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In some ways, Samsung shot its own foot off by not including the Media Hub on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and stating that this app will be available in a future update.
The app was one of the differentiators on the original Galaxy Tab because you could download TV shows and movies and watch them when you were offline.
The main way to watch movies and shows is through the browser, which supports Adobe Flash. We were quite impressed with how often a website would work for both music and movies, though.
You can also plug the Tab into your computer using the bundled USB cable and transfer the usual file types and most will play - Xvid, DivX etc are all compatible with the Android 3.0 OS.
We tested one music streaming service from the SubPop record label and it worked smoothly in the browser, playing audio clips without any stuttering or errors. YouTube also worked flawlessly. As expected, Hulu didn't work, just as it hasn't worked on other Android tablets.
Using the Google Music service and playing songs from the cloud, playback was consistent without any stuttering. The side speakers are better than any other Android Tab we've tested, mostly because of where they're located on the side instead of the back.
Playback using Ultimate Ears earbuds on the 3.5mm headphone jack sounded just as good as any other Android phone or tablet. Only the Acer Iconia A500 gets a slight advantage, using Dolby technology for sound clarity.
TouchWiz update
The Music Hub is the least interesting addition in Samsung's TouchWiz overlay. The app is really just a repeat of the Amazon MP3 app you will find on most Android phones, but presents yet another login interface where you have to enter a credit card number.
The app uses the 7digital music store. In general, we found the albums we wanted to download, including a new one by Handsome Furs that is relatively obscure. Otherwise, most popular albums are available.
However, the Media Hub is a major new addition. This would make the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 even better – if the app worked reliably. In two movie downloads -- one for Rio and one for Rango -- the movies would not play at all. We added a new account, and we could rent and download them. After several restarts, the movies still did not play – despite the fact that the movies worked at the Samsung demo just two days ago. We'll keep you posted when Samsung resolves the issue.
