Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 review: Third time's the charm

S Voice and Google Now

S Voice is Samsung's answer to Apple's Siri and Google's own Voice Actions - it can be used to initiate or answer a call, dictate text, play music, open an app, change a setting, make a memo (including voice memo), add a reminder, schedule an event, set or snooze an alarm or timer, check the weather, do a search on the internet, take a photo, look for local listings (e.g. nearby restaurants) and even get an answer to a question.

S Voice

Naturally, being a Jelly Bean smartphone, the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 also comes with Google Now.

Google Now integrates with your Google account and can access your daily routine, internet searches, email, etc. and give you information relevant to your interests and daily needs.

It provides traffic information to your work or home, knows those scores of sports teams you follow, has the weather forecast for your location and can even tell you who Kevin Spacey is.

Google Now

With the latest Android update, Google Now also has its own separate widget on the homescreen.

Synthetic benchmarks

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is powered by a dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 clocked at 1.6GHz, 1GB of RAM and a PowerVR SXG544MP2 GPU. We haven't seen an Atom processor running on an Android-powered Samsung tablet yet, so we were quite eager to see how it performs.

Benchmark Pi tests raw CPU performance regardless of cores, and it's obvious that Intel's architecture just isn't able to stand up to the likes of Exynos and Qualcomm's Snapdragon SoCs, as it comes out last in this test.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  132
• LG Optimus G Pro
  147
• HTC One
  151
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  262
• Sony Xperia ZL
  264
• Sony Xperia Z
  264
• HTC Butterfly
  266
• Oppo Find 5
  267
• HTC One X+
  280
• LG Optimus G
  285
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  305
• Google Nexus 10
  350
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  359
• Nexus 4
  431
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  488

In Linpack, the Tab 3 10.1 isn't quite able to jump over the hump into flagship territory, like the higher-spec'd Sony Xperia Tablet Z, but it does outperform the Google Nexus 10. Geekbench 2, however, shows it's significantly behind the pack.

Linpack

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  788
• LG Optimus G Pro
  743
• HTC One
  646
• Sony Xperia ZL
  631
• Sony Xperia Z
  630
• HTC Butterfly
  624
• LG Optimus G
  608
• Oppo Find 5
  593
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  588
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  222
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  214
• Nexus 4
  213
• HTC One X+
  177
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  176
• Google Nexus 10
  172

Geekbench 2

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  3227
• LG Optimus G Pro
  3040
• HTC One
  2708
• Google Nexus 10
  2543
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  2200
• Sony Xperia Z
  2173
• HTC Butterfly
  2143
• Sony Xperia ZL
  1995
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1845
• LG Optimus G
  1723
• iPhone 5
  1601
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1130

AnTuTu and Quadrant measure overall system performance by throwing in GPU, RAM, storage and more into the mix. Results here were markedly better than those, which tested only the CPU, especially in AnTuTu, where the Tab 3 10.1 was only beaten by the Samsung Galaxy S4 flagship smartphone.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  24716
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  24236
• HTC One
  22678
• Sony Xperia Z
  20794
• Sony Xperia ZL
  20743
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  20216
• LG Optimus G Pro
  20056
• HTC Butterfly
  19513
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  15547
• Oppo Find 5
  15167
• Google Nexus 10
  12695

Quadrant

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  12376
• LG Optimus G Pro
  12105
• HTC One
  11746
• Sony Xperia Z
  8075
• Sony Xperia ZL
  7912
• HTC One X+
  7632
• LG Optimus G
  7439
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  7215
• Oppo Find 5
  7111
• HTC One X
  5952
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  5916
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  5864
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  5450
• Nexus 4
  4567
• Google Nexus 10
  4385

GLBenchmark 2.5 puts the graphics processor to the test, and the device again falls towards the lower end of the charts when offscreen fps are measured. Epic Citadel, on the other hand, measures the performance of the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 at its native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, and posts some good numbers, beating out the former Galaxy S III flagship.

GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPad 4
  54.4
• Google Nexus 10
  40
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  40
• HTC One
  34
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  32
• Asus Padfone 2
  31
• Oppo Find 5
  30
• Sony Xperia ZL
  29
• Sony Xperia Z
  29
• LG Optimus G
  29
• HTC Butterfly
  27.9
• Apple iPhone 5
  27
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  26
• Nexus 4
  26
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  17
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  15
• HTC One X+
  12
• HTC One X
  9

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

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  17.1
• Apple iPad 4
  16.8
• Google Nexus 10
  13.9
• LG Optimus G
  13.9
• Sony Xperia Z
  13.5
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  13
• Sony Xperia ZL
  12.8
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  7.0

Epic Citadel

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  57.1
• HTC One
  56.4
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  56.4
• Sony Xperia Z
  55.6
• Sony Xperia ZL
  55.4
• LG Optimus G Pro
  54.2
• Nexus 4
  53.9
• Asus Padfone 2
  53.4
• LG Optimus G
  52.6
• Google Nexus 10
  52.1
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  43.1
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  41.3
• Oppo Find 5
  38.6

When it comes to internet browsing performance, our web browser benchmarks offer mixed results. SunSpider shows decent but not spectacular JavaScript performance, while Browsermark 2, which is dedicated to performing HTML 5 tests, has the Tab 3 10.1 towards the top of the list. Vellamo, which is a combination of both, places the device towards the middle of its chart.

SunSpider

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  810
• Samsung Ativ S
  891
• Apple iPhone 5
  915
• Nokia Lumia 920
  910
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  972
• HTC One X+
  1001
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1011
• Motorola RAZR i XT890
  1059
• HTC One
  1124
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1192
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1233
• Sony Xperia ZL
  1290
• Sony Xperia Z
  1336
• LG Optimus G
  1353
• HTC Butterfly
  1433
• Google Nexus 10
  1462
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  1629
• Nexus 4
  1971

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

• LG Optimus G
  2555
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  2438
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  2363
• HTC One
  2262
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  2170
• Sony Xperia ZL
  2107
• Sony Xperia Z
  2093
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1801
• Oppo Find 5
  1797
• Nexus 4
  1794
• Nokia Lumia 920
  1774
• Google Nexus 10
  1773
• HTC Butterfly
  1475
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1247

Vellamo

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  2418
• HTC One
  2382
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  2265
• Sony Xperia Z
  2189
• Sony Xperia ZL
  2186
• HTC One X (Tegra 3)
  2078
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  2060
• Google Nexus 10
  1929
• HTC Butterfly
  1866
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1777
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1641
• LG Optimus G
  1522
• Nexus 4
  1310