I’m writing my experience with Samsung Galaxy Tab 3: T311 (3G version). I bought this 6 weeks back and tested this tab in all possible ways.
Screen: 8 inches Super clear LCD; though not the best in class it provides great viewing experience...U can’t find any pixels unless u zoom a lot.....But again for the price we pay it should have been at-least a IPS display (of-course we cant expect Retina display/ AMOLED for this price)...since even local brands like Micromax are offering IPS screens in Canvas tab.
The pros of screen are: Great viewing angles; smooth gaming (even at higher fps).
CPU & GPU:
The number of cores is not all that counts...yes this tab proved this...This is only DUAL CORE but this does multitasking far better than many QUAD CORES...Samsung has really put a great technology in this....this CU is Samsung own Exynos chipset supported...believe me operating this tab even with 10-12 apps simultaneously is butter smooth (never noticed a lag so far)
Coming to GPU...its Mali-400 make and the best in its class....I played Modern Combat 4; Dead trigger; Asphalt 7; Temple run; Subway surfers and many small games.....the tab is great even at higher fps.....no issues or lag at any moment...but since the screen is not very good...big games play with low details (u can hardly notice ) but again without any lags.
Battery life: 4450 maH - Non removable.
Stand by time : Around 2.5 days for me.
With Wi-fi on: Around 2 days.
With 3G on, (without wi-fi on) : Depends on network, signal etc. For me, I got 18 hrs without using and 8-9 hrs with continued usage.
With 2G on: 1 day (paradoxically; since I expected better).
With gaming 2hrs + 3G 2hrs + Talking 1hr: It lasted 9 hrs (which is supposedly good).
Camera:
Rear camera 5MP without flash with auto focus: This is the biggest con for this tab; Though no one uses a tab for taking good pics, a 5MP should give some decent pics for this price. Pics are all the way GRAINY; LACK DETAIL and if we zoom, its horrible, and in darkness the story worsens 10x times.
Hope Samsung gives at-least a software update to improve the camera performance. The front cam is 1.3MP (no auto-focus) is very good for video chatting ONLY.
Connectivity:
Only one word : The best.
#3G, 2G work like charm (through sim card).
#Bluetooth v4.0 with stereo: the best in class to connect headset, lappy, speakers and anything with Bluetooth; transfer speeds are very fast.
#Infrared: The peel smart app in this tab can be used to operate our LED/LCD TVs, Set top boxes.....It replaces our TV/DTH remote...I am using it for Panasonic LED and Airtel HD DTH box.
Watching Videos/movies:
The native video player in this tab plays full 1080p videos without any lags. But .mkv files played without audio. No problem since MX Player is free in Play store and plays everything. Other than this all formats of videos played very well. The outstanding feature of this player is POP UP VIDEO PLAY, which means the video player can be minimized and played while we do other tasks simultaneously.
Reading Books:
Again, its great to read on this 8’ screen...though not a retina display, reading is very good in this and eyes wont strain. The SMART STAY and READING MODE help to read continuously without repeatedly touching the screen even in the dark.
Phone functionality:
Since this is a 3G tab with simcard, we can use this as a regular smart phone. Surprisingly, this tab is only 8mm thick and won’t feel very bad when kept near the ears as much as expected. Of-course we can either use the loudspeaker or the wired headphones or a Bluetooth headset for voice calling the sound clarity is very good and so is the signal reception. SMS comes as threaded view with multitude of options to share and send.
Other features:
S Voice: If some one is either very lazy or very intelligent to use voice commands, then u can control many functions using this app. Also Google Voice comes preinstalled since its Android 4.2
USB OTG: Very much needed option..with this OTG (On The Go), we can connect pen drives, card readers, keyboard and mouse using an OTG cable.
Multi-Window: We can operate two different tasks simultaneously without interrupting other on the same screen. The best for multitasking.
Apps that work best with this tab:
Papyrus: The best Note taking app; u can simply write on the screen as in a note book; also u can add photos to this, edit them and can share this as in email, fb etc; also u can save this as PDF/JPEG format. I mentioned this app specifically since with this app our tab simply becomes a NOTE just like Samsung Note 8 (If needed we can buy a stylus online for 200 INR).
Other apps: Drippler; Skype; UC Browser; Clean master; Snap seed; Pixlr express; Cam scanner; True caller etc
What else we need to buy with Tablet (Must needed Accesories)
FLIP CASE / ROTATING CASE : around 600 INR online.
STYLUS : 200 INR.
BLUETOOTH HEADSET/ EAR PIECE: starts from 600 INR.
STEREO EARPHONES.
OTG Cable:100 INR.
Final words:
If u r looking for a 8’ tablet with inbuilt 3G, good quality, brand value, does a lot of multitasking and decent gaming : This is the best solution.
Other options:
Nexus 7c: 16k...a good (may be better option if 7’ is ok).
Micromax Canvas Tab 650: good and cheap substitute but NO OTG option.
XOLO Tab: very bad GPU..but a cheaper and viable option.
I hope my review helps to decide on buying a tab.
Thank you MouthShut.com.