Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 Review

Samsung has recently launched its new range of tablets named Samsung Galaxy Tab S. The range has two models - the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and the Galaxy Tab S 10.5. With these two tablets, Samsung is once again making an entry into the OLED space. Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 in 2011 was the last tablet by Samsung with an OLED screen. 

Both the tablets first got launched in New York City on June 12, 2014 with two versions including 3G Exynos-based versions and the LTE versions with Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoCs. Let us check out the insight of Samsung Galaxy tab S 8.4 to analyze how well Samsung has played with its newly launched tablets. 

Build, design and display

The overall design of Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 reminds of Galaxy S5, the recently launched flagship smartphone of Samsung. Just like S5, Tab S 8.4 also has the 'perforated' pattern on its back. Samsung logo sits in the center and just above it sits the 8-megapixel primary camera. The rear panel has the perfect finishing that no longer attracts fingerprints. In fact, Samsung has gone innovative with the back side design of its new tablet by incorporating two circular clips that supports the smart cover. Now the smart cover can be clipped quite easily and adds to the overall design aspect of the device. 

The front display of the device is made of 2560x1600 WQXGA Super AMOLED screen. It has 359ppi (pixels per inch) density, which is higher than 7.9-inch iPad Mini with Retina Display. In spite of being an 8.4 inch device, the tablet easily fits into in one hand because of its very slim built of 6.6mm and lightweight of just 298 grams. So for holding purpose, you won’t feel the need of using both of your hands. 

With Tab S 8.4, Samsung for the first time took the chance of trying out big and high-resolution Super AMOLED screen. However, while experiencing the display of the tablet, it seems the chance Samsung took has paid off. The display is not at all disappointing rather it’s impressively satisfying with its brightness, viewing angles, contrast and clarity. However, the only impact of having an AMOLED screen is that the colors get a bit oversaturated. 

A fingerprint scanner on the Home button of this Galaxy tablet is one of the new integrations that was first made available with the Samsung S5. However, Samsung has included this feature on a tablet for the first time. The fingerprint scanners support Multi User Mode and 8 users can create their own personal profiles.

However, as always, even the body of Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is made of plastic, while this time it was widely expected that Samsung would do something different. Overall, it can be said that the Galaxy S5-inspired design of Galaxy tab S 8.4 is looking impressively good because it has a good balance between thinness and solidity.

Specifications and performance

Powered by a quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 with integrated LTE functionality and 3GB of RAM, Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 delivers strong performance as expected from its strong configuration. It is multi-tasking and hence posed no as such operational shortcomings like lag or week touch response. Opening and closing of apps were fairly instantaneous.

Many things about this tablet is inspired from the Samsung Galaxy S5 such as the software feature called SideSync 3.0. This feature allows users to mirror their smartphones over Wi-Fi direct. This means Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Tab S 8.4 can be synced over Wi-Fi and the calls on the S5 can be received and answered from the S 8.4 tablet. Moreover, content can be shared between the two devices. The other connectivity options on the tablet are Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, GLONASS, GPS/A-GPS, and 3G.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 has an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash. It takes good pictures of up to 3264x2448 pixel resolution. The front facing camera is of 2.1-megapixel and it delivers descent performance that a 1.2 MP camera is capable of.

In the Super AMOLED display, Samsung Tab S 8.4 looked decent even if these were looked under indoor lighting.

Tech Specifications

·         Status: Released in 2014, July

·         Dimensions: 212.8 x 125.6 x 6.6 mm (8.38 x 4.94 x 0.26 in)

·         Weight: 294 g (10.37 oz)

·         Display Type: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

·         Display Size: 1600 x 2560 pixels, 8.4 inches (~359 ppi pixel density)

·         Internal Memory: 16/32 GB

·         RAM: 3 GB RAM

·         Card slot: microSD, up to 128 GB

·         Wi-Fi : 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot

·         Bluetooth: v4.0, A2DP, LE

·         Infrared port: Yes

·         USB : microUSB v2.0

·         Primary Camera: 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

·         Secondary Camera: 2.1 MP

·         Operating System: Android v4.4.2 (KitKat)

·         Chipset: Exynos 5 Octa 5420

·         CPU : Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7

·         GPU: Mali-T628 MP6

·         Colors: Dazzling White, Titanium Bronze

Wrap Up 

The 16 GB, dazzling white variant of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is priced at $399.99. It is a worth buy because  it looks stylish, has a detailed display, it is lighter than 1 LB, it supports good security with its finger scanner and it can be hold with one hands. As such no drawback has been found considering the price factor. Overall it’s a worth buying a tablet coming from a leading brand like Samsung.