I got mine on Monday and all I can say is WOW. I have finally found a tablet That can replace my Samsung S7 Windows tablet and my ThinkPad Android tablet. I am still learning how to use the SPen software which has many more features and uses than I anticipated. There is a bit of a learning curve because there are so many inking features that it will take time to put a full review together.
Here are the quick facts:
1. It is very, very fast with the Quad core Exynos processor. This is the international version which has 3g/4g built in. I believe the US version will have the dual core snapdragon.
2. The SPen is Wacom technology and I have tried other Wacom stylus and they work fine. Many won't care for the tiny toothpick size stylus that comes with this tablet, so ordering a $20 Wacom stylus from a Windows tablet provides more options and a more pen like feel.
3. The tablet does work with all of the inking apps from the play store like: Quill, Lecture Notes, Write, Writepad Stylus, Papyrus, EZPDF but the Samsung S Apps provide so many integrated options that I will not have to use other inking apps. The tablet also comes with Polaris Office suite like the old HTC Flyer which will allow for annotation in Word, PDF and PowerPoint documents.
4. Multiscreen view is going to be the most talked about feature on this tablet. You can do research on the web or watch a lecture or video while taking notes. This will be great for college students and business people.
Initial Cons:
1. I wish Samsung had made this with a 1920x1200 display.
2. Nice display, but not as bright as ASUS, Toshiba or Acer Android tablets.
3. Less touch sensitive display, probably due to the extra layer on the display for the Wacom digitizer.
4. I was excited to see front facing stereo speakers only to be let down by the low volume. Not As bad as some Android tablets, especially the ThinkPad.
5. Only getting about 6 hours of battery life so far. It should improve over time and a software update could fix it.
6. Only 16GB of storage. You have about 11GB available at startup. I added a 32GB microsd to help. The US version will have higher storage options. I don't know if I would want to give up the Quad core processor for more storage. I did try a 64GB microsd and no go. I was hoping that it would work but won't recognize any card higher than 32GB.
This thing is thin, light and attractive. Have the white version and it matches my white Verizon SGIII perfectly. It looks like a spitting image of my phone. No aluminum in the tablet, but it still feels like a high quality gadget.
If you can afford it, pick up the international version from Negri electronics today. They shipped it the same day from Las Vegas. If you can wait, the US version should be available by the end of August. I am a college student and needed something before then, so I paid extra. Still $600 less than a Samsung S7 Slate and with all of the features allows me to do about 95% of what I used my laptop for on the Galaxy Note 10.1. I purchased a Motorola Bluetooth keyboard with the point stick mouse on Amazon and now have a laptop like solution. Samsung will probably release a keyboard down the road, but this works for now.
I will constantly update this post as I use this tablet more.