I’ve never had a tablet before, but my old laptop has reached its “hot flash” stage, burning my thighs after about 10 minutes of operation, and I really don’t need computer processing capability. So, I’m in for one… I just hope it will be gentle with me, being well, you know, my first time and all.
I feel so vulnerable; the last time I felt like this was Prom Night.
Bought mine ($499) about a year ago. It doesn’t matter what OS version it comes with. Because it is a direct (not bound to a specific company like Verizon, etc) Samsung product, it will update to latest version (via Wifi) available for the tablet automatically. Mine is running Jellybean 4.1.2 at the moment.
This is a great tablet IMHO. I have used it nearly daily for 2-5 hours a day for research,and then some days longer when reading a novel. Never a hiccup and the battery life is still great.
I don’t use the pen much, but an artist friend tried it and was impressed with the pressure sensitivity. Multiple apps open at once is also a convenience.
The specs on this unit say the resolution is 1280 X 800 and the operating system is: Android™ 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich); Upgradeable to 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Display Size: 10.1"
Not the same specs as the one on this website which compares the IPad, Sony and Galaxy 10.1
The S pen is exclusive to specific Samsung note devices. It’s better than a stylus you find on ebay, WAY more accurate. Great for note taking and creating presentations for work AND school. Plus, dual Window means you can have your readings on one side and the notepad on the other.
That being said, if you don’t do a lot of reading with note taking (or material creation in general, I’d suggest spending less on a tablet meant for media consumption (like a kindle or nook)
The headline of your link specifically says the 2014 version of the Note 10.1, which has higher resolution than previous models.
That’s for both. 90 Day Nuko
A Wacom pen is basically a capacitive pen with a strain gauge to measure pressure (the same technology in electronic scales). That’s why I said that all you need to do is add Bluetooth and a strain gauge to an ordinary $2 capacitive pen and you’d have a S-pen. Being able to rest your palm is super simple. All you have to do is to disable a tablet’s multi-touch or multi-point feature whenever it detects the pen being used (through the stain gauge). The tablet will then only register the pen and ignore your palm. There is no need for any primo digitizing layer.
Nuko is the Same company that Samsung contracts to do their refurbishing.
Pressure sensitivity is easy to implement. Just add a cheap strain gauge to the nib of the pen. And this Samsung is not revolutionary at all. From 2005 until last year I was running Win XP tablet edition on a Fujitsu tablet. Not only did it use a stylus but it had very accurate handwriting and voice recognition. It even recognized my messy medical cursive. And it ran the REAL Microsoft Office so I was able to use all the advanced editing to write 50 page scientific papers. Not bad for a 900 mhz Celeron tablet that I bought on eBay for $110!
Nuko is great. The one guy I dealt with was friendly, knowledgeable and funny. He even told me a little secret… If you don’t want to pay for shipping, you have to request a prepaid shipping label. Their policy is not to offer it automatically. And it helps to say “please.” The guy was so nice, my girlfriend insisted he was flirting with me. 
That’s where I got mine, and it was about $10 cheaper at the time than this deal but no cover. I haven’t had any issues with mine. It came just like new. I love having the big screen,but we don’t have anything to prop it up with so we’ll have to get a cover.
The system came with 4.0.4 and I haven’t seen a compelling reason to upgrade yet. It seems plenty fast. The built in speakers work great for watching videos.
All in all, I’d say this would be a good buy if you want a big tablet that’s quick for about as cheap as you can find (without testing your luck on some of the no-names out there).
Unrelated, the windows tablets have gotten very price competitive recently, and I love their interface but there are still a few apps I need that aren’t in their eco system yet.
Looks like the charge port is some large custom thingy instead of standard micro USB. It looks like aftermarket chargers and cables are cheap but still. When traveling it’s annoying to remember to bring all the cables you need.
Still, this looks like a nice tablet to have. I wonder why high end tablets like this don’t have GPS built in. Every phone does and it’s a cheap module to add, especially when you have all this room in a full sized tablet.
The Note does use it’s own charge cable. They are cheap. But pretty durable. As for the GPS. This does have it built in. I use it all the time with maps, Trulia, etc…
This does have GPS. Page 146 of the manual tells you how to use it. Unfortunately, Woot forgot to list it in the Specs.
One reason manufacturers may leave out GPS for large tablets is because they’re not portable to carry in the pocket. They reason that the GPS would then just add cost and shorten the battery life (if users forget to turn it off). I’ve had my 10.1" Asus tab for about a year and I have yet to tr out the GPS. I don’t have a car and carrying that thing on the street isn’t very practical.
GPS can be very useful even on a tablet without a cellular radio. You can tether a tablet to your smartphone’s cellular data connection via wifi. Gives you a phenomenal NAV device. The large screen showing more map is great, especially when you’re looking for alternative routes.
GPS when not being used by an app uses virtually no battery juice. Some crappy apps don’t release it. But GPS is easy to toggle off in both Android and iOS.
BTW, using a respectable NAV app via cellular data uses a lot less data than you might think. Not a big deal at all. We’ve concurrently run three NAV apps on the same device (accuracy verification) on 1,500 mile trips and used less than 75 MB.
Just a question from some one who is addicted to Farmville. Will it play a flash game?
Yes, just download version 11.0 of Flash player from Adobe. The earlier version will work well.
Thank you…will now press the button!
Have you cleaned out the dust that might have collected inside? Spend $2 on some air in a can, open your machine up, give it a good cleaning. It will make a world of difference.
I am trying to find the terms for the Nuko warranty policy; anyone have details?
I am a little wary of a refurb.