Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 (Verizon) features gorgeous display, compact form factor

Score

4.1 stars
"Great"

(How we score)

Best compact tablet display on the market, thin profile, great LTE data speeds, solid audio output

High price, some lag issues, no Ice Cream Sandwich update yet, proprietary USB connector

Summary

While Apple has, so far, stuck to a single basic form factor for its tablet efforts, Samsung has taken an approach that's more like throwing a bunch of things at the wall to see what sticks. As such, it has 7-inch, 8.9-inch, 10.1-inch and, now, 7.7-inch tablets.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 that's the subject of this review features a gorgeous HD-resolution, 1280 x 800 pixel Super AMOLED Plus^(INFO) display as well as 4G data support for Verizon's speedy new LTE^(INFO) network. In my opinion, it sits in the sweet spot for tablet sizes, being fairly portable while still offering appreciably more screen real estate than current smartphones.

It has a sufficiently large battery that can power its 1.4GHz, dual-core processor through a full day's use, and its industrial design is attractive - if not exactly unique. The downfall for this device is its $499 on-contract price. That's a lot of money to pay for a device that still requires its own 2 year data contract to operate. You can get it without a contract for $699, but that still makes it a full $70 more expensive than Apple's impressive 3rd generation iPad, which includes a much larger, higher resolution display and also supports LTE data.

You'll find a video of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE in use after the Table of Contents, below.