Galaxy Tab 3 Galaxy Tab 2

Samsung'due south latest flagship tablet packs a superb screen and fingerprint scanner but can it conquer the iPad Air? Read our Samsung Galaxy Tab South review

Have you thought of buying a tablet? Well, then, chances are that you'll accept been tempted by an iPad. The truth is that nevertheless good the rival Android or Windows tablets have been, information technology's Apple that has been calling the shots with the best-designed tablet around. Until now.

Samsung's new tablet is slim, stylish and powerful. The Galaxy Tab Due south marks a new start for the company. After all, before at present even Amazon's keenly priced Kindle Fire series and the well-specced Google Nexus vii haven't been able to unseat the iPad Air and iPad mini ii from their thrones.

The iPad outgunned rivals when it added a Retina display. Samsung and others upped their screen resolutions to compete, merely to exist outdone once more by the super-slim, preposterously light iPad Air. Apple stayed out in forepart.

Samsung Milky way Tab Southward: Size and build

The Tab S at terminal gives the iDevices a serious challenge. The Galaxy Tab S comes in two sizes and both are easily the snazziest tablets Samsung has e'er created - a night-and-solar day improvement over before models which had grey plastic as their almost dominant style motif.

That'south gone, replaced past metallic-way edging and perforated soft-touch back. The result is a high-end premium-experience design, even if they're notwithstanding plastic rather than aluminium. These are arguably the best-looking tablets anyone'southward made outside of Cupertino.

The Tab S comes in ii screen sizes, 8.iv inches and 10.5 inches. Both, like their Apple rivals, have the same number of pixels on the large screen as the small-scale. And both are lightweight, catwalk-sparse gadgets.

Of the ii tablets, the ten.v-inch screen is comparable in size to the iPad Air, though the display is virtually an inch bigger. Even so, it's lighter (by a whisker) as well as thinner by nigh 1mm. So that featherlight, slender quality Apple went for is matched or beaten - not to the lowest degree because plastic is lighter than aluminium.

And unlike the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet which is fifty-fifty thinner and lighter, the Tab S doesn't have a huge bezel round the display, at least not on all iv sides. Design-wise, this is a existent triumph and anyone wanting a stylish culling to Apple has establish it.

The smaller of the pair, the Samsung Milky way Tab 8.4-inch edition, feels great in the manus. The smooth sides and curved corners, combined with the soft, grippy dorsum create a tablet that nestles in the palm and never feels similar its going to slip out. While it doesn't accept that premium stop and experience you become with an iPad mini, it always feels a fleck safer and managed to come abroad unscathed from a couple of drops.

While the x-inch version is great for big screen apps and productivity, the smaller Tab S is improve put to use watching Netflix, clearer out your Instapaper queue and the like. It's has a more pixel dense display, which is superb and video watching is top notch. If you're more of a media consumer, who'south looking for a portable slate the viii.iv-inch version is a great choice.

Samsung has designed a range of comprehend accessories with 'Simple Clickers' attachments. These popper-style plastic fittings take the form of spring-loaded holes on the rear of the Tab S. They're secure and constructive though take conscientious placement to click in.

Similar the Samsung Milky way five, the Samsung's new tablet too features a fingerprint scanner - it's non as slickly done every bit on the iPhone 5s but it's a absurd way to unlock the screen without a password.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Southward: Screen

The brandish - similar on the Samsung Milky way S5 phone - is vivid and gorgeous. It's higher-resolution than the iPad Air'due south Retina display and the Super AMOLED engineering makes it stunningly vivid and colourful - sometimes almost besides dazzling. But at its all-time, this is a screen that you lot can't accept your eyes off.

Wait no farther than the 'Wonder of Nature' video that comes supplied. It looks jaw-droppingly proficient with punchy, precipitous colours. Thankfully the tablet is powerful enough to ensure butter-smooth playback, besides.

Its glorious visuals are not quite matched by audio. There are stereo speakers, ane on each of the shorter edges, but you could cover them upward with your hands if you don't agree the tablet only right. This is annoying, though it's easy to learn how to hold information technology best.

Samsung Milky way Tab Due south: Features

This being a Samsung tablet, there are plenty of innovations built in, too. Similar the fingerprint sensor found on the Samsung Galaxy S5, which offers a elementary way to unlock the screen as well as a groovy PayPal authorisation method.

The truth is it'southward just not every bit enjoyable as Apple'south version: to use yous accept to swipe your finger exactly down the abode push button rather than just resting your finger or pollex on it as yous do on the iPhone 5s. It's good, but not as well-executed as it should be - but this is a welcome addition to a tablet, achieved on the bigger screen before Apple could.

The tablet also has those Samsung staple features imported from Galaxy S phones: the front-facing photographic camera watches your eyes to know if you're reading the screen and plow it off if yous're not. An infra-red blaster in the elevation edge of the tablet means you can use it as a sophisticated Telly remote that you actually tin can't lose down the dorsum of the sofa.

You'll also get an 8-megapixel rear camera and so that you can have photos, should yous actually want to.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Interface

There's Samsung's dedicated TouchWiz carte du jour which swipes in from the side of the screen to offer quick shortcuts to Contacts, Email, internet and more than - though frankly information technology'south almost as quick to tap the apps icon that sits on the bottom of the display.

And there'south the Flipboard personal mag home screen popularised on before Galaxy devices (and still bettered on HTC'due south phones). Like other Samsung tablets, you can display two apps next, which adds to the tablet's versatility.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Performance

At that place's no shortage of grunt under the bonnet here, either, making it a fluent, speedy tablet to use. That'due south down to a Quad-core 1.ix GHz processor matched with 3GB of RAM: more than than enough to ensure a whizzy experience that doesn't stutter or irksome down however much is going on. The power besides means the touchscreen is fast and constructive, feeling intimate and responsive.

You needn't run out of storage infinite, either. Although the tablet only comes in 16GB and 32GB chapters models, there's a memory card slot here so you tin add an extra 128GB of infinite on top. This means that even the highest-capacity iPad can't match what'southward on offer here if you invest in a reasonably priced card.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Apps

Samsung is generous with its included software. Equally with the Sasmung Galaxy S5, the tablet comes with a bunch of gratis software - non the bloatware the company was criticised for in the by but genuinely desirable stuff. So there's three months' subscription to Marvel comics and 6 months of costless Deezer among other offers.

These and complimentary games and other apps are found in a widget called Galaxy Gifts, sitting on the home screen just next to the Samsung own-brand offerings such every bit a video editor, scrapbook, exclusive football app and more. Even here, this feels different from earlier Samsung products because the apps are downloadable rather than stuffed into the gadget already.

Of grade, it's yet hard to avoid the fact that Android merely isn't as avant-garde app-wise as Apple is on tablets.

Many apps are sophisticated enough to know how to stretch to bigger screens just few are optimised in the manner iPad apps are which reformat in radically dissimilar ways. This superior manner that apps work on the iPad are i of the things that proceed Apple tree out in front and there'due south not much Samsung tin can do to address that.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Software

Samsung's Newspaper Garden is a neatly organised magazine store which tempts you with a wide range of titles (in that location are some gratuitous bug on offer to tempt you more). Some are interactive, with animated covers and effects. All are carefully formatted to fit the 16:9 screen ratio. The pivot-precipitous screen makes text look equally sharp equally on paper.

Side Sync is a clever feature. Want to see whatís happening on your telephone screen without having to dig into your bag for it, or cross the room to where it'south charging? Evens reply calls or texts from your telephone on your tablet? Side Sync makes that happen. But it's not as smooth as it should be and can stutter to a stop. You lot can use information technology with a PC (though non Mac) as well, but over again the concept is ameliorate than the execution. For now.

Kids' mode is Samsung's fashion of limiting what your kids can utilise your tablet for is brilliant. It'southward painfully simple to ready and has enough diverseness and customisation options to adapt the most demanding of parents - or kids. Mind you, you might all the same prefer to buy them a inexpensive tablet rather than let them get their smeary mitts on yours.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Due south: Verdict

There'south no question about it: this is the best tablet Samsung has however fabricated and it'south arguably the slickest, almost constructive Android tablet available. There are plenty of innovations, from the fingerprint sensor to the click-in covers to protect your hardware. The slim, lite styling is a revelation, specially from a company whose design language was limited in its tablets before.

Will information technology be enough to take a chunk out of iPad sales? Apple'southward sublime ease of use and better range of optimised apps are tough to trounce, but this tablet has the best chance of causing a bounding main change of any Android car withal.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S release appointment: Out at present

Samsung Milky way Tab S price: £399 (10.five-inch, Wi-Fi just), £319 (8.four-inch, Wi-Fi only)

Source: https://www.t3.com/au/reviews/samsung-galaxy-tab-s-review

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