Apple iPad Air vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1

Introduction

So, this has been an inevitable face-off: on one hand we have Apple's finest tablet, and on the other - Samsung's mainstream one. Even though they now occupy different classes, we're finding it hard to ignore the Galaxy Tab line, as it marked the beginning of Sammy's participation in the tablet race.

With a somewhat more generic-looking specs-sheet and without an S Pen stylus to differentiate it, though, the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 seems to be left quite defenseless against the assault of the powerfully-armed iPad Air. But, will this really prove to be such a one-sided affair? Won't the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 be able to unleash a secret weapon of some sort and prove that it, too, deserves its place on the market? Well, it does have its cheaper price, which is a good place to start... Let's take a closer look and see which one's the better deal!

Design

The iPad Air is as premium as you can get in the tablet world. The device is made of high-quality aluminum and comes in two beautiful color variations. Not only this, but the iPad Air is also remarkably compact and lightweight considering the sizable 9.7” display it's packing. Physical keys are also exceptionally well-made, and as a whole, using the iPad Air will be a pleasant and satisfying experience.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 can't offer you that much with regards to visual appeal with its generic-looking plastic body and heavier weight. The Tab 3 10.1 has a decidedly mid-range look, that doesn't stand out in any way considering not only the iPad Air, but also some other offerings out there such as the LG G Pad 8.3, Sony Xperia Tablet Z, Surface 2 or Kindle Fire HDX. The physical keys of the Tab 3 aren't particularly well-made, as they don't have that nice clickiness to them.

Display

The 9.7” display of the Apple iPad Air totally has the upper hand against the 10.1” panel of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, thanks to its higher resolution (2048 x 1536 for the iPad Air versus 1280 x 800 for the Tab 3). The result of this is that everything looks much cleaner and nicer on the iPad Air, due to its higher pixel density of 264 ppi. The pixel density of the Tab 3 10.1 stands at just 149 ppi.

The iPad Air's display is also much better calibrated. Its gamma is near perfect, meaning that both lighter and darker levels will be exactly as light or dark as they need to be. On the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, everything except the brightest levels is darker than it should, making for an unnecessarily contrasty image. Colors are also way better balanced on the iPad Air. Delta E (color error) values for Apple's tablet are at record low levels (the lower, the better), while this certainly isn't the case with the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, where everything appears quite bluish.

When viewed outdoors, the display of the iPad Air seems a bit easier to read. Its higher brightness output allows it to reach about 430 nits max, while the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 maxes out at about 400 nits.

Interface and Functionality

iOS 7 on the iPad Air and TouchWiz Android on the Galaxy Tab 3 present us with completely opposite approaches to user experience. Naturally, iOS 7 is the much easier to learn and use platform, with its simple icon grid layout. There is the Notification Center menu that let's you easily see stuff like the weather, your calendar for the day, as well as other notifications, but aside from this, there isn't much else you can do with your iOS homescreen.


On the other hand, TouchWiz comes with a bunch of in-your-face widgets that may seem a bit over the top, but they do let you access a lot of things right from your homescreen. In general, Android gives you the option to have widgets on your homescreen, which is very useful; however, there is going to be a bit more of a learning curve with it. Besides its complexity, the fact that there are dozens of settings within almost every app doesn't help either. TouchWiz has become a versatile, yet cluttered interface that could use some serious simplification.


The downside to Android on a tablet is that there are much fewer apps designed to take advantage of the big screen. On the iPad, there are more than 475,000 tablet-optimized apps, while on Android, that number is way, way lower. And this is one of the biggest reasons why the iPad is the universally preferred tablet at the moment, because you can do much more with it, thanks to its advanced applications.

Processor and Memory

The iPad Air plays it safe with the cutting-edge A7 64-bit SoC, which has a dual-core Cyclone CPU at 1.4 GHz, as well as the PowerVR G6430 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 seems to be more of an experiment, as it's powered by a dual-core Intel Atom processor, clocked at 1.6 GHz, and complemented by 1 GB or RAM.

Performance is good on both tablets, but the iPad Air definitely treats us to a more fluid and lag-free experience.

In terms of storage space, the iPad Air is available in 16, 32 or 64 GB of internal storage, with no option to expand that. The Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 comes with either 16 or 32 GB of storage, but it does feature a microSD card slot for memory expansion.

Internet and Connectivity

The iPad Air's Safari browser is well-known to iOS users, and with iOS 7, Apple has brought some much needed improvements such as full-screen view and a better tabs view. It's an incredibly fast and lag-free browser with instant response that makes browsing a joy. Also, if you're using multiple Apple devices, you get to have your tabs synced across them with the help of the cloud.

The Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 features Samsung's own browser in addition to Google's Chrome. Browsing is quick enough, but it's by no means as satisfying as on the iPad Air. The lower resolution isn't helping much either, as it's making text appear much worse than on the iPad.

Both tablets feature LTE and HSPA+ connectivity, so you have nothing to worry about when it comes to cellular data performance. Those willing to go with the Wi-Fi only iPad Air should keep in mind that there's no GPS receiver on that model.

Camera

The iPad Air has a 5 MP camera, while the Galaxy Tab 3 has a 3 MP camera. In terms of camera UI, the iPad stays true to Apple's overly-simplistic design approach, and thus presents you with the bare necessities only. In contrast, the Tab 3 lets you do whatever you want with that 3 MP snapper – it has a rich set of options allowing you to tweak a lot of things, if that's what you want.

Naturally, the iPad Air has the benefit of the higher resolution, as it manages to pack slightly more detail with its images, though the difference isn't really that big. Colors are also a bit more realistic with the iPad Air most of the time, although, once again, the Galaxy Tab 3 doesn't lag too much behind. Indoors, the difference is much bigger, as the iPad Air takes well-exposed, usable images, while the Galaxy Tab fares much worse.


The Galaxy Tab 3 takes fluid 720p video, which is fine, but the 1080p footage of the iPad Air is better in terms of both resolution and quality.

Multimedia

Even though its display is inferior, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 does have a more suitable aspect ratio for video playback. You can achieve the same image size with the iPad Air, should you decide to stretch the video so that it fills the screen, but this would mean that the leftmost and rightmost edges of the video will be cut out.

The Galaxy Tab 3 has stereo speakers positioned nicely on the opposite edges when the device is held in landscape mode. The iPad Air also has stereo speakers, but their positioning next to each other practically eliminates the stereo effect. Even then, we prefer the iPad's speakers, because they sound way better, especially in the lower frequency range.

Battery

Official information about the batteries of these two tablets is pretty scarse, but the bigger 8820 mAh juice pack of the iPad Air will easily deliver a longer lasting battery life, compared to the Galaxy Tab 3's much smaller 6800 mAh unit, especially when having in mind the differences in terms of power consumption for these two operating systems.

Conclusion

It's obvious that the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is the inferior tablet here, but the questions is – is its price cheaper enough to make it a worthy alternative to the iPad Air? The Wi-Fi only model can be yours for $360, which is $140 cheaper than the starting price of the iPad Air. While this shouldn't be overlooked, if we consider the way better experience one would have across the board with the iPad Air, we believe that Apple's tablet is worth it the extra cash. With its premium design, great platform and unsurpassed application catalog, you can do so much more with the iPad Air, and all of it will feel so much better.

Still, if you can't afford to spend $500 on a tablet, then the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 will not be such a bad choice. It has decent performance and camera, plus the Android OS has its advantages like homescreen widgets, and higher customizability.