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
Final Words
The Galaxy Tab S is easily the most compelling tablet family Samsung has ever released. The devices are incredibly thin, very light and boast displays that can be easily configured to be among the most accurate in the industry. In the Android tablet space it’s often a stretch charging $399 or $499, even for a flagship, given how good the Nexus line ends up being. With the Tab S, I think Samsung has something that’s worthy of a price premium over the more cost effective Android tablets.
The Galaxy Tab S, regardless of size, is easy to hold and has a screen that’s great to look at. These are two of the most important things to get right when building a tablet and the Tab S delivers on both.
The features around the edges are nice additions. The integrated fingerprint scanner works better on the tablet than it does on the phone, and is a decent time saver if you’ve got a long passcode. Having 2-stream 802.11ac support is nice as well, although the implementation isn’t as good as it is on the Galaxy S5. If you do have a Galaxy S5, having the ability to answer calls directly from your tablet is a neat feature.
The devices aren't perfect however. The Exynos 5420 SoC in both tablets is no longer class leading. CPU performance is reasonable but the GPU does seem to have issues keeping up with the high resolution display. If anything, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 805 would probably have been a better fit for the tablets across the board. I suspect Exynos 5420 won out due to pricing, but as a result we end up with a tablet that has the dimensions and display of a flagship and an SoC that is simply good enough.
Battery life is either going to be amazing or below par depending on your usage model. If you spend a lot of time looking at web pages, you’ll find the high resolution AMOLED display to be a power liability. If however you mainly use your tablet to watch TV and movies, there’s literally no better option on the market today when it comes to battery life. Even the tiny 8.4-inch Galaxy Tab S managed to best all of the other tablets we’ve tested in video playback battery life, delivering over 15 hours on a single charge. Start browsing the web however and you’re looking at roughly half of that. It’s an interesting tradeoff for sure.
Overall the Galaxy Tab S feels like a solid reboot for Samsung’s tablet ambitions. The trick from here on out will be to continue to iterate the design without losing focus. A successor with a better SoC might be a good start. Perhaps Snapdragon 808/810 might be a good option next year, or an 805 based solution by the end of this year depending on how aggressive of a schedule Samsung sticks to for tablet releases going forward.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
98 Comments
View All Comments
darwinosx - Friday, June 27, 2014 - link
More derivative cheap junk from Samsung. Ugh. I can't stand their products.bigboxes - Saturday, June 28, 2014 - link
Based on your screen name you couldn't be biased. Nah. You can keep your overpriced, underspeced Apple crap. I don't think you read the review at all. You saw Android and Samsung and copy/pasted your reply. You fanbois get old. Grow up.zodiacfml - Friday, June 27, 2014 - link
sigh, if only I have money to burn for that great screen.dusk007 - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
The display analysis here makes no mention as to what AMOLED Photo is supposed to be. It is calibrated to AdobeRGB but the article makes it out like it is only some other kind of oversaturated eye catching AMOLED setting.Anybody that wants to read more about the main interesting feature of this tablet which sets it apart should check out the display review on displaymate.com .
http://www.displaymate.com/OLED_Tablet_ShootOut_1....
It is an astounding display and especially stands out in metrics that the human sight apparatus values far more than color accuracy. Color accuracy is useful for content producers but also the one thing that our brain automatically corrects for and one of the last that a normal unbiased person would pick as the primary quality indication (unless it is really significantly off). Still it is one of the most accurate displays out there. I feel Anandtech is a bit too obsessed with color accuracy. It isn't unimportant but anybody coming from the eye related medical profession would say there is more to a display and its subjective impact.
marytattoo - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
i'd hoped to see a review of this tablet vs the 8.4 pro. besides the screen, i'm not sure of the difference. is it huge?DiHydro - Wednesday, September 3, 2014 - link
"Both tablets feature IR transceivers and stereo speakers." Are these really transceivers, or are they just transmitters? If they are transceivers, that opens up a lot more possibility using IR to learn remote codes, and to talk to other tablets and IrDA devices.jh20001 - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
I have been looking for a tablet to kick around the house that not only let me read all my favorite books on my downtime, but also controlled things around the house like light switches and the TVs. I have been in this home automation kick as of late, so that of course was a must have feature. I was reading around and almost bought a Nexus until I read in one mag that the new Samsung destroyed it in performance. After reading a few more online (ie, here on anandtech, or http://pocinc.net/blog/product-reviews/review-sams... or the one at Cnet), I wound up getting sold on it. Let me tell you…..yeah baby! This thing rocks my world. I even take it to work with me when possible. It’s like my new best friend }:) Also good with games and Netflix....oh I needs me my Netflix!Bpositive - Sunday, March 22, 2015 - link
I just bought the tab s 10.5 and generally very happy with it, however I am quite disappointed that the screen shows quite a lot chromatic aberration (color fringing). Have others the same problem or do I have a faulty unit?