Samsung has dropped the price of the Galaxy Tab 2 to $199.99, a $50 price drop.
The tablet is Samsung’s flagship economical tablet for the 2012 holiday season. It was based off the (more powerful, but discontinued) Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, and the first tablet to ship from Samsung with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. Samsung has had trouble however with its new Tab. After dodging sales bans from litigation with Apple, the tablet went head-on initially with ASUS’s Nexus 7, and now Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD.
On paper, Samsung had plenty of reasons to justify the extra $50 price tag. Unlike the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD, the Galaxy Tab 2 has a built-in rear-facing camera, which can actually take quality photos. Both ASUS and Amazon faced pricing impossibilities when adding a camera at the $200 price-point; prototype Nexus 7 units actually had rear-facing cameras built-in. Amazon breaks even on its tablets, and refused to sell Fire HD at a loss by adding in a rear camera.
Geeks will also appreciate the Galaxy Tab 2’s microSD slot, a feature Google has tended to shun in how it designed Android 4.0. Second-generation seven-inch tablets have started to trend toward deleting the microSD slot altogether.
In addition, the Tab 2 was targeting back-to-school students with a hardware-attachable keyboard, a la iPad and ASUS Eee Pad Transformer. Both the Fire HD and Nexus 7 however can use Bluetooth keyboards. And, finally, Galaxy Tab 2 arguably has a superior screen to at least the Nexus 7.
In the end, the Galaxy Tab 2’s price cut is only made possible by Samsung’s in-house chip fabrication. ASUS must license its chips from NVIDIA (Tegra 3) and Amazon from Texas Instruments (OMAP), Samsung has breathing room here in its profit margin equation that the other two companies lack.
Still, it’s a tough sale for us to recommend the Galaxy Tab 2 over Nexus 7 and Fire HD. All three run Android 4, but the Nexus 7 is a device targeted by Google for the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), meaning, Nexus 7 gets new Android releases (such as Android 4.1, Jelly Bean) from day one, whereas all other devices have to wait months (at times, almost a year) before being updated. And, Kindle Fire HD has access to Amazon-exclusive features such as Prime Instant Videos and the Kindle Lending Library, which Amazon refuses to make available for other Android devices (Prime Instant Videos is offered to iPad owners, however).
Even though the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD each have their own merits, the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD lacks GPS, which both Nexus 7 and Galaxy Tab 2 have built-in.
The Galaxy Tab 2 is only a device we recommend for those that want a good tablet with a good rear-facing camera. Anyone else in the market for a seven-inch tablet should probably go for the Nexus 7, unless they prefer the ease and Amazon-exclusive features of the Kindle Fire HD.
Now, for those with unlimited, unthrottled, uncapped 4G LTE, we do also recommend taking a look at the Galaxy Tab 2 LTE on Verizon Wireless. That tablet is identical, but available for $349… without any contract. You can always use it as a Wi-Fi tablet, and drop your LTE SIM card into it from your smartphone when traveling.
Galaxy Tab 2’s price drop is already in-effect this morning at Office Depot, Best Buy, Amazon.com, and Fry’s Electronics.
Article has been edited to clarify that the Galaxy Tab 2 and Nexus 7 have standalone, autonomous GPS, but most Kindle Fire models do not. Only the Kindle Fire 8.9-inch 4G LTE variant includes GPS. Google requires GPS in all Android tablets in order to qualify for certification by Google, and the Kindle Fire is not certified by Google.
There is two important features why Galaxy Tab 2 is better than many other 7″ tablets.
1. 3G connectivity: You can actually have a data connection on tablet and forget smartphones and go back to mobile phones for basic calls/sms with much better battery lifetime.
2. Voice calls (GSM calls): You can actually buy a bluetooth headset and keep Tab 2 your phone with a much better battery lifetime than what is available on any smartphone. Only thing what is needed, is that you have pocket big enough or backpack or purse where to keep device when outside. Inside a house or other similar situations you are better with bluetooth dongle.
I am going to buy Tab 2 7.0″ only because those features, because I am sick for smartphone screen being too small (<5") for actual reading and web using, and having terrible battery lifetime. Cameras are not so important, as long there is read camera for note taking, because I like to use DSL what is always superior for any smartphone camera because controls and DOF effect. And because I anyway need to travel with backpack and camera, a tablet isn't a problem.
Oh, and third feature (bonus feature) is that Tab 2 includes a USB Host function, meaning that you can attach your external HDD/SDD/USB Stick to it and copy/view files to/from it.
Fri13, I think you are referring to a European version of the Galaxy Tab 2.
The Wi-Fi and Verizon LTE versions of the Galaxy Tab 2 can only make voice calls with a Voice over IP (VoIP) service. They do not have GSM data connectivity, and cannot make voice calls on any GSM network. The Wi-Fi version lacks any form of 3G connectivity.
I have the 7 inch galaxy tab 2 but it is only wifi…Sprint just got the 10.1 galaxy tab 2 with cellular…but 10 inches is tarded to walk around with and use…7 inch is perfect! for back pocket carrying, listening to music (wow the music player has an eq/dsp with room/hall/echo)
I would stop carrying a phone altogether if this 7 inch tab had cellular! I paid 250 and would pay that again without a problem.
I recommend this tablet by far to anyone who wants a tablet and I use the camera and micro sd slot majorly…Jelly Bean is already available for this tablet including voice search via AOKP rom so it’s just perfect.
Love samsung!
I just bought the Tab 2 7.0 love it!
I was going to get a Nexus 7 but the lack of the SD slot was a deal breaker. Makes no sense not to have the slot. Nook Tablet has one as will the HD models. I have three 32GB uSD card that hold movies, MP3 and other data.
Now if Samsung would intoduce a 7.0 Tab 2 with 32GB or 64GB of internal storage I’d buy another one.
An issue with the SD slot is that you can NOT install apps to the card in the SD slot. I hope Samsung fixes this with a software update.
Storing apps on the SD card was disabled by Google on Android 4. That’s what we were referring to in our review. The plan was by Android 4.1 to allow apps to be encrypted when purchased from the Play Store (thus preventing piracy), and disabling App2SD was required for that to happen.
Google also had a profit motive to discourage microSD by pushing people into Google Play Music, streaming Play Store Videos, and Google+ 25 GB photo storage… but I digress…
A bug in Jelly Bean prevented this from taking place, though it will likely happen with the next major Android release.
For Samsung to circumvent that, would break the Android Device Compatibility Test guidelines, as a result they can’t patch it when an update. You can enable App2SD by rooting the device and installing a third-party firmware, however.
I wanted this tablet to do offline GPS maps by doing the mapping online first. One of the things the Google and Amazon tablets don’t appear to have is a real GPS chip.
I also like the appeal of the IR which can be used as a universal tv remote.
As a stay-at-home dad I spend a lot of my time with my kids snapping photos w/ my iPod Touch but the camera is very limited.
I was leaning towards the Galaxy Player 5″ (I already traded in my iPod Touch to Amazon) but they’re both the same price so I may buy the 7″ now.
Camera, GPS, micro SD slot and IR at same price as Fire HD and Nexus make this a winner in my book. The Fire HD also costs $20 for the charger, unless you like waiting eleven hours for it to charge via USB.
Thanks for the reply Christopher.
I stopped by Best Buy tonight and got a $50 refund as I had just bought my Tab 2 3 weeks ago for $250. No problems and I walked out with $50 cash in my pocket.
Used the money to buy a nice Asus Bluetooth keyboard at CompUSA for the Tab 2.
Right now I have plenty of internal storage so no need to root the Tab 2 quite yet. If I run out I’m glad to know I have an option.
Bob, you are correct that Kindle Fire lacks autonomous GPS*, but the Nexus 7 does have autonomous GPS, just like the Galaxy Tab 2.
We’ve edited the article to make this more clear.
Having standalone/autonomous GPS is required for all Google-certified tablets, which is why the Kindle Fire HD lacks it.
* While Kindle Fire HD 7-inch and Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch models do lack autonomous GPS, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch 4G LTE version does have autonomous GPS. The GPS chip is provided as part of the LTE silicon.
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I don’t know from what I’ve seen and in my opinion the tab 2 is better than the N7. The N7 has tons of physical defects (screen raising, dead pixels, screen sensitivity issues). In addition I read a portion of the app don’t work because they aren’t compatible with the new Jelly Bean os. Most devices are still on ICS and therefore most apps would be compatible with it. Plus, Jelly Bean isn’t that great of an update from what I’ve read/heard. ALSO the biggest thing for me is that the Tab 2 can (using an adapter) use flash drives unrooted. Download a movie grab your flash drive and tablet and your good to go. Plus, the N7 isn’t that much faster than the Tab 2 for having a quad core processor.
I think the title should read “Samsung Slashes Galaxy Tab 2 Pricing to $199, Taking Heat from the coming iPad Mini.” Even if the Mini is priced $100 higher, it will be a formidable leading competitor.
Ordered my Tab 2 last night from Amazon. Still looking for a screen protector and a TPU case though, (nobody wants to make them, too many Tab 7 models I suppose).
ed. – I doubt Samsung lowered the price based on a product that so far only has an announcement of an announcement which didn’t even include a price. Nobody is going to buy a Samsung if they want an Apple, but they might buy 1 of 3 other Android tablets (Google, B&N, Amazon) which have the same size screen and are selling for $50 less. I only choose the Tab 7 after the price drop.
you might as well say “Kia lowers prices because Ferrari has new model coming out.” (It always comes back to car analogies.)
Don’t buy this item, the camera and video player are plagued with problem, actually you cannot use it. I have had this for two weeks and now I get gray pictures or it fails all together, just Google Galaxy 2 tab camera problems or galaxy 7.0 camera failed message thousands. They are are selling this thing knowing the camera does not work. I knew I should have bought an IPAD. As of this writing they have NO SOLUTION to this issue. Samsung event promotes how good of a quality picture the camera produces – class action.
RE: Bill – The camera isn’t the problem, the software is. Try another app, there are several good free ones, to take your outdoor photos. Hopefully someday Samsung will update this Tab to JB and the problem will go away.
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