Samsung Galaxy Tab 3
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (7 inch) is a commercially available tablet.
Overview
This is a review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7 inch tablet. Specifically, Model SM-T210R, made in Vietnam by Samsung; FCC ID: A3LSMT210. The version disassembled was a WiFi 8GB.
It uses the Marvell PXA896 SoC, and is a very well made tablet.
Display
The display size is 7" diagonal w. 16:9.5 aspect ratio. The resolution is 1024x600.
There are two internal speakers, independently wired, and an internal mono microphone.
Connectivity
The Galaxy Tab 3 has 802.11a/b/g WiFi and Bluetooth, using a single antenna.
Location/Movement
The Galaxy Tab 3 has both full GPS and an accelerometer.
Ports
- One USB OTG
- One microSD card, externally accessible
Power
The battery is a Li-Ion single prismatic cell (14.8 Wh, 4000 mAh). It is held in a plastic frame by the label (pieces from the edge wrap around the frame and attach to the opposite side of the cell.) The battery assembly is 4.8 mm thick (not counting swell).
It is rated at 10W from the USB adapter while charging.
Breakdown
The tablet first breaks down into a bottom half containing the vast majority of the electronics and a top half consisting of the sandwich of touchscreen and display:
Electrically, the tablet consists of a main PCB, several flex cable assemblies with peripherals, and the display sandwich.
Height
The tablet thickness is roughly 10.3mm. The height stackup is:
| Cover Glass: 1.0mm | |
| Touchscreen: 0.9mm | |
| Air Gap: 0.8mm | |
| Display: 3.7mm | |
| Swell gap: 0.4mm | Main PCB: 4.8mm |
| Battery: 4.7mm | |
| Back cover: 1.3mm | |
The touchscreen is a multitouch projected capacitance screen, probably built with two layers of ITO on the piece of glass mounted inside of the cover glass (not quite single glass technology). An insulating material is placed between the two layers when they cross. The insulating material can be seen as a grid of dots when held at the wrong angle in sunlight. The air gap is created by a rim of black foam, 0.8mm in height, placed right outside the active area of the display (mostly on the bezel).
The back cover is extremely thin (1 mm ?) plastic.
Weight
TBD
BOM
The motherboard components are: Marvell PXA986, with Micron POP memory code 31A78 / D9QJX A Marvell PMIC, 812 / 00D0E 39307 / P47A1Q / CSSP / AL3VX / SG many pin flip chip CSR GPS chip SSD controller (next to Flash ROM) AB0V / 332AUB
w. 12 MHz crystal and separate linear voltage regulator
Samsung KL8G1WE4A-A001 Flash ROM Marvell 88W8787-BKB2 plus two power amp chips accelerometer Touchscreen controller BT532 / QOHQ2 / 3W-000