Samsung Galaxy Tab S Specs May Make iPad Feel Threatened

Barring a few exceptions, Samsung has been notorious for selling devices that offer sub-par performance in the high-end tablet market. But this time, Samsung has really outdone its previous releases and has offered new tablets with a lot of substance. The Samsung Galaxy S Tab comes in 4 variants: The Samsung Galaxy S Tab 8.4 Wi-Fi, Samsung Galaxy S Tab 8.4 LTE, Samsung Galaxy S Tab 10.5 Wi-Fi and Samsung Galaxy S Tab 10.5 LTE. The specs and the design the Tab offers could definitely make iPad buyers re-think their options.

Samsung Galaxy S Tab 8.4 features an 8.4" super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2560x1600 at nearly 359 ppi pixel density. The OS used is the latest Android 4.4.2 KitKat. As mentioned earlier, the tablet will be offered in two variants: Wi-Fi and LTE. The tablets measure 125.6 x 212.8 x 6.6 mm and weigh 294 gm for Wi-Fi version and 298 gm for the LTE version. This makes both versions of the tablet lighter and thinner than an iPad Mini by about a centimeter. Each model of Galaxy S Tab 8.4 will be available in either 16/32 GB versions with a 3 GB RAM and MicroSD card slot expandable upto 128 GB. Exynos 5 Octa 5420 is the chipset used with two CPUs: a quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 and a quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15. The graphics accelerator is an ARM-based Mali-T628 MP6 GPU. The Tab 8.4 has a battery capacity of 4900 mAh. The rear and front cameras are 8 MP and 2.1 MP respectively. LED flash is provided with the rear camera.

The LTE and W-Fi versions of Galaxy S Tab 10.5 have similar features as their 8.4 counterparts except the screen size (obviously), dimensions, weight and battery capacity. The 10.5" screen size tablet has the dimensions of 247.3 x 177.3 x 6.6 mm and the LTE and Wi-Fi versions weigh 467 gm and 465 gm respectively, again thinner and lighter than an iPad Air. The battery capacity of this version is 7900 mAh. Again, the Galaxy S Tab 10.5 will be available in 16 GB or 32 GB versions.


The price of the 16 GB 8.4-inch version with 3G connectivity is Rs 37,800 while the 10.5-inch tab with 16 GB along with 3G connectivity is priced at Rs 44,800.

Samsung claims that the Super AMOLED displays have an impressive color reproduction rate of 90% as compared to 70 % of that of conventional LCD tablets. Also, the 4 million AMOLED pixels offer a contrast ratio of 100,000:1, which Samsung says is about 100 times greater than than conventional LCD displays.

Samsung has also included a number of fancy features and apps. A few noteworthy are: Multi window: complete multiple tasks on one screen (only on LTE); SideSync 3.0: view phone screen on the tablet, transfer data, copy & paste text easily, can even send and receive voice calls from Tab S ( However, this brilliant app works only with Samsung's high-end smartphones such as GALAXY Note 3, S4 and S5); Samsung KNOX: used to keep data safe; Remote PC: Control your PC through your tablet and so on.

Apart from that, Samsung is offering a limited-time premium subscription to many apps for free. These include Bloomberg+, WSJ, NY Times for news; GQ, Kindle, Conde Nast, Vogue, The Economist for books and magazines; a number apps for entertainment such as Marvel Comics, Asphalt 8, Cut the rope 2, Fruit Ninja, Livesport, etc. and also a number of apps for productivity such as Hancom Office, Cisco Webex, Linkedin, Pocket, Evernote, EasilyDo Pro, Bitcasa, etc.

In short, Samsung has left no stone unturned for promotion of this Galaxy S Tab and to say that this tablet is above-average would certainly be an understatement. This product certainly demonstrates Android as a worthy competitor in the premium tablet range and will definitely give iPads a run for their money.

Source: Samsung