[Galaxy Tab 3 General] calden74:
On paper and in benchmark testing yes, absolutely, the 10.1 smokes my older 8, but in the real world, not so much, the 10.1 is just too laggy. With CM10 installed on my Tab 2 8" it's a very smooth experience, I have a lot more memory available when surfing and for apps. The Tab 3 10.1 literally has only 180MB of memory available once I have Gmail and Chrome up, Chrome constantly has to refresh the tabs that are opened. It's not a good tablet or the Touchwiz build that's installed is just not optimized, whatever the case may be my older 8" is a much more enjoyable experience. Especially with apps like Pinterest, Flipboard, Chrome, even Photoshop Touch runs better, actually PS Touch is unusable on the 10.1. Look, I 'm not a prick, I actually like Samsung tablets when their good. My Nexus 10 is just an incredible tablet, it's so much better than the Tab 3 10.1 that I have to wonder what the hell Samsung was even thinking, I mean it's like night and day. Fantastic resolution (much, much better than the Tab 3 10.1), it feels faster, actually a lot faster across the board, better build quality, gaming is just wonderful on it (for instance I get 9 FPS when playing MC4 on the Tab 3, the Nexus, 30+ and it's 2 times the resolution so what's going on), HDMI out, no bloatware and it was 30 dollars cheaper. So please tell me what the hell was Samsung trying to pull, I'm sorry but the Tab 3 10.1 is a piece of garbage and until Samsung fixes the firmware and I have to stand by that statement.

---------- Post added at 12:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 AM ----------

It's a brand new device, barely a couple of weeks old so it will be a month before we will see any XDA forums on it. HP keeps it's ROMS pretty close to stock, plus with that monster CPU & GPU there really isn't much in the way of customization that will make it any faster. If customization is your thing than you can't get any better than the Nexus 7. Have you looked at the Kindle HDX, Qualcomm 800, 2GB RAM, HDMI out, that thing trounces all of the Tab 3 models, it's a monster plus it has a really nice AOSP ROM available. I just bought one as a reader but it was so fast that I now also use it as a gaming console. Yes gaming console, since it has a built in HDMI out with a true 1080p out desktop I paired a PlayStation 3 game-pad and I now have the perfect mobile gaming system. All for 200 bucks, Tab 3, yeah right, you would have to be out of your mind to buy that instead of a Kindle HDX, there is zero comparison. I also get between 12 - 14 hours of battery with it when just reading or surfing, unheard of for a 7" tablet. Why is Samsung Tab 3 even in your list of possibilities, especially when there are so many more better tablets out there, there just not good tablets. Every reviewer has said the same thing about every model, lag, antiquated, expensive for what you get, etc. I'm not the only one here that is advising against them. The top two 7" tablets on the market today is the Nexus 7 and Kindle HDX, great tablets as well as fantastic value, especially when compared to the Tab3. Their obsolete the second you take it out of the box, why would you want to do that to your self, to save a few dollars, not worth the aggravation in my book, the development is even poor for them. Enough talk, I have said my peace on the matter, it's your money, I'm just trying to help. if you you feel that 2012 technology for 2014 prices is your bag, than go for it.