Samsung Galaxy Tab S Review (10.5 & 8.4-inch)
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 24, 2014 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Galaxy Tab S
Performance
The WiFi only variants of the Galaxy Tab S all feature Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa (5420). Internally we’re dealing with four ARM Cortex A15s and four ARM Cortex A7s in a big.LITTLE configuration, with a maximum of four cores of the same type being active at any given moment. The Cortex A7 cluster can run at up to 1.3GHz while the Cortex A15 cluster maxes out at 1.9GHz.
CPU performance is reasonable but definitely behind Apple’s Cyclone cores in A7 and even Intel’s value Bay Trail offerings that are cropping up in tablets like ASUS’ Memo Pad 7. The problem with the latter is that those devices end up being substantially cheaper what Samsung is asking for with the Galaxy Tab S.
GPU Performance
The bigger problem really seems to be GPU performance. The Exynos 5420 integrates ARM’s Mali-T628MP6 GPU, which just isn’t competitive with Apple’s PowerVR Series 6 implementations. The bigger problem is that the GPU doesn’t seem quite cut out to driving the high resolution display. UI frame rates are typically smooth but I definitely noticed some dropped frames. The device is by no means unusable, I’m just spoiled by how good everything is at the high end of mobile that even mild deviations are noticeable.
Internal NAND Storage Performance
Storage performance is pretty solid. Both read and write performance are good given what we’re seeing from most players today. I’d always like more but there’s not a ton to complain about here.
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theduckofdeath - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Read his other comments, are you'll find out how he's able to come to that quick conclusion from a YouTube clip... :)GC2:CS - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
I also think that one video is too little to draw a conclusion, but it's far more useful than any set of numbers can ever be to describe a display. I don't care how used camera and my crappy TN LCD display could screw the video because you are wrong as the perceived characteristics of botch evaluated displays is changed in the same way. I see that the iPad has an picture and the tab S has the same picture that looks differently, and I also know that the iPad Air makes very accurate colors and the tab S is making apparently different colors, which logically implies that it's not as nice colored as the iPad. Yah an quick conclusion, but can you tell me where I made a mistake, or make your own different conclusion from that video ?ESC2000 - Sunday, July 6, 2014 - link
The sky is orange. I'm holding this orange next to it and it doesn't match so it's not orange.That is the exact same logic you are following but it illustrates the flaw in it.
hung2900 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I think you really have a problem with your reading skill. The Tab S 10.1 definitely won in white accuracy (quite significant), grayscale accuracy (far), GMB accuracy (quite). iPad Air won with Gamut accuracy (quite to medium) and saturation (quite much).At least a basic person can see that Tab S 10.1 won 3/5 points of the comparison. While with users, the grayscale is much more important that everyone should have a same perspective, while the minor saturation is only subjective from person to person.
Not forgot to say the biggest advantage is the infinite contrast (which triumps when you read/see everything indoor) and better outdoor visibility with automatic brightness (supposed to be, as GS5 vs iPhone 5s) brings better image outdoor.
So what is your point?
hung2900 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Forgot to say: If you or anybody have ever used the old Tab 7.7, you can see the contrast advantage is MUCH more notable. That's the reason why many people and Tab 7.7 ex-users have waited for these tablets for so long.GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
The point is that everybody expected this new thing to just kind of crush everything, not slightly outstrip an retina display from 2012.theduckofdeath - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
And it is crushing everything else. As hung2900 says, contrast is what has the biggest impression on any normal user, and this tablet is literally killing everything else on that point.the_ether - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Wow, that's a bit rude.So,
a) who's to say that each test has the same weighting? Perhaps colour reproduction is more important than say, greyscale accuracy, especially to say, an artist;
b) I already stated that contrast was another factor not tested that should be considered, so repeating that point was moot.
So the point is that it is not an obviously better screen than the iPad Air.
mhannigan - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Yes, it is.ESC2000 - Sunday, July 6, 2014 - link
Don't take it so personally. So what if your iPad doesn't have the nicest screen of all tablets? The truth is there are many parts of an iPad that are bested by other tablets but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying yours.