Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 preview: First look

Two web browsers

A new Android version always comes with an improved web browser and the Jelly Bean browser running on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 is no exception. It looks much like Google Chrome and has pretty much the same functionality sans the cross-platform sync.

The browser interface is the same as most of the desktop browsers - a top row with all the opened tabs, and a second row with the back and forward buttons, the URL bar with a refresh button, the tab switching key and the bookmarks key.

Browsing GSMArena.com on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0

The browser supports both double tap and pinch zooming along with the two-finger tilt zoom. There are niceties such as find on page, save for offline viewing, request desktop site and so on.

The Web browser comes with Incognito mode, which lets you surf the web without the browser keeping track of your history or storing cookies.

Another cool feature in the browser is the Print option, which lets you print out web pages straight from your phone. Unfortunately, this only works with Samsung printers.

Quick controls are available as well.

If you prefer you can also use the preloaded Chrome which offers excellent cross-platform sync capabilities. It's quite similar in terms of interface, features (sans the Quick Controls), and behavior. Sometimes it's even faster.

Google Chrome

First impressions

With a launch price of $199, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 is aiming at the bottom end of the tablet market and should be ready to face plenty of super-compact slates by prominent brands and white-label manufacturers alike.

Samsung must've done its homework though and seem confident that the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 stands a reasonably good chance despite the clearly low-end specs. The screen resolution is scraping the bottom of the barrel and the chipset isn't exactly setting the benchmarks ablaze.

Voice call support is this tablet's ace up the sleeve. Probably not all tablet users care about this feature but it virtually narrows down the meaningful competition to a single device - the Asus Fonepad. If nothing else, this gets the Samsung entry-level tablet some breathing space in an otherwise very crowded market.