Lasted for 2000+ hours of use! Here is why it died.
First, the SM-T217S shares a shell, battery, and screen with the T210, which is the common Samsung Tab 3. The circuitboard and chips, as well as the particular build of android (JellyBean, later Kitkat) is based on the more advanced Samsung S4 mini. The processor and RAM are faster than a regular Tab 3. In "Car talk," its a sleeper.
My only complaint about the Tab3 7.0 is the lack of a high res screen (it is 1024x600). If this is your first tablet, you will not notice until you use an Ipad Air or something HD. The rest of the design is really solid. The battery held up for 2 years of solid use.
I never used the universal remote feature. Ever. The sound is really good for this size device. (not great compared to my laptop) The primary chips and charger port support MHL but Samsung omitted other bits, so no MHL support at the hardware level.
The bluetooth functions (great) like a cell phone and you can make VOIP app calls. Some will require a cool little app called Mono Bluetooth Router.
The screen is braced with a "midplate" making the tablet a bit heavier but it protects it well. Put it in a $5 silicon wrap and you are good.
This device falls into the S4 family, comes with a 2.1A charger, and does high speed charge. Still takes 2+ hours for the large battery. The weakness that killed my SM-T217S was in the 3-way charge control on the motherboard. Many parts are separated from the mainboard, but the Charge port and power stepping circuits there are NOT. When you ruin the port you need a professional to repair the board. In my case, though, the chips that handle the power cracked (near the port). The worst case is to play games (high power) while recharging the battery, and I did that a lot. For 20 cents Samsung could improve the power handling part of the mainboard, and they should on any high end or gaming device. At least, always make it connected for separate replacement. This failure happens from S2-S4 series and I don't know about the newer ones. The charge port and charge circuits are the weakest spot of the design.. and still lasted 2000 hrs of use.
I did use a flip open case, and my Tab3 (SM-T217S) still looks new after 2 years of solid use. Compares favorably to Apple and LG devices. Recommended highly!
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