Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 211

Samsung updated its Galaxy Tab line-up with the Tab 3 this year. In comparison with the popular Tab 2, the Tab 3 does not boast of many changes other than some minor enhancements in hardware and design. As it is based on Samsung's popular Galaxy design, the Tab 3 looks strikingly similar to the Galaxy S3 and S4.

Key features

The Tab 3 211 comes with a 7-inch 1024x600 pixel display and is based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS. The tablet offers multi-tasking features with a dual window option which enables the user to switch between work and personal stuff with ease. The micro-SIM slot and the microSD slot are both on the left side, while the volume rocker and power buttons are on the right. For audio output, the Tab 3 211 comes with speakers which are placed alongside the mini-USB port at the bottom. The tablet has both front and rear cameras.

How it performs

The display is quite reflective which results in unreadable text when outdoors. The sound output is good enough for indoors but you might need earphones when outdoors. We used the Tab 3 211 as our primary smartphone-cum-tablet and the results were quite satisfactory. We got good call quality, network reception and internet usage. We have reservations though about the size and build of the tablet, as it is cumbersome enough to hold while talking. A Bluetooth headset might come in handy here. The battery lasted for over 4 hours in our video loop test with 20% juice still remaining.

In terms of benchmark performance, the tablet gave us average results considering it is priced above Rs 15,000. On AnTuTu it scored 11201, 3692 on Quadrant, An3dbench XL gave 36737 and the Vellamo HTML5 score was 1564. While the battery life was more than decent, the time taken by the Tab 3 to get charged was highly disappointing and even with a power connected adapter, the tablet took more than 3 hours to charge, which is pretty mediocre for a tablet that is supposed to be an alternate calling device.