Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 review: Pros and gones

Multi Window multi-tasking

Samsung has improved tremendously its Multi Window multitasking feature. To access this feature you must enable it in the settings. Then you can open its menu from anywhere in the UI by a left swipe from the right edge of the screen. There you would find a list of currently running apps and also all the apps that support Multi Window.

Multi Window menu and settings

Multi Window, just like before, allows two apps to share one screen. You launch apps by tapping them or dragging them out. Then you can resize them by dragging the dedicated virtual separator. You can tap a currently running app from the list to replace the active half of the screen, but you can't drag those out.

Multi Window in action

Unlike on the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, there are no floating apps here, at least not on the software we're running.

You can configure various content from My Files, Videos, or even email attachments to open straight in new windows under the multi-window feature.

Finally, Multi Window supports combinations - you can assign a shortcut that opens any two apps of your choice side-by-side with just one tap. Nice!

Synthetic benchmarks

As we've already established, the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is powered by either a Snapdragon 800 chipset or an Exynos 5420. The two have very different processor and GPU combos, but both have 2GB of RAM.

The Snapdragon 800 chipset has four Krait 400 cores at 2.3GHz and Adreno 330 GPU, while the Exynos chipset has four each of Cortex-A15 at 1.9GHz and Cortex-A7 at 1.3GHz, plus Mali-T628 MP6 GPU.

We're reviewing the LTE-enabled, Snapdragon 800-powered version of the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1. The performance of the chipset is quite familiar by now and there were almost no surprises.

The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 posted a slower Benchmark Pi time than its Tab Pro 8.4 sibling, but performance is close to other flagship tablets like the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (with Exynos).

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  99
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  100
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  115
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  116
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  126
• LG G Pad 8.3
  131
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  137
• LG Optimus G Pro
  147
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  211
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
  324
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
  351
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
  470
• Samsung Galaxy 3 7.0
  483
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 Plus
  488

The full system tests AnTuTu 4 and Quadrant, however, shows there's virtually no difference between the 8.4" and 10.1" Galaxy Tab Pro tablets.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  34016
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  33996
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  33198
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  32991
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  32796
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  31109
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  24236
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  20216
• LG Optimus G Pro
  20056
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  19131
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
  17159
• Google Nexus 10
  12695
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  9070

Quadrant

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z1
  20388
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  20052
• LG G2
  19815
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  18177
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  17963
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  16769
• LG Nexus 5
  8844

Similar to Krait 400, Adreno 330's performance is well known at this point. Overall performance is similar to that of the PowerVR G6430 GPU in the Apple iPad Air and better than the Mali-T628 inside the Exynos chipset Samsung uses on its tablets.

GFXBench 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  26
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  26
• Apple iPad Air
  25
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  25
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  22
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  22
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  21
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  15
• LG G Pad 8.3
  15
• Google Nexus 10
  13.9
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  7.0
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  4.0

GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  9.7
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  9
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  8.9
• LG Nexus 5
  8.5
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  8.1
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  5.6
• Galaxy Note 10.1 (Exynos)
  5.6

The 2,560 x 1,600 resolution of the screen, however, has quite an effect on 3D performance. Some engines (like Unreal) have the option to render at lower resolution and upscale, which allows more advanced processing to be used and may result in higher image quality, despite the lower resolution.

GFXBench 2.7 T-Rex (on-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  27
• Apple iPad Air
  21
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  17
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  17
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  14
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  14

GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan (on-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  9.9
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (Exynos)
  5.6
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  5.0
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  4.7
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  2.9
• Galaxy Note 10.1 (Exynos)
  2.8

We used the Android browser for the SunSpider test - Chrome is pre-installed on the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1, but Samsung has customized the stock browser for truly excellent performance. The Tab Pro 10.1 is one of the best performing Android devices, though Apple still has the lead here.

SunSpider

Lower is better

• Apple iPad Air
  373
• Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  531
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
  569
• Transformer Pad TF701T
  606
• Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  607
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  651
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1011
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  1150
• LG G Pad 8.3
  1190
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1233
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  1366
• Google Nexus 7
  1703
• new Apple iPad
  1722
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
  1891
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
  1953
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
  1992
• Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
  2253
• Huawei MediaPad
  2490

If we get our hands on the Exynos-based Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 we will re-run the benchmarks to see how both compare, but the results are easy to predict - Snapdragon should come slightly ahead in CPU and 3D tests, while the Exynos version has a slight edge in web tests.

Either way, both are nearly evenly matched and offer the performance you can expect from a current generation flagship tablet.