Galaxy Tab S Replika

Galaxy Tab S Replika : Slim Design, Long Battery Life and Stunning Screen

Galaxy Tab S Replika

Galaxy Tab S Replika-It would be silly of me to talk about tablets in yesteryear tense -- most of us still write tales about them daily and clearly, most of us review them, too. But of the methods we've seen these days, most have also been low-end; mid-range with best. The market place for high-end slates, once crowded with businesses big and tiny, now looks a lot more like a fraternity. Now, the only avid gamers left are largely big names including Apple, Microsoft, Sony. And, of course, Samsung. The particular outfit just announced the Galaxy Bill S, its flagship capsule for 2014. For sale in 8. 4- in addition to 10. 5-inch dimensions, it comes armed with ideal specs, including a sensational 2, 560 x 1, 600 Tremendous AMOLED screen, 12-hour battery life as well as a slim build of which measures just 6. 6mm thick. In addition, Samsung added a fingerprint target audience (still a rarity upon tablets) and cost-free goodies like well-liked magazines, Dropbox storage as well as a six-month Wall Road Journal subscription. The particular tablet's up for pre-order now, starting at $400 to the 8-inch model and $500 to the 10-incher. So, you simply can't test-drive it however, but, as this happens, I've been using it for almost per week. Suffice to point out, I've enjoyed me. Mostly. It'd be ridiculous of me to talk about tablets in yesteryear tense -- most of us still write tales about them daily and clearly, most of us review them, too. But of the methods we've seen these days, most have also been low-end; mid-range with best. The market place for high-end slates, once crowded with businesses big and tiny, now looks a lot more like a fraternity. Now, the only avid gamers left are largely big names including Apple, Microsoft, Sony. And, of course, Samsung. The particular outfit just announced the Galaxy Bill S, its flagship capsule for 2014. For sale in 8. 4- in addition to 10. 5-inch dimensions, it comes armed with ideal specs, including a sensational 2, 560 x 1, 600 Tremendous AMOLED screen, 12-hour battery life as well as a slim build of which measures just 6. 6mm thick. In addition, Samsung added a fingerprint target audience (still a rarity upon tablets) and cost-free goodies like well-liked magazines, Dropbox storage as well as a six-month Wall Road Journal subscription. The particular tablet's up for pre-order now, starting at $400 to the 8-inch model and $500 to the 10-incher. So, you simply can't test-drive it however, but, as this happens, I've been using it for almost per week. Suffice to point out, I've enjoyed me. Mostly. It's a great idea in concept: Once those suckers are in, you can support the tablet by the case if you wish to. That thing is actually staying put. The catch is, it's a huge pain to use. First, you have to carefully line up the two nubs against their respective divots, and then you'll want to push them in one at a time. Even now, after I've had the perfect time to practice, I usually aren't getting it right upon my first test. And in order to reach your goals, I typically have to use two arms to press the tablet and case into each other. Ripping the scenario off requires a little bit of force -- and makes an upsetting noise, to start. Thankfully, at the very least, Samsung says there will be third-party cases as well. Hopefully some of those would be the kind you could just slip off and on.

DISPLAY

You'll notice We gave the display its own section, even though it can be technically "hardware. " That's partly because I had created a lot to mention, and partly for the reason that screen is evidently, indisputably the star of the show. What am i allowed to say? Samsung murdered it. The screen this is the spec lover's desire, with 2, 560 x 1, 600 resolution on both 10-and 8-inch models. On the 10-incher, that resolution equals a pixel solidity of 287 ppi; the 8-incher is clearly crisper, at 360 ppi. Either way, that's even crisper than both of the current-gen iPads, whose screens arrived at 264 ppi to the iPad Air in addition to 326 ppi to the Retina display mini.

Alright, now that we've got that out of our system, let's yank up our trousers and put the measuring tape away. Even setting aside the raw specs, this is a sensational display. In certain, it's a Tremendous AMOLED panel, and while that won't appear revolutionary to any person who's used considered one of Samsung's recent devices, it's fairly uncommon for the tablet. In fact, the last time Sammy tried a brilliant AMOLED panel on one of its slates was using the Galaxy Tab 7. 7, which was prohibitively expensive -- precisely because of the impressive screen technological know-how. Since then, the price seems to have come down, which means the advantages of Super AMOLED are less of a challenge to sell. In particular, the blacks here are black; the whites are white; and the colors are vibrant, if a little oversaturated. If you've taken care of a phone just like the GS5, you understand what I'm talking concerning.

What's more, there's an RGB sensor on the inside that adjusts the colour balance depending on your surroundings. So, while you are in a swank hang with purple feelings lighting (in which case you should really get off your tablet in addition to socialize), the present will adjust by itself accordingly. I need to add, too, the screen is extremely bright -- bright enough that i could use it in direct sunlight and frame shots just like the one below. I'll talk more around the camera in somewhat, but suffice to mention, having a capsule this thin, using this type of bright a monitor, makes photography more enjoyable than it could be otherwise.

SOFTWARE

The Galaxy Tab S arrives on the heels of the Galaxy S5, which ushered in a few big changes in order to Samsung's TouchWiz epidermis -- namely a flatter, more modern day UI. Indeed, Sammy's new tablet carries a similar look throughout. Underneath it all, the Galaxy Bill S is managing Android 4. 4 KitKat on top of Samsung's My Magazine -- the same paneled, Windows 8-like page layout that had Google somewhat upset after Samsung's past round of pills were revealed. Nokia's have since decided work together upon future products, to bring Samsung's user experience more in keeping with stock Android. Nicely, this definitely doesn't resemble stock Android, and it's really frustrating that you simply can't remove Magazine UX from your homescreen. If it can be any consolation, Magazine UX now lives on the left-most screen, where it's more off the beaten track. Still, I wish I had created the option connected with removing it permanently.

Given that that is a Samsung product, managing Samsung's software, you'll certainly get various some other features you wouldn't find on a stock Android unit. These include the usuals, like Ersus Voice; Multi Screen Mode, for viewing two apps side-by-side; and Samsung's Take advantage of Music service, which until recently continues to be available for devices only. As on the GS5, you'll uncover older Samsung attributes like Smart keep, Smart rotation in addition to Smart pause, but they're now tucked outside of sight. Don't worry, though: A new search bar from the settings menu implies those features are still readily available.

There are other similarities towards GS5. Chief among them: that fingerprint target audience I mentioned previous. As on the Galaxy S5, the fingerprint sensor here is built into your home button, and enables you to log into the device, make transactions in your Samsung account and purchase stuff on amazon. You'll find the fingerprint option from the settings menu, at which point you will need to go through a setup process that concerns swiping your finger along the home button 8 times. In almost all, you can register up to three fingers each user. Mastering an ideal swipe -- definitely not too fast, dedicated to the home press button, finger covering the full button -- is actually difficult. In fact, even now that I have been playing with the device for nearly per week, it still consistently takes me two or else three tries to have it right. There have also been multiple occasions while I've failed five times within a row, and were required to wait 30 seconds to attempt again. (Note: Samsung will have you established an alphanumeric security password, which you could enter anytime you get fed up with the fingerprint reader. )

Also like the GS5, the Galaxy Tab S comes with 50GB of Dropbox storage, free for two years. In fact, it comes with an entire suite of free stuff, a package known as "Galaxy Gifts." This, too, first debuted on the GS5, and includes things like six free months of Wall Street Journal access and a yearlong subscription to Bloomberg Businessweek. There are other items, including a bunch of magazine "samplers," but these just include a handful of stories, not the whole issue. That said, if you were curious about, say, that Monica Lewinsky essay in Vanity Fair, but didn't want to buy the whole issue (ahem), this might nonetheless be your lucky day. And hey, if all this strikes you as fancy bloatware, you can simply choose not to download it.Speaking of magazines, the Galaxy Tab S also ushers in an app called Papergarden, which offers full-issue magazines you'd otherwise have to pay for. In the US, these titles include biggies like Cosmopolitan, Elle, Vogue, GQ, Rolling Stone and US Weekly. Users in other countries get to enjoy Papergarden too, though the selection will vary. To be clear, this isn't like Next Issue when it comes to selection: Not all popular titles are there, and you don't have access to back issues. You also have to submit a credit card just to download a full issue for free. Still, it's a nice perk for people who enjoy magazines, but don't like them enough to buy them, much less subscribe for a whole year.

I'm not done yet. For those of you with families, the Galaxy Tab S has a new Kids Mode that lets you create separate user accounts for the little ones, with restricted access if there are apps you don't want them messing with. (Note: Kids Mode doesn't come pre-installed, though there's a shortcut for downloading it.) Additionally, a new Multi User Mode lets you add up to seven user accounts, complete with separate passwords and different sets of fingerprints. Finally, there's version 3.0 of SideSync, Samsung's app for transferring files between your tablet and your phone or PC. New in this version: the ability to forward calls from your handset to your slate, using either WiFi or LTE. The bad news: For now, at least, it only works with the GS5. So, uh, we hope you have a Galaxy S5 handy.

CAMERA

Both Galaxy Tab S's have an 8-megapixel rear camera and LED flash, along with a lower-res, 2.1-megapixel shooter around front -- more or less the same setup used in the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2, Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, and the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. Basically, then, you should expect identical imaging performance between the two Galaxy Tab S models, and also across Sammy's recent tablet lineup. As we've found in the past, color reproduction is good, and the camera is quick to focus as you line up your shot (if for some reason it doesn't lock on where you want it to, there's always tap-to-focus). Low-light shots are grainy, but then, what did you expect from a tablet camera, anyway?

As it happens, I took all my sample shots in auto mode, because that's how I believe most consumers will use the device, but you can also choose from one of several specialty modes, including "Beauty face," panorama, HDR and dual camera. Additionally, you can adjust the ISO, metering modes, flash and face detection from the settings menu.Samsung Galaxy Tab S sample shots

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It's a similar story with 1080p video recording. Like other Engadget reviewers who've tested recent Samsung tablets, I found my sample footage to be pretty smooth, though the occasional gust of wind put a damper on the audio quality. Even then, the tablet picked up on a wide range of noises -- sirens, traffic, people talking nearby -- without any of those elements sounding distorted.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB S ** SONY XPERIA Z2 TABLET GALAXY NOTE 10.1 2014 IPAD AIR ***

Quadrant 2.0 18,597 18,877 19,530 N/A

Vellamo 2.0 1,672 1,622 2,735 N/A

SunSpider 1.0.2 (ms) 1,109 N/A 1,069 393

3DMark IS Unlimited 12,431 N/A N/A 15,328

GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan Offscreen (fps) 5.5 N/A N/A 12.7

CF-Bench 31,695 37,902 31,567 N/A

*SunSpider: Lower scores are better.

**Average scores for the 8.4- and 10.5-inch models.

***Not all of our Android benchmarks are cross-compatible with iOS.

Whichever screen size you get, the Galaxy Tab S has the same specs: three gigs of RAM, and an eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chip, the same one found inside certain versions of the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. In case you haven't been keeping up with our Samsung tablet reviews, here's what you need to know: The Exynos 5 actually includes two quad-core processors, only one of which is active at a given time. These include a 1.9GHz chip for heavier-duty tasks, and a lower-powered 1.3GHz one for the more menial stuff. The idea is to extend battery life by using the more powerful cores only when necessary (but to still have them ready to go when you need the extra horsepower).

To scan the benchmark table above, you'd assume the Galaxy Tab S performs roughly in line with other top-of-the-line tablets, including the Sony Xperia Z2 and, of course, the 2014 Note 10.1, which uses the same chipset. What the numbers don't capture, though, is how uneven the performance can be. What's most frustrating is that while the tablets excel at the hard stuff, like rendering graphically detailed games, they stumble over the little things. Though neither of my two test units ever crashed or froze on me, I routinely observed a slight delay when launching apps or tapping a text field and waiting for the onscreen keyboard to come up. Meanwhile, though, Need for Speed: Most Wanted ran smoothly -- and looked fantastic on that 2,560 x 1,600 Super AMOLED screen, to boot. I also had no problems with Multi Window Mode; I was able to quickly set up two side-by-side windows, as well as swap in new apps when necessary.

All told, the performance here isn't bad by any means; it's just not as brisk as I expected it to be, given the way the chip was designed. I'm inclined to say that Samsung can address some of this low-level sluggishness with a firmware update. That said, Brad described similar performance hiccups when he reviewed the 2014 Note 10.1 last fall, which means Samsung has already had plenty of time to work out some of the kinks with its Exynos 5 chip. I still believe Sammy could improve the performance via a software update. It just doesn't bode well that the chip's performance hasn't changed in the months since it debuted: Has Samsung been listening to us?

If it's any consolation, the as-yet-unreleased LTE models are supposed to use a Snapdragon 800 chip instead of the Exynos 5, so maybe performance will be snappier there.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB S ** SONY XPERIA Z2 TABLET GALAXY NOTE 10.1 2014 IPAD AIR ***

Quadrant 2.0 18,597 18,877 19,530 N/A

Vellamo 2.0 1,672 1,622 2,735 N/A

SunSpider 1.0.2 (ms) 1,109 N/A 1,069 393

3DMark IS Unlimited 12,431 N/A N/A 15,328

GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan Offscreen (fps) 5.5 N/A N/A 12.7

CF-Bench 31,695 37,902 31,567 N/A

*SunSpider: Lower scores are better.

**Average scores for the 8.4- and 10.5-inch models.

***Not all of our Android benchmarks are cross-compatible with iOS.

Whichever screen size you get, the Galaxy Tab S has the same specs: three gigs of RAM, and an eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chip, the same one found inside certain versions of the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. In case you haven't been keeping up with our Samsung tablet reviews, here's what you need to know: The Exynos 5 actually includes two quad-core processors, only one of which is active at a given time. These include a 1.9GHz chip for heavier-duty tasks, and a lower-powered 1.3GHz one for the more menial stuff. The idea is to extend battery life by using the more powerful cores only when necessary (but to still have them ready to go when you need the extra horsepower).

To scan the benchmark table above, you'd assume the Galaxy Tab S performs roughly in line with other top-of-the-line tablets, including the Sony Xperia Z2 and, of course, the 2014 Note 10.1, which uses the same chipset. What the numbers don't capture, though, is how uneven the performance can be. What's most frustrating is that while the tablets excel at the hard stuff, like rendering graphically detailed games, they stumble over the little things. Though neither of my two test units ever crashed or froze on me, I routinely observed a slight delay when launching apps or tapping a text field and waiting for the onscreen keyboard to come up. Meanwhile, though, Need for Speed: Most Wanted ran smoothly -- and looked fantastic on that 2,560 x 1,600 Super AMOLED screen, to boot. I also had no problems with Multi Window Mode; I was able to quickly set up two side-by-side windows, as well as swap in new apps when necessary.

All told, the performance here isn't bad by any means; it's just not as brisk as I expected it to be, given the way the chip was designed. I'm inclined to say that Samsung can address some of this low-level sluggishness with a firmware update. That said, Brad described similar performance hiccups when he reviewed the 2014 Note 10.1 last fall, which means Samsung has already had plenty of time to work out some of the kinks with its Exynos 5 chip. I still believe Sammy could improve the performance via a software update. It just doesn't bode well that the chip's performance hasn't changed in the months since it debuted: Has Samsung been listening to us?

If it's any consolation, the as-yet-unreleased LTE models are supposed to use a Snapdragon 800 chip instead of the Exynos 5, so maybe performance will be snappier there.

TABLET BATTERY LIFE

Samsung Galaxy Tab S (10-inch) 12:30

Samsung Galaxy Tab S (8-inch) 12:22

Microsoft Surface 2 14:22

iPad Air 13:45 (LTE)

Apple iPad mini 12:43 (WiFi)

Apple iPad mini with Retina display 11:55 (LTE)

Apple iPad (late 2012) 11:08 (WiFi)

Apple iPad 2 10:26

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 10:04

Apple iPad (2012) 9:52 (HSPA) / 9:37 (LTE)

Acer Iconia W4 9:50

Nexus 7 (2012) 9:49

Microsoft Surface RT 9:36

Toshiba Encore 8:45

Sony Xperia Tablet Z 8:40

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet 7:57

Nexus 10 7:26

Dell Venue 8 Pro 7:19

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 7:18

Nexus 7 (2013) 7:15

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 7:13

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 6:55

According to the product pages on Samsung's website, the 10-inch model's 7,900mAh battery can last through up to 12 hours of video playback. Ditto for the 8-incher: It, too, is rated for 12 hours, despite having a smaller, 4,900mAh cell. As it turns out, the Galaxy Tab S performs even better than advertised. The 8-inch tablet managed a solid 12 hours and 22 minutes of video playback, while the 10-incher made it to exactly 12.5 hours. Mind you, that was with the screen brightness fixed at 50 percent and WiFi on, but not connected; surely, if we allowed the brightness to dip even lower, we could have squeezed out more runtime. Should you need more juice, by the way, you can enable "Ultra power-saving mode," which turns the screen to black-and-white and only enables certain key apps. Basically: For emergency use only.

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS AND THE COMPETITION

The Galaxy Tab S is up for pre-order now, starting at $400 for the 8-inch version and $500 for the 10-incher. Both start with 16GB of built-in storage, though Samsung will also be selling 32GB models in select countries. Meanwhile, that LTE model I mentioned is coming later this year, and is expected to sell on all the major US carriers: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. No word on how long you'll have to wait for that, though.

All told, as you can see, it's a solid choice, with hardly any flaws to speak of. That said, we can think of a few other tablets you should be considering. If you're dead-set on something running Android, the Sony Xperia Z2 ($500-plus) is even thinner and lighter than the Galaxy Tab S, not to mention waterproof. Then again, it suffers from relatively short battery life and a super-glossy, lower-res screen (not that 1,920 x 1,200 resolution is "low," per se). Meanwhile, you might also consider Samsung's Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 ($750 for 32GB) and the Note 10.1 2014 Edition ($550-plus). Neither is as thin or light as the Galaxy Tab S, but they have 2,560 x 1,600 screens and support pressure-sensitive pen input -- the one thing the GTab S doesn't offer.

It's also worth noting that Google's 2-year-old Nexus 10 is still around for a reasonable $399. Having been out for two years, it's overdue for a refresh, and a replacement could be coming soon, though its 2,560 x 1,600 screen makes it relevant even today. Across the aisle, there's Microsoft's Surface 2, starting at $449. It's a handsome device, and the built-in kickstand is a convenient feature you won't find on any of these other tablets. That said, if I had to choose, I'd still pick the Galaxy Tab S, as it's thinner, lighter and cheaper, with a better screen and a bigger app selection.

Finally, the elephant in the room: the iPad. If you prefer Android, you may as well skip this section -- we think you'll be very happy with the Galaxy Tab S. If you're OS-agnostic, though, the Galaxy Tab S takes on the iPad Air and Retina display iPad mini nearly spec for spec, with the GTab winning out in thinness, lightness and screen resolution. The prices are basically the same too, with the 8-incher starting at $399 and the bigger model going for $499. The one thing you might want to consider is that tablet-app selection is still better on iOS. That said, both are excellent products; start by picking the OS you like best and go from there.

WRAP-UP

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S is good. Really good. With long battery life, a stunning screen and an especially thin and light design, it earns its place as our new favorite Android tablet. My main hang-up is that the performance doesn't always feel as brisk as it should (the forthcoming LTE edition uses a different chip, and has the potential to be faster, but it's unreasonable to ask someone to pay extra for the kind of performance they should have gotten on the WiFi-only models). In addition, the fingerprint scanner, though nice to have, can be temperamental -- so much so that I've more than once locked myself out of my own tablet. Finally, Samsung's Magazine UX feels a bit overbearing, mostly because you don't get the option of uninstalling it.

It doesn't look like that UI is going anywhere, but I do believe Samsung can address those minor performance issues via a software update. And even if it doesn't, this is still an excellent piece of kit. If I may, I'd offer the same advice I would to prospective iPad buyers: Unless you want the extra screen real estate for watching movies, just buy the 8-inch version. It's cheaper, with a crisper screen, identical camera and just as much horsepower as the bigger model. Either way, you can't go wrong.