Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 vs Nexus 10

Despite Hurricane Sandy bearing swiftly down on the East Coast of the USA, nothing can stop the mighty Google, which has today released a handful of new tablets in a collaboration with Samsung, which bear Google’s Nexus livery, which is fast becoming eponymous with high end, low-cost devices.

This time around, we’re taking a look at the newly announced Google Nexus 10 and we’ve decided to pit it against its closest competitor in the market, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, to see how it holds up against its big brother.

Display

In terms of visuals, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 doesn’t do too badly. Its 10.1-inch PLS TFT capacitive touchscreen displays 800x1280 pixels with a pixel density of 149PPI and offers multi-touch input. It’s an adequate screen, but it won’t blow you away.

The Nexus 10, however, has been amped up in the display department and offers some seriously high-end screen technology. It rocks a 10-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen which displays a whopping 2560x1600 pixels and has a pixel density of 299PPI.

This doesn’t even take into consideration the multi-touch input and added Gorilla Glass protection which will help you avoid scratches on your device’s frontage.

Winner – Google Nexus 10

Form

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - 262 x 180 x 8.9mm, 600g

Google Nexus 10 - 263.9 x 177.6 x 8.9mm, 603g

Form is one of those things that is wholly subjective; what one may find comfortable in the hand, someone else may find unwieldy and ergonomically displeasing, and vice versa. With both of these devices essentially being made by the same company, quality-wise there’s not a lot in it.

Both devices weigh within about 3 grams of each other, are an identical thickness and have a bevel of roughly the same thickness. There’s really not a lot to separate the two and declare one the clear winner over the other.

Winner – Draw

Software

Both devices run on Google’s Android operating system. However, the Samsung Galaxy Note comes boxed with version 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and although it’s upgradeable to version 4.1 (Jelly Bean), it’s still not quite up there with the Nexus 10 which has been endowed with the very newest version of Jelly Bean, 4.2.

Version 4.2 sees some neat new features such as PhotoSphere, which allows users to capture a 360-degree image and Gesture Typing, which offers text input similar to the popular ‘Swype’ keyboard, and also sees Google Now and the new Notifications system offered in version 4.1 get a cheeky upgrade too.

Winner – Google Nexus 10