The Slate from T-Mobile is manufactured by LG and is sold under the T-Mobile branding and has good specifications and overall build quality for a very cheap price but the Galaxy Tab from Samsung has been one of the most spoken about tablets in the HoneyComb Tablets section, and is marketed as the best iPad competitor and comes with a lot of features.
We have also compared the Samsung Galaxy Tab with some other HoneyComb Tablets too. Do check out Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Vs Toshiba Thrive Tablet Comparison, Acer Iconia Tab A500 Vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Tablet Comparison, Motorola XOOM Vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Tablet Comparison and Galaxy Tab 10.1v P7100 vs iPad 2 WiFi+3G Comparison and if you’re living in the US and looking at options with the T-Mobile G-Slate, you might also want to read Acer Iconia Tab A500 Vs T-Mobile G-Slate 4G Tablet Comparison and Asus Eee Pad Transformer Vs T-Mobile G-Slate 4G Tablet Comparison before making your purchase.
Table of Contents:
- Form Factor Comparison
- Display Comparison
- Camera Comparison
- Operating System and User Interface Comparison
- Connectivity Comparison
- Memory Comparison
- Processor and Battery Comparison
Form Factor:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is really thin, at 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.6 mm while the T-Mobile Slate 4G is 243 x 149 x 12 mm is more or less the same. The Samsung Galaxy Tab weights just 560 grams, with a weight of 620g on the Slate 4G, making it quite higher in weight compared to the Galaxy Tab.
The T-Mobile Slate 4G is much lesser in size when compared to the Samsung Galaxy Tab as it has a smaller screen size and is thus more portable and easier to carry along. Do look out for your convenience before making the choice between these two tablets. Also, The Galaxy Tab is one of the slimmest tablets in the world, and comes with a sleek and appealing design and here are 9 Reasons Why the Galaxy Tab 750 is the Best Tablet .
Winner: Galaxy Tab 10.1
Display:
When it comes to the display, the T-Mobile Slate 4G has a 8.9 inch display which has a maximum resolution of upto 1,280 x 768 while the Samsung Galaxy Tab has a 10.1 inch screen, which supports upto 256K colors and a maximum screen resolution of 1280×800. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor and an accelerometer while the T-Mobile Slate 4G has the same sensors on it except the Proximity sensor.
Both the displays are capacitive screens and support multi touch input.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab
Camera:
Both the tablets come with cameras and the Galaxy Tab’s camera has a smaller camera unit, compared to other tablets in this category, with a 3.2MP camera and a maximum resolution of 2048×1536 pixels. On the other hand, the T Mobile Slate 4G has two 5 Megapixel cameras on the back. Both the cameras work together, they shoot at 720p in the 3D Mode while when they are used for normal video capture, they record at Full HD at 1080p. The Galaxy Tab shoots videos at 720p resolution.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab does comes with an LED flash and autofocus while the T Mobile Slate 4G has one small LED flash near one of its cameras.
T-Mobile’s rebranded Lg G-Slate 4G and Samsung Galaxy Tab have a secondary front facing camera, a 2MP on the G-Slate and a 1.2MP on the Galaxy Tab one and is used for video calling by various apps on the Android platform such as Skype, Fring etc.
Also note that the front facing camera on the T Mobile Slate is not center positioned like on all other tablets, and it is awkwardly placed to one corner of the screen.
Winner: T-Mobile G-Slate 4G. (3D and Full HD recording)
Operating System and User Interface:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab TF101 runs on Honeycomb 3.1 while the T Mobile Slate 4G comes with HoneyComb 3.0. However, the latest version of HoneyComb is 3.2 is already available to the Galaxy Tab users but no word on availability of 3.2 for Slate 4G yet, so it might or might not be coming soon.
Applications are aplenty and all apps on Android smartphones will run on tablets too, enlarged. Also, there are a lot of native apps on HoneyComb pre installed in the device and tablet specific apps are only about 200 in the Android Market and you can check out the Best Apps for Honeycomb Tablets and Best Games for HoneyComb Tablets also.
Though they run on the same operating system, there is a slight change in the User Interface. The Galaxy Tab runs TouchWiz 4.0 (which is also seen on its high end smartphones like the Galaxy SII) top of Honeycomb, which adds its own small tweaks and gesture improvements throughout the software while the T-Mobile Slate doesn’t have any UI on top of HoneyComb. There’s stock HoneyComb on the device with no tweaks on the User Interface or the User Experience from LG or T-Mobile.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Connectivity:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3G supports GSM bands on 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and HSDPA on 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 on 3G and comes with a standard SIM Card slot, if you are going for the 3G Model. While the T-Mobile Slate 4G supports 4G networks in the USA on the T-Mobile Network and has a SIM Card slot on the top of the tablet.
Both the tablets have Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n and both of them have WiFi Hotspot capabalities, thanks to Android HoneyComb which has made it a standard features across all devices right from the most basic Android smartphones. To know how to use your Android HoneyComb Tablet as a WiFi Hotspot ad tether its internet connection, read How to Tether Android HoneyComb Tablets as WiFi Hotspot .
A-GPS support for location and navigation are also present and both devices have Bluetooth 2.1 and USB 2.0 connectivity, along with a HDMI port on the Galaxy Tab and G-Slate making it a true entertainer on the move. The HDMI port allows you to connect your tablet to a large screen and enjoy your HD Videos or games.
Also, there is a six-pin dock connector on the T-Mobile Slate 4G in the bottom along with MicroUSB and HDMI ports.
Winner: T-Mobile G-Slate 4G
Memory:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab comes with 16, 32 or 64 GB of memory but there’s no slot for further expansion on it while the T-Mobile Slate 4G has 32GB of internal memory and no memory card slot for expansi0n.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab
Processor and Battery:
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, with 1GB of DDR2 RAM while the Slate 4G from LG has a 1GHz Tegra 2 processor with 1GB of DDR2 RAM.
Though both the processors might look similar on the technical side, the Galaxy Tab has a Tegra 2 T20 chipset with ULP GeForce™ GPU for quick Web browsing and HD Gaming.
The Galaxy Tab from Samsung comes with a 7000 mAh battery while the T-Mobile Slate 4G also has over 8 hours of battery life, with the exact specifications of the battery not known. Continuous usage and entertainment on the Galaxy Tab gives over 10 hours of battery life.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab
Conclusion:
The Galaxy Tab from Samsung is worth the money you would be investing on a tablet, because of its sleek looks and good User Interface. However, the G-Slate is more portable at 8.9 inches and has better ease of use and handling. If you’re the power user who would use a tablet for multiple purposes and document processing, go ahead and get the Galaxy Tab though it costs a bit more while the G-Slate from T-Mobile is the best suited for you if you’re a person who commutes a lot and looking for a comfortable and handy tab for quick entertainment, social networking or emailing.
