Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) review: A nice price, but where's the 'wow'?

11.04.2012

Samsung added a "Mini Apps" button in the bottom-center of the screen that brings up a menu of applications.

With the Tab 2 (7.0), for the most part, you're getting the actual ICS-level interface with some arbitrarily changed colors and fonts that make it look a little less classy and polished. Samsung added a handful of features, too, such as a "Mini Apps" button in the bottom-center of the screen that brings up a menu of applications, all of which can be loaded in small overlay windows from anywhere in the system.

Samsung replaced the stock ICS Camera app with its own, too -- a cosmetic change, more than anything -- and added a somewhat intrusive screen-capture icon to the main system navigation area. (Ice Cream Sandwich has a native screen-capture command that can be activated by pressing the volume-down and power buttons together, making Samsung's addition rather redundant.)

The Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) has Samsung's usual sets of Hubs (interfaces for buying and managing music, games, multimedia and news/magazine content) and as well, but Ice Cream Sandwich gives you an easy way to if you don't plan on using them and want them out of your way.