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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kyuu - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Right. So I guess if you were looking for an iOS tablet you'd be shopping around for a used OG iPad, and not an iPad Air? Because I mean c'mon, it's the same software. The only difference is the specs.Or if you were looking for a Windows tablet you'd find a deal on one of those ancient pre-iPad slates, right? I mean it'll run full Windows, so the software is the same. The only difference is the specs.
And I don't really get what you even mean to imply when you say "Oh right. It uses Android." No one will deny that iOS has the best app market, but I don't think Android has any shortage of software. In fact, you can get a lot of software that Apple simply won't allow on their app store.
sonicmerlin - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
How about an OS that can scroll web pages smoothly? Android still stutters.genomecop - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
To be fair iOS has its share of stuttering and other problems that are always associated with Android.ESC2000 - Sunday, July 6, 2014 - link
Not anymore. My nexus 5 and nexus 7 2013, each on 4.4.4, run like charms. Literally no lag ever. And I only spent $600 on both devices with no contracts. Check yo $800 iPhone and $500 ipad. And my devices don't freeze and crash due to low RAMNintendo Maniac 64 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
On the Galaxy S5 the "photo" mode corresponded to the Adobe RGB color space. It would have been a good idea to test that.GiantPandaMan - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
What's with all the iOS users being so angry? It's a tablet review, not a discussion about gun control.xype - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Tablets don’t kill people, people kill people!!11oneeleventy:D
I’m an iOS user and I’ll likely never switch, but damn, it’s really nice to see the quality of Android tablets being pushed (even if Apple is the biggest reason Android manufacturers even give a damn) forward. It’s such a shame that Android users keep getting bombarded with cheap plastic and shitty build quality tablets most of the time. People deserve better than that.
And, yes, I’ve just been to the local electronics store and checked out the isle with 30+ nearly-identical Android tablets a few days ago… and they mostly felt like crap in the hand and when looking at the display. And the salespeople kept pushing them on people. :-/
althaz - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Love the hardware. First Android tablet I've been tempted to buy since my old Motorola Xoom.That said, I don't rate Android very highly for tablet use. If this had Win 8.1 or probably even Win RT on it, I'd be all over it as I feel Windows is a many times better user experience on tablets. Of course there's the app situation, but seeing as there are more Windows tablet apps than Android tablet apps (somewhat alleviated for Android by the possibility of using phone apps), for somebody like me who doesn't play games on their tablet, it's really no contest (for gamers it's a whole other story, tablet gaming on Windows tablets is in a pretty bad state by comparison to especially iOS but also Android).
I especially love the screen on this device, AMOLED displays just look so much better to me than LCD screens.
marytattoo - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
you might not have the windows experience, but you can have several windows open at the same time, and as far as i'm concerned, i have found everything i need in the Play store. i have and have had several ipads, and there is only one reason i have an ipad still - a knitting program, which most people probably wouldn't want. everything else, i get from android. i can also bring all of my computer music to android via a micro sd card. i have tons of uploaded music from my cds and audio books.Lavkesh - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
No matter what they do, unless their tablets ship with stock Android, it remains a piece of junk. They may be good at hardware but their software sucks.