Samsung Inc. has been slowly yet steadily launching a stream of tablets into the market over the last two years. One of the latest to quietly find a space on Indian store shelves a few weeks ago was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 620. The tablet, launched without much fanfare, is aimed at delivering a high-end tablet experience at a price tag that won't need you to pawn your gold to land enough cash.
What's in it?
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 620 is optimised with the Android Honeycomb 3.2 OS, like most of the company's recent tab launches. Although the display doesn't conform to the normal resolution of most apps, you can zoom in and expand non-tablet apps to fit the screen.
The OS is layered with Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz UX. The additions include a vertical-mode basic layout, optimised readability, a video maker and the option to create folders.
The Galaxy Tab 620 is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. There was barely any nagging delay or glitchy freeze during the period of the review. Armed with HSPA+, the tablet lets you browse the Web and play online games with data speeds of up to 21 Mbps (wherever you can access speeds like that in our country!).
The Tab 620 is definitely one of the lightest ones I have packed in to my bag. The 7-inch form factor also lends itself to being a very convenient device targeted at media consumption. Thinnest at 9.96mm, it neither looks ungainly nor does it look like something people pull out only to show off. Unless, you want to use it as your primary phone. I, for one, didn't mind giving this a try for a while. The voice quality on the device is clear enough for you to use it as a handset. Those who might cringe at the thought of talking into something so big, can always pair it up with a Bluetooth headset.
The battery life on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 620 was better than the average. I didn't use it as my primary phone during most of the review but put it through heavy media consumption. After a full charge cycle, the tablet kept me company for almost two days on sparing app usage, emails and social network updates.
The tablet also comes with the Cisco WebEx solution, which once set up, lets you join in on meetings while on the move. You can attend WebEx meetings with integrated audio, view documents and applications, enable screen-sharing with live annotations and chat privately with anyone in the meeting.
The negatives
The most frustrating bit about the tablet was the fact that the SIM compartment just wouldn't shut tight. I was using my regular SIM card on the tablet for a couple of minutes when a notification flashed saying that the tablet would have to reboot because the card had been removed. I'm not sure if this was due to a defective unit. So make sure you try it out before you purchase the tablet.
The camera on the Tab 620 was a 3-megger. It leaves a lot to desire, especially when you are surrounded with options that give you more megapixels for as much money. However, the flash on this one is strong and makes for decent pictures in low-light. The generic image quality, however, is nothing to write home about. Also, you can't zoom in to an object to click a picture on the tablet. The camera, however, lets you record videos in 720p at 30 frames per second. You also have a front-facing 2-meg camera for video conferencing.
The USB connector shipped along with the Tab 620 doesn't let you charge the unit via a PC. So, you'll need to carry the adapter along wherever you go.
The verdict
Not only is it compact, hence, portable but also supports USB On-The-Go, which lets you transfer any file or media on to the device directly from a smartphone or a pen drive. If you are looking for a no-frills tablet of decent build and compact size, the Galaxy Tab 620 is a good option for you. Also, if you feel like being a hipster and talking into a phone that's seven inches across!
Love: Decent touch interface, long battery life
Hate: Bad camera, unsteady SIM compartment
Rs 30,250
