G LTE version.

So everything sounds good and you’ll be pleased to hear that Samsung has managed to get Android 4.4 KitKat onto the Galaxy Tab Pro out of the box. However, this is really where the tablet falls down because Samsung has gone way over the top with its customization of the interface.

TouchWiz has been replaced by what Samsung calls Magazine UX. The interface is content focused and can be likened to the Flipboard app and HTC’s Blinkfeed. Each homescreen is split up into a grid of squares which displays content from calendar appointments to news to social media – the list goes on.

The grid system means you can decide which sections take up more space on the screens and while it’s customizable the interface is far removed from the Android we know and love. There is an overwhelming amount of things on the screen fighting for your attention which makes for something of a sensory overload.  

We’ll test the Galaxy Tab Pro out further when we get our hands on a review unit so look out for a full review. Hopefully we’ll have a price by then too.