Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 Specs, Comparisons & What You Should Know

Last updated on

17/08/2018

Published on

November 4, 2017

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2016 is a lower middle-class tablet released in 2016. While Samsung released it with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the Korean company already pushed an update to Android 7.0 Nougat. Its main highlights are a 10.1-inch full HD screen, a solid performance, optional S Pen and a mostly inexpensive price.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 on* Amazon

Note: As of August 2018, you can get the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 which is the successor to the Tab A 10.1.

Highlights

10.1-inch full HD screen
Solid performance
Optional S Pen
Android 7.0 Nougat
Future updates likely

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1: The Basics

Like all tablets from its Galaxy Tab A lineup, the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 is a cheaper tablet without a lot of premium features. Samsung is shipping it with a full plastic body and, unlike the Galaxy Tab S3, without any fingerprint reader or USB Type C ports. It features a micro SD card slot, a micro USB port and two speakers on the bottom. As you might expect, it looks like a typical device from Samsung – including the home, recent and back buttons underneath the display.

As you might have guessed from its name, it offers a 10.1-inch screen. In fact, the screen is pretty nice because it has a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1200. Depending on the country, Samsung often offers it with an optional, active S Pen.

Inside the Galaxy Tab A 2016 runs an Exynos 7870 octa-core processor with all eight cores clocked at 1.6GHz. In addition to that, we are getting 2GB of RAM and a 16GB internal storage. The version with the S Pen offers 3GB of RAM. It supports WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2 and optional 4G LTE. There’s an 8-megapixel camera on the back and the front-facing camera has a resolution of 2 megapixel.

While Samsung is shipping the tablet with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the company already released an update to Android 7.0 Nougat. Will it ever get Android 8.0 Oreo? That’s certainly not for sure. But Samsung has been quite good with updates in the past, so it might come in the future.

Full Specifications

Tablet	Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016)
Operating System	Android 6.0 / Android 7.0 via update
Display	10.1-inch IPS with 1920 x 1200
Processor	Exynos 7870 octa-core
Storage	16GB
Expandable	microSD card slot (up to 256GB)
RAM	2 – 3GB
Rear Camera	8-megapixel
Front Camera	2-megapixel
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, optional LTE
Charging	micro USB
Battery	7300mAh
Security	No fingerprint reader
Dimensions	254.2 x 155.3 x 8.2 mm
Weight	525g

Comparisons: Possible Alternatives

By now, there are tons of interesting alternatives to the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1. It really depends by country whether you want to take a closer look at them. While it has gotten quite cheap in some parts of the world, in others it is still quite expensive.

So, depending on the price, you could look at a couple of direct competitors. One of the more interesting ones is the new Amazon Fire HD 10. The tablet from Amazon is inexpensive, offers a similar performance and a full HD screen as well.

Another direct competitor is the Huawei MediaPad M3 Lite 10. While it usually costs a bit more, it features a full metal body and four very nice speakers. It has a 10.1-inch full HD screen as well and the performance is similar.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 Video Reviews

I reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 in 2016 already. Here are a couple of videos that you should check out before you buy:

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2016 is a 10-inch Android tablet with a full HD screen, octa-core processor and Nougat. You can get it with optional 4G LTE and an optional S Pen stylus.