Tablet Hüllen Samsung Galaxy Tab A

Laptop Mag Verdict

Combining the sharpest display on a tablet notwithstanding with an bonny design and powerful software, the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is worth its premium price.

Pros

+
Eye-popping display
+
Attractive design
+
Immersive, versatile Kids Mode
+
Quality touch keyboard

Cons

-
Many apps not optimized for loftier-res brandish
-
Expensive
-
Mediocre Camera

For many shoppers, today's vii-inch tablets don't seem much more useful than their smartphones. But if a slate with a 10-inch screen feels also beefy for you to agree through an entire movie or mobile gaming session, an 8.4-inch tablet like Samsung's Galaxy Tab S 8.iv could be just the right fit. Made for mobile entertainment, the Galaxy Tab S viii.iv features a razor sharp Super AMOLED display in a light and stylish chassis. A speedy Octacore processor, an immersive Kids Mode and the ability to remotely command your phone add to the list of compelling features. But do you get plenty benefit from its display to justify the premium toll?

Blueprint

Samsung takes a lot of criticism for its use of plastic materials in tablets and phones, but our bronze Milky way Tab S 8.4 looked every bit like a loftier-finish product. Even though it is non made of metal, the bronze colored sides and dimpled bronze back offer a compelling look that'due south consistent with Samsung's Galaxy S5 phone but even more compelling. A dark greyness bezel with capacitive navigation buttons for app switching and back, along with a physical home button, complete the snazzy aesthetic.

At 8.37 x 4.94 ten .26 inches and 10.37 ounces, the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is noticeably thinner and lighter than the iPad Mini with Retina Display (7.9 ten v.iii x .29 inches, 11.7 ounces) and the LG G Pad 8.3 (8.v 10 5.0 ten 0.33 inches, xi.nine ounces). Despite its slim size, Samsung found room for a infrared port that lets yous use the device as a remote and a microSD carte du jour slot that lets you expand the 16GB of internal memory by up to an additional 64GB.

Because that 64GB cards price just $34 online, Samsung's tablet provides a lot more storage for a lot less coin than the iPad mini, which has no reader but costs $499 for a 32GB version and $599 for a 64GB capacity. Interestingly, Samsung uses a microUSB ii.0 port on the Galaxy Tab S viii.4, rather than the microUSB 3 port it put on its most contempo phones.

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Display

Click to OverstateThe Galaxy Tab Due south viii.4's 8.4-inch, 2560 x 1600 display is the real star of its show. With an middle-popping pixel density of 359 PPI (pixels per inch), the Tab S 8.4 is the sharpest tablet on the market as of this writing, besting the 326-pixel iPad Mini with Retina brandish. Some newer phones such equally the LG G3 offering the aforementioned resolution as the Tab S on smaller screens, but this is the new cham among slates.

The Galaxy Tab S viii.4's precipitous display is a blessing when using most apps, but exposes flaws in some others. When browsing through home listings in the Trulia real estate app in landscape orientation, the tablet displayed content in three different dissimilar panes: one with a list of local homes, some other with an area map and a tertiary with a accident up of the currently-selected house.

Click to EnlargeLoftier-end games, such as "Creative Mobile Drag Racing" and ODD Games "Monster Truck Destruction" looked abrupt, colorful and detailed. However, Mater Memory Mission (a childrens' memory game) and Pinball Pro appeared slightly pixilated because they were not designed to scale up to higher resolutions. Facebook looked specially bad on the slate'due south screen with lots of wasted infinite and a news feed that looked stretched in landscape mode.

Samsung's Accommodate Display engineering science, which adjusts colour brandish based on the content, and its ambient light sensor combined to provide vivid, colorful images even in direct sunlight. On our lite meter, which measures display brightness in lux, the Galaxy Tab S viii.four scored 505, well above the 348 tablet category average, iPad Mini with Retina (390 lux), Kindle Fire HDX viii.9 (465 lux) and the LG G Pad viii.three (273 lux).

When we took the device out on our roof in apex sunlight on a cloudless day, it was piece of cake to see all the icons and controls on the screen, something that'south impossible on many other mobile devices.

Click to EnlargeThe screen displayed a strong 160.5 percent of the sRGB color gamut, about double the category average of 84.eight percent and the LG G Pad 8.3's 79 percent. When we watched a picture show trailer for "The Guardians of the Galaxy," the dark-green in Gamora's skin or the yellow in Star-Lord's space suit were specially rich and alive. We found the colors similarly vibrant when playing kids' games like "Lightning McQueen Builder."

While not perfect, the screen returned a solid Delta E color accuracy rating of four.9, a fleck amend than the five.iv category average (0 is perfect accurateness). When we placed the Galaxy Tab South 8.4 adjacent to an iPad Air and played a trailer for "X-Men: Days of Future Past," images like the red in a character's lips or the yellow in his t-shirt were deeper on the Tab. Notwithstanding, with a Delta e rating of but 1.iv, the Air's duller palette is closer to real life.

Audio

Music playback was a bit tinny from the Tab Southward eight.4, both when we played the guitar and pulsate-heavy "How You Like Me Now" and the bass-centric "Forget Me Nots." Yet, nosotros could hear a separation of sound, as some instruments appeared to be coming out of the left side and others from the right.

At 78 decibels on our sound meter, the Galaxy Tab South 8.4 is loud enough to fill a small space, but a bit beneath the 79 dB category average and the LG G Pad 8.3'southward mark of 80 dB. Located on the top and bottom of the device, the speakers don't become deadened by putting the tablet down on a table, property it in portrait mode or holding it in landscape manner, every bit long equally you concur the top corners.

User Interface and OS

Click to OverstateLike other Samsung devices, the Milky way Tab Southward 8.four features the visitor's TouchWiz interface on top of Android iv.4.2 KitKat. In improver to slightly different looking icons and menus, Samsung'southward interface offers a number of improvements over stock Android, including the ability to separate the screen between two different windows and a very detailed quick settings carte that lets you adjust the screen brightness and a number of other key options from the notification drawer. TouchWiz too makes it easy to hide or uninstall apps, direct from the app drawer; threre'due south no need to get deep into the settings carte du jour.

We peculiarly similar Samsung's virtual keyboard, which continues to be the best available on any platform. The large keys take plenty of spacing, which makes it easy to avoid hitting side by side letters, and a dedicated number row. The keyboard also provides helpful adjacent-discussion prediction that can acquire your writing patterns from your Facebook, Gmail and Twitter and accounts.

Similar Samsung's flagship phone, the Tab S 8.4 has a fingerprint reader built into its home button. After enrolling our index finger by using a panel in settings, we were able to apace swipe past the lock screen in just one endeavour. All the same, on some occasions our first swipe didn't have.

The Tab S 8.4 has four home screens for your shortcuts and widgets. The center screen comes default with a few pop shortcuts and a time / atmospheric condition widget. The screen immediately to the left provides Samsung's "Quick Conference" grid which shows tiles for important things like content from its My Magazine news feed, videos on your device, stock quotes and alarms y'all've ready. The screen to the far left shows your calendar, recently edited documents and emails in another useful grid. If you don't like either grid page, you tin can long press and elevate the tiles to the trash.

MORE: 12 Worst Android Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Photographic camera

The Tab S' 8-MP camera offered mixed results in our tests. Outdoor shots of a New York City skyline were well-baked and colorful and a shot of a bas relief sculpture was particularly detailed. Nonetheless, images of a reddish tree taken with vivid light behind fabricated information technology expect like the subject was immersed in a whitewashed haze. When nosotros shot a 1080p video of cars rolling down the street, video was smooth and images were sharp.

Click to EnlargeThe front-facing 2.1-MP camera took sharp, colorful images of our face in directly sunlight. Indoor shots of a toddler'due south face were a little darker, but just as detailed and free from noise.

Like other Samsung phones and tablets, the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 has a slew of photographic camera modes. Shot & More enables you to remove unwanted photo bombers, and "Drama Shots" make it look the subject is moving through the film. Y'all can also download additional modes, such Sports shot and Sound & shot (however image with sound in background). However, some modes such every bit Animated Photograph mode, which lets you make funny animated GIFs, are available on Samsung's phones but not the Milky way Tab S viii.four.

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Performance

Click to OverstateWith its 1.9-GHz Samsung Exynos five Octa processor, the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 provided by and large smoothen performance, whether we were navigating effectually the desktop, transcoding a video or playing high-terminate racing games. Because of all the animations in the TouchWiz UI,at that place was a slight lag when changing apps. Withal, users can speed things up by disabling the South Voice shortcut and eliminating the transitions.

On Geekbench 3, a synthetic criterion that measuriPad Mini with Retina Displayab South 8.4 scored a stiff ii,768, higher than the tablet category average of 2,141, the A7-powered iPad Mini with Retina Display (ii,519) and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600-powered LG G Pad 8.3 (1,717)..

Information technology took the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 4 minutes and 48 seconds to transcode an Hard disk drive video to 480p using the Vidtrim app. That'southward more than twice as fast every bit 11:58 category average and comfortably ahead of the G Pad 8.3'south 8:02 time. However, the Snapdragon 800-powered Kindle Fire HDX completed the same test 29 seconds faster (4:19).

The Tab S 8.four took a reasonable 16 seconds to launch the enervating game N.O.V.A. 3, which is 1.6 seconds faster than the category average and simply a second behind the LG G Pad 8.3 (15 seconds). Nonetheless, the iPad mini with Retina Brandish loaded it in 5 seconds, perhaps due to its dissimilar operating system.

When we played high-speed 3D games such as Monster Truck Destruction, the 3D graphics were detailed and motion completely smooth. On 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, a synthetic benchmark which measures graphics prowess, the Tab S 8.4 scored a strong 13,518, which is far better than the 9,695 category average, the LG K Pad viii.iii'due south 7,785 score, and the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9's mark of 12,786. The iPad mini with Retina Brandish scored a slightly-higher fourteen,128.

Apps

Click to OverstateSamsung preloads a number of useful apps with just a lilliputian bit of third-party bloatware. Samsung's WatchOn app lets you utilize the infrared port equally a remote control. S Vocalisation is Samsung's vocalization banana that lets yous control the phone and dictate letters; however, we prefer Google'south ain voice assistant.

In addition to S Vocalization, Samsung throws in a number of apps that directly compete with Google's own apps, including a web browser that competes with Chrome, alternate music and video players and a Samsung app store that takes on Google Play. With the exception of the media players, we adopt Google's traditional apps to their Samsung counterparts.

The Remote PC app lets you have confrol over a Windows PC. Subsequently installing client software on our laptop, we found information technology easy to take control from the tablet. The connection was adequately responsive, maybe because both devices were on the same network.

Hancom Office lets you view and, after installing an update, edit Office documents. Newspaper Mag is a third-party digital magazine store. WebEx Meetings is a forepart end for Cisco's video conferencing service. Bloomberg Businessweek is a digital news app that comes with a 1 twelvemonth subscription; the aforementioned offer applies to all Samsung device owners who download the app on their own from Google Play.

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SideSync 3.0

Click to EnlargeSamsung SideSync allows you to control a Samsung phone from the tablet using Wi-Fi Directly. When we paired with our Galaxy Annotation three, a mirror of the telephone's display appeared in a floating window that stayed on elevation of the rest of the objects on our screen. We were able to remotely control the phone from the tablet completely and drag photos from the gallery app to the tablet and watch as the prototype files copied to the Tab S's local storage. Nosotros were also able to drag photos to the phone. SideSync also allows you lot to send and receive calls on the tablet, using the phone. However, overall, using SideSync was a lot slower than just reaching for the telephone.

Kids Manner

Click to EnlargeIf yous desire to hand your tablet to a young child, the Galaxy Tab South 8.4 has you covered with a very rich, immersive and secure Kids Mode app. Different some parental controls, which simply limit which apps a child can utilize, Samsung's Kids Mode provides a separate environment, complete with child-friendly dwelling screens and built-in apps.

Kids Mode lets yous designate specific videos, songs and photos that will be visible in its gallery, music and movie players. There is also an option to limit how much time your child tin employ the device. Kids cannot outsmart the manner by rebooting the device. When we restarted from within Kid Style, the system booted right back into it, after making us get through the lock screen.

Click to OverstateUnfortunately, there'due south no child-friendly web browser. Considering that the environment is best suited for young children, most parents will probably omit the browser altogether and stick with apps. The control panel fifty-fifty has a store filled with recommended apps for children.

The camera app replaces Samsung's complex myriad of imaging modes with fun furnishings options. You can place funny cartoon icons on pinnacle of your face, such every bit sunglasses or crossed eyes. There's besides a cartoon app and a simple sound recorder.

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Accessories

Click to EnlargeSamsung has placed ii holes on the back of the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 to attach accessories such equally covers. The visitor sells a $39 Simple Cover, which covers the front of the tablet and just part of the back, and a $59 Book Cover, which folds over origami-fashion to prop your tablet upwardly on a table.

We tested the Book Cover in Electric Blue and really appreciated its abrupt looks and textured surface. We as well like the encompass's ability to wake the device when folded back or put information technology to sleep when closed. However, attaching the comprehend required required too much forcefulness for our liking, and folding the backside in order to prop upwards the tablet requires a learning curve.

Battery Life

Click to EnlargeThe Milky way Tab Due south 8.4 lasted a modest 7 hours and 56 minutes on the Laptop Magazine Bombardment test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of effulgence. That fourth dimension is slightly below the category average of 8:09 and hours behind the iPad mini with Retina Display's time of 11:06 and the Amazon Kindle Burn down HDX 8.nine'south endurance of xiii:42. The LG One thousand Pad viii.3 lasted ony vii:06.

Editor's Annotation: At some point during our first run of the examination, the network experienced an Internet outage, though the device stayed continued to the router for the entire time. We'll run the examination once again and update, though the impact on the result should exist minimal.

In our experience, the Tab S 8.four took an eternity to accuse. When we plugged the device in with over twoscore percent accuse, information technology approximately four more hours to reach 100 percent.

MORE: 10 Laptops with the Longest Battery Life

Verdict

Click to EnlargeThe Galaxy Tab South viii.4 provides a truly high-end feel with the sharpest, most colorful screen on any slate today. However, with then many Android apps not optimized for loftier-resolution displays, you ofttimes won't see the benefit like you would on the iPad mini with Retina Display, which has a huge library of optimized apps. However, if you lot tin afford its $399 price tag, the Tab S viii.4 combines useful innovations and accessories with a viewing experience that'south second to none.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 Specs

Make	Samsung
CPU	Samsung Exynos five Octa (i.9-GHz Quadcore + ane.iii-Ghz Quadcore)
Camera Resolution	8MP
Card Readers	microSD
Company Website	www.samsung.com
Brandish Resolution	2560 x 1600
Display Size	viii.4
Front-Facing Camera Resolution	2.1MP
Bone	Android 4.4.2
Ports	USB
RAM Included	3GB
RAM Upgradeable	3
Size	8.37" 10 4.94" x 0.26"
Storage Drive Size	16GB
Storage Bulldoze Type	Wink Memory
USB Ports	1
Weight	10.37 ounces
Wi-Fi	802.11a/b/g/north/air-conditioning

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The official Geeks Geek, as his weekly column is titled, Avram Piltch has guided the editorial and product of Laptopmag.com since 2007. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram programmed several of LAPTOP'southward real-globe benchmarks, including the LAPTOP Bombardment Test. He holds a chief's degree in English from NYU.