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
WiFi
Both Galaxy Tab S devices support 2-stream 802.11ac and can negotiate up to an 866Mbps link speed with a similarly capable router. Peak performance in practice is pretty shy of what we saw with the Galaxy S5 however. While the GS5 was capable of around 430Mbps under best conditions, the Tab S averages around 240Mbps. Compared to the immediate competition it’s not bad, but against everything else we’ve seen it’s less impressive.
Camera
Samsung only gave us a few days with the review samples so I didn’t spend a ton of time focusing on camera performance. The rear facing camera is a 8MP design with F2.4 lens. The front facing camera shoots at 1080p and also has an F2.4 lens. In general the Tab S seems to be a decent shooter in well lit conditions. Low light performance isn’t the worst I’ve seen but it’s not a strong point for sure. Both tablets appear to use the same rear and front camera (Samsung S5K6B2) modules.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 Rear Camera Sample
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antiglobe - Sunday, October 26, 2014 - link
I think the updated model will more likely use the new Exynos used in Galaxy Alpha than a Snapdragon. Samsung can obviously reach higher profits by utilizing home made chips.the_ether - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
So if I've understood correctly, the Samsung's screen isn't that great after all - at least when compared against the iPad Air. It has more pixels and supposedly better contrast (though that wasn't tested here) but what is displayed is not as accurate as the Air's Retina screen.nerd1 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
AMOLED has immense contrast and no display lag, both of which are not tested here.GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
The smallest amount of ambient light washes out any contrast difference, so you can enjoy your AMOLED at night, especially watching horrors but otherwise it's hardly a problem.What about that display lag ? Honestly I don't know what it is exactly, but I think is rather bad as I noticed flickering on many AMOLED displays...
nerd1 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Smallest amount of ambient light will hamper any display color accuracy too, then all displays are born equal?the_ether - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Shouldn't be as sensitive as you imply. The screen is an emissive device, not reflective, so the ambient light would have to be strong enough to interfere with the light from the screen.theduckofdeath - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Hyperbole much, GC2:CS?dwade123 - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
no lag huh. Nice BS.GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Yeah exactly ! The problem for samsung is that the iPad Air screen is the same as the screen of the new iPad (2012) just lower power and higher brightness... And this is 2014. Anand's numbers are painting these in a very good picture, but in reality I found this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SjYuNzFRIagBlues are especially over saturated on the 10,5 just as that horrible sub pixel arrangement implies.
bji - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
How can you possibly tell anything about a display when viewing a video of it on your own display, which completely alters the perceived characteristics of the display being evaluated?I have an idea. Let's film both displays in black and white and then do a comparison to try to see which display has better colors. It would be just about as viable a means of comparing displays as the video you linked.