Samsung P6200 Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus

Samsung has released a successor to its popular (at least locally) Samsung P1000 Galaxy Tab. The P1000 Galaxy Tab was Samsung's first tablet which ran on Android and sported a 7-inch screen, 1GHz processor and phone functionality. The new P6200 Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is an updated version of the original.

The Good. The P6200 Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus has received the expected speed bump with a dual core 1.2GHz processor and Mali-400 graphics. The new Tab is 20% thinner (9.9 mm) and 10% (345 g) lighter than the previous model. It also supports HSDPA 21.1+ connectivity, whereas last year's model only came with an HSDPA 7.2 Mbps chip. The new P6200 Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus also runs on Android 3.2, a tablet OS, unlike the previous model which runs on a phone operating system.

Internal storage is still 16GB, but it now supports up to 64GB MicroSD cards which can give you a full 80 GB of internal storage.

The bad. Unfortunately, you do not get a new HD screen with the Galaxy Tab. Unlike other Android tablets which have 800 x 1280 displays, the P6200 Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus has the same 600 x 1024 display of the previous model.

Also despite having a dual core processor, video capture is listed as being limited to 720p instead of the 1080p most dual core devices are capable of.

The other specifications are similar to last year's model, with a 3.2 MP primary camera, 1.3 secondary camera and a 4000 mAh battery.

Price. At Php23,900 it is priced at the same level as a 16GB WiFi only version of the Apple iPad 2 or a BlackBerry PlayBook, which makes the P6200 Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus a rather reasonable choice since you do get 3G connectivity and full phone functionality with it.

The only real let down in the screen resolution, but then again the larger 9.7-inch iPad 2 "only" has a 768 x 1024 resolution and the PlayBook has the same 600 x 1024 resolution, and many people (myself included) are satisfied enough with that.

What would be really nice is if Samsung released a lower cost WiFi only version of this device without phone functionality.