Apple iPad 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
Apple and Samsung have had a tumultuous history and it's about to get pricklier as Samsung's newest tablet device takes on Apple's brand new iPad 3.
Form
Apple's new iPad 3 looks like, wait for it, an iPad. Yup, there's nothing particularly revolutionary here, it's lost the home button in favour of gesture control and has put on a bit of weight and girth but these last two differences are barely noticeable.
Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 looks quite different from the first 10-inch Galaxy Tab the company produced.
A big motivator behind that is no doubt to avoid any legal pitfalls as the first model was dragged through the courts globally on the grounds it looked too much like an iPad.
Anyway, this time round the device has a smaller stretch of space above the screen and a larger expanse below, while the whole device has an added grey/silver bezel round the outside which is particularly visible at the sides when you look at the tablet from the front.
We actually quite like this and it's an improvement over the original Galaxy Tab 10.1's design.
We wouldn't say it looks better than the iPad 3 though it's perhaps as nice, just different.
Winner - Draw
Hardware
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 2 is fitted with a dual core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor which is fairly similar to other tablet setups and should deliver fairly good performance for navigating the Android platform and running demanding apps and games.
However, Apple has brought something rather special to its new iPad, as everyone expected it would. The new device features a new processor chip called the A5X which has quad core graphics capability for speeds up to four times faster than its nearest rival, the Nvidia Tegra 3 chip.
You can bet the iPad 3 will outperform Samsung's offering in virtually all areas.
Winner - Apple iPad 3
Display
Samsung's 10.1-inch PLS TFT isn't exactly anything to write home about and feels like a rush job. Ok so it's got a 1280x800 pixel density and a 149ppi pixel density but the screen technology behind it is about as basic as you can get.
With the iPad 3 Apple has finally managed to bring its acclaimed Retina display technology to its larger-screened tablet devices.
That means you get a 2048x1536 pixel resolution on a 9.7-inch IPS LED-backlit screen, with a pixel density of 264ppi. You probably won't find a sharper touchscreen on any other current tablet so Apple has firmly reclaimed its crown when it comes to display tech.
Winner - Apple iPad 3
Camera
Samsung's newest 10-inch Galaxy Tab hasn't received much attention on the camera front with only a 3.15-megapixel primary at 2048x1536 pixels, but at least it has an LED flash alongside autofocus, geo-tagging, 1080p video capture and a VGA secondary.
Apple has gone the extra mile with the iPad 3's camera setup. As expected it's borrowed some of the well-recieved tech from the iPhone 4S, which includes a 5-megapixel backlight-illuminated sensor (BSI), stabilisation for both video and still images, 1080p video recording and both autofocus and auto-exposure.
Apple wins this round easily with a camera that would shame most of the tablet competition.
Winner - Apple iPad 3
Conclusion
We never felt Samsung was putting its best foot forward with this half-hearted re-hash and Apple has proven as much by bringing out a new iPad which leaves it in the dust.
Form
Apple's new iPad 3 looks like, wait for it, an iPad. Yup, there's nothing particularly revolutionary here, it's lost the home button in favour of gesture control and has put on a bit of weight and girth but these last two differences are barely noticeable.
Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 looks quite different from the first 10-inch Galaxy Tab the company produced.
A big motivator behind that is no doubt to avoid any legal pitfalls as the first model was dragged through the courts globally on the grounds it looked too much like an iPad.
Anyway, this time round the device has a smaller stretch of space above the screen and a larger expanse below, while the whole device has an added grey/silver bezel round the outside which is particularly visible at the sides when you look at the tablet from the front.
We actually quite like this and it's an improvement over the original Galaxy Tab 10.1's design.
We wouldn't say it looks better than the iPad 3 though it's perhaps as nice, just different.
Winner - Draw
Hardware
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 2 is fitted with a dual core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor which is fairly similar to other tablet setups and should deliver fairly good performance for navigating the Android platform and running demanding apps and games.
However, Apple has brought something rather special to its new iPad, as everyone expected it would. The new device features a new processor chip called the A5X which has quad core graphics capability for speeds up to four times faster than its nearest rival, the Nvidia Tegra 3 chip.
You can bet the iPad 3 will outperform Samsung's offering in virtually all areas.
Winner - Apple iPad 3
Display
Samsung's 10.1-inch PLS TFT isn't exactly anything to write home about and feels like a rush job. Ok so it's got a 1280x800 pixel density and a 149ppi pixel density but the screen technology behind it is about as basic as you can get.
With the iPad 3 Apple has finally managed to bring its acclaimed Retina display technology to its larger-screened tablet devices.
That means you get a 2048x1536 pixel resolution on a 9.7-inch IPS LED-backlit screen, with a pixel density of 264ppi. You probably won't find a sharper touchscreen on any other current tablet so Apple has firmly reclaimed its crown when it comes to display tech.
Winner - Apple iPad 3
Camera
Samsung's newest 10-inch Galaxy Tab hasn't received much attention on the camera front with only a 3.15-megapixel primary at 2048x1536 pixels, but at least it has an LED flash alongside autofocus, geo-tagging, 1080p video capture and a VGA secondary.
Apple has gone the extra mile with the iPad 3's camera setup. As expected it's borrowed some of the well-recieved tech from the iPhone 4S, which includes a 5-megapixel backlight-illuminated sensor (BSI), stabilisation for both video and still images, 1080p video recording and both autofocus and auto-exposure.
Apple wins this round easily with a camera that would shame most of the tablet competition.
Winner - Apple iPad 3
Conclusion
We never felt Samsung was putting its best foot forward with this half-hearted re-hash and Apple has proven as much by bringing out a new iPad which leaves it in the dust.