Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0

As much as I love the changes Samsung has made to the hardware, I'm frankly a little bummed the screen hasn't gotten the same sort of bump.

We encountered occasional issues with the responsiveness of the touch screen, especially when trying to tap small buttons or icons.

The screen delivers the highest contrast ratio I've yet seen on a tablet screen.

The built-in Samsung Apps program supposedly acts like a curated selection of recommended apps and games, and makes it easy to find some standout options.

A handy screenshot button is also shown, while an upwards arrow delivers easy (and customizable) access to core apps like Alarm, Calculator, and the Task Manager.

Unfortunately, if you don't have cable or satellite TV, the app isn't very useful, as it doesn't sync with over-the-air listings.

Slimmer, sleeker, and powered by Android 3.2 Honeycomb, the 7.0 Plus fits right at home with its larger-screened contemporaries.

When swiping through screens and navigating menus, I found the screen matches the sensitivity of some of the most responsive Android screens out there, like the one on the Transformer Prime.

But the recent upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich gives this aging Android tablet new legs, significantly boosting moment-to-moment performance and adding a sleek edge to the interface.

We started using the 7.0 Plus with Android 3.0: Honeycomb installed, and initially found the menus quite sluggish – a classic Android complaint, especially for nearly year-old hardware.

Brightness levels and performance are roughly the same, and although the 7.0 Plus does a better job at rendering websites — I could fit an entire extra paragraph of an article — I'm afraid I probably have to chalk that up to better software than screen technology.

Web and app download speeds matched most other Android tablets when within 5 feet of our test router and even when up to 20 feet away the signal retained much of its strength; however, I did experience an annoyingly high number of hangs and sluggish performance when using the Honeycomb browser.

Every ten minutes or so of streaming Netflix would consistently knock the device's battery down a full five percent, be it BBC's Luther or SNL's Best of John Belushi.

Your mileage will no doubt vary based on what you use the tablet for, and variables like high brightness and heavy downloads or streaming will zap the battery a little quicker, but we found it comparable to seven-inch competitors.