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Samsung Galaxy Tab S review — Samsung Galaxy Tab Southward review

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

Have you idea of buying a tablet? Well, then, chances are that you'll take been tempted by an iPad. The truth is that however expert the rival Android or Windows tablets have been, it'due south Apple that has been calling the shots with the all-time-designed tablet around. Until now.

Samsung'southward new tablet is slim, stylish and powerful. The Galaxy Tab Southward marks a new get-go for the visitor. After all, before at present even Amazon's keenly priced Kindle Burn serial and the well-specced Google Nexus seven haven't been able to unseat the iPad Air and iPad mini 2 from their thrones.

The iPad outgunned rivals when it added a Retina display. Samsung and others upped their screen resolutions to compete, only to be outdone over again by the super-slim, preposterously light iPad Air. Apple tree stayed out in front end.

Samsung Milky way Tab South: Size and build

The Tab Southward at last gives the iDevices a serious claiming. The Galaxy Tab S comes in ii sizes and both are easily the snazziest tablets Samsung has ever created - a dark-and-day improvement over earlier models which had grey plastic as their virtually dominant way motif.

That's gone, replaced past metal-mode edging and perforated soft-touch on dorsum. The issue is a high-finish premium-feel design, even if they're still plastic rather than aluminium. These are arguably the best-looking tablets anyone's made outside of Cupertino.

The Tab S comes in two screen sizes, 8.4 inches and 10.5 inches. Both, like their Apple rivals, have the same number of pixels on the big screen every bit the small. And both are lightweight, catwalk-thin gadgets.

Of the two tablets, the 10.five-inch screen is comparable in size to the iPad Air, though the brandish is almost an inch bigger. Even and then, it'southward lighter (past a whisker) as well as thinner by almost 1mm. So that featherlight, slender quality Apple tree went for is matched or beaten - not least considering plastic is lighter than aluminium.

And unlike the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet which is fifty-fifty thinner and lighter, the Tab South doesn't take a huge bezel round the display, at least not on all four sides. Design-wise, this is a real triumph and anyone wanting a fashionable alternative to Apple tree has institute it.

The smaller of the pair, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.4-inch edition, feels swell in the hand. The smooth sides and curved corners, combined with the soft, grippy back create a tablet that nestles in the palm and never feels like its going to slip out. While it doesn't take that premium finish and feel you become with an iPad mini, it ever feels a bit safer and managed to come away unscathed from a couple of drops.

While the 10-inch version is great for big screen apps and productivity, the smaller Tab S is better put to use watching Netflix, clearer out your Instapaper queue and the similar. It's has a more than pixel dumbo display, which is superb and video watching is height notch. If you're more of a media consumer, who'south looking for a portable slate the 8.4-inch version is a great choice.

Samsung has designed a range of embrace accessories with 'Simple Clickers' attachments. These popper-style plastic fittings take the course of jump-loaded holes on the rear of the Tab S. They're secure and effective though have careful placement to click in.

Like the Samsung Galaxy 5, the Samsung's new tablet also features a fingerprint scanner - it's not as slickly done equally on the iPhone 5s merely it's a absurd way to unlock the screen without a countersign.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Screen

The display - similar on the Samsung Galaxy S5 phone - is bright and gorgeous. Information technology's higher-resolution than the iPad Air'southward Retina brandish and the Super AMOLED applied science makes it stunningly vivid and colourful - sometimes near as well dazzling. But at its all-time, this is a screen that y'all can't have your eyes off.

Look no further than the 'Wonder of Nature' video that comes supplied. It looks jaw-droppingly good with punchy, sharp colours. Thankfully the tablet is powerful enough to ensure butter-polish playback, too.

Its glorious visuals are not quite matched by audio. There are stereo speakers, one on each of the shorter edges, simply you could cover them up with your easily if you don't hold the tablet simply right. This is abrasive, though it'due south piece of cake to larn how to hold it best.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Southward: Features

This being a Samsung tablet, there are plenty of innovations built in, besides. Similar the fingerprint sensor plant on the Samsung Galaxy S5, which offers a unproblematic way to unlock the screen as well equally a neat PayPal authorisation method.

The truth is it's just not equally enjoyable equally Apple's version: to use you lot take to swipe your finger exactly down the home button rather than simply resting your finger or thumb on it as you do on the iPhone 5s. It's good, simply non every bit well-executed as it should be - but this is a welcome addition to a tablet, accomplished on the bigger screen before Apple could.

The tablet also has those Samsung staple features imported from Galaxy S phones: the forepart-facing camera watches your eyes to know if yous're reading the screen and plough information technology off if you're not. An infra-crimson blaster in the height edge of the tablet means you can utilise information technology as a sophisticated TV remote that y'all actually tin't lose down the back of the sofa.

You'll also get an viii-megapixel rear camera and then that you can take photos, should yous really want to.

Samsung Milky way Tab S: Interface

There'southward Samsung's dedicated TouchWiz menu which swipes in from the side of the screen to offering quick shortcuts to Contacts, Electronic mail, internet and more - though frankly it's almost as quick to tap the apps icon that sits on the bottom of the display.

And at that place's the Flipboard personal magazine home screen popularised on before Milky way devices (and all the same bettered on HTC's phones). Like other Samsung tablets, you can display two apps next, which adds to the tablet'south versatility.

Samsung Milky way Tab South: Performance

There's no shortage of grunt nether the bonnet here, either, making it a fluent, speedy tablet to use. That's downwardly to a Quad-core 1.9 GHz processor matched with 3GB of RAM: more than plenty to ensure a whizzy experience that doesn't stutter or slow down nevertheless much is going on. The power also means the touchscreen is fast and constructive, feeling intimate and responsive.

You lot needn't run out of storage space, either. Although the tablet but comes in 16GB and 32GB capacity models, there'south a retention card slot here so you can add together an extra 128GB of infinite on summit. This means that even the highest-capacity iPad can't match what's on offer hither if you lot invest in a reasonably priced carte.

Samsung Milky way Tab Southward: Apps

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

These and gratuitous games and other apps are found in a widget called Galaxy Gifts, sitting on the home screen but next to the Samsung own-brand offerings such every bit a video editor, scrapbook, sectional football app and more than. Fifty-fifty here, this feels unlike from earlier Samsung products considering the apps are downloadable rather than stuffed into the gadget already.

Of course, it's yet hard to avoid the fact that Android just isn't as advanced app-wise as Apple is on tablets.

Many apps are sophisticated enough to know how to stretch to bigger screens merely few are optimised in the manner iPad apps are which reformat in radically different ways. This superior fashion that apps piece of work on the iPad are i of the things that keep Apple out in front and there's not much Samsung can do to address that.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Software

Samsung's Newspaper Garden is a neatly organised magazine store which tempts y'all with a broad range of titles (at that place are some free bug on offer to tempt you more). Some are interactive, with animated covers and effects. All are carefully formatted to fit the xvi:9 screen ratio. The pin-sharp screen makes text look as sharp as on newspaper.

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

Kids' mode is Samsung's mode of limiting what your kids can apply your tablet for is brilliant. Information technology's painfully simple to gear up and has enough multifariousness and customisation options to suit the near demanding of parents - or kids. Mind you, you might however prefer to buy them a cheap tablet rather than let them go their smeary mitts on yours.

Samsung Galaxy Tab South: Verdict

There's no question most information technology: this is the best tablet Samsung has nonetheless fabricated and it's arguably the slickest, most effective Android tablet available. In that location are plenty of innovations, from the fingerprint sensor to the click-in covers to protect your hardware. The slim, low-cal styling is a revelation, especially from a company whose blueprint linguistic communication was limited in its tablets before.

Will it be plenty to take a chunk out of iPad sales? Apple tree's sublime ease of use and amend range of optimised apps are tough to crush, but this tablet has the all-time chance of causing a body of water alter of any Android machine yet.

Samsung Galaxy Tab South release date: Out at present

Samsung Galaxy Tab Southward toll: £399 (10.5-inch, Wi-Fi only), £319 (8.4-inch, Wi-Fi only)