And all will still continue to be gimped with the usual 16GB of internal storage (with 8.5GB available left to the user). It's 2014, not 2011. It's time 32GB became standard across the board no matter what. Also, I wouldn't pay these kinds of prices without having microUSB 3.0 connectivity (I am spoiled by my Note 3) AND wireless charging (to save the aforementioned port from overuse). I'm also slightly miffed by the use of an Exynos instead of a Snapdragon. Now, if they refresh these guys this fall with the latest version of Android, an 801/805, add USB 3.0 from the Tap/Note Pros AND double up the storage while holding the line on the the price then I might consider it!
What does it matter how much storage is on board? For a Nexus 7 or an IPad it matters but Micro SD cards are dirt cheap... I picked up a 128GB for $110 for my Tab Pro. That is a grand total of 144 GB of storage(less OS and Apps) for just over $500. Compared to $800 for a Mini Retina with 128GB that's almost $300 cheaper. As mentioned the USB 3.0 is too thick to fit into this tablet. I have several devices that I have been charging and using for literally years without any overuse of the micro USB port so why worrry?
Especially with all the bloatware Samsung puts in it... There will be like 8-9 gb space available for apps. Not good enough Samsung. Not for a $500 device.
10.5GB available for a $400 device, lol. And remember all the bloatware Google Corporation requires, including but not limited to a social network, a chat app, an extra browser, their ad network, a gaming center, and llittle stores and proprietary apps for music, expensive movies, and even magazines. At least Samsung adds things like multi-window, grayscale mode for battery savings, 1% battery.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S seems to be a choice, although I personally prefer getting one of the top models from Samsung (see http://www.consumertop.com/best-tablets/ for example), but that's just me. Some people might like this!
I want to see what the they can do with an 808 or 810 that will be using a die shrink. That is what I am interested in for both phones and tablets. They really should be pushing these chips to be released by years end, not early next year. Oh well.
I think the updated model will more likely use the new Exynos used in Galaxy Alpha than a Snapdragon. Samsung can obviously reach higher profits by utilizing home made chips.
So if I've understood correctly, the Samsung's screen isn't that great after all - at least when compared against the iPad Air. It has more pixels and supposedly better contrast (though that wasn't tested here) but what is displayed is not as accurate as the Air's Retina screen.
The smallest amount of ambient light washes out any contrast difference, so you can enjoy your AMOLED at night, especially watching horrors but otherwise it's hardly a problem. What about that display lag ? Honestly I don't know what it is exactly, but I think is rather bad as I noticed flickering on many AMOLED displays...
Shouldn't be as sensitive as you imply. The screen is an emissive device, not reflective, so the ambient light would have to be strong enough to interfere with the light from the screen.
Yeah exactly ! The problem for samsung is that the iPad Air screen is the same as the screen of the new iPad (2012) just lower power and higher brightness... And this is 2014. Anand's numbers are painting these in a very good picture, but in reality I found this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SjYuNzFRIag Blues are especially over saturated on the 10,5 just as that horrible sub pixel arrangement implies.
How can you possibly tell anything about a display when viewing a video of it on your own display, which completely alters the perceived characteristics of the display being evaluated?
I have an idea. Let's film both displays in black and white and then do a comparison to try to see which display has better colors. It would be just about as viable a means of comparing displays as the video you linked.
I also think that one video is too little to draw a conclusion, but it's far more useful than any set of numbers can ever be to describe a display. I don't care how used camera and my crappy TN LCD display could screw the video because you are wrong as the perceived characteristics of botch evaluated displays is changed in the same way. I see that the iPad has an picture and the tab S has the same picture that looks differently, and I also know that the iPad Air makes very accurate colors and the tab S is making apparently different colors, which logically implies that it's not as nice colored as the iPad. Yah an quick conclusion, but can you tell me where I made a mistake, or make your own different conclusion from that video ?
I think you really have a problem with your reading skill. The Tab S 10.1 definitely won in white accuracy (quite significant), grayscale accuracy (far), GMB accuracy (quite). iPad Air won with Gamut accuracy (quite to medium) and saturation (quite much). At least a basic person can see that Tab S 10.1 won 3/5 points of the comparison. While with users, the grayscale is much more important that everyone should have a same perspective, while the minor saturation is only subjective from person to person. Not forgot to say the biggest advantage is the infinite contrast (which triumps when you read/see everything indoor) and better outdoor visibility with automatic brightness (supposed to be, as GS5 vs iPhone 5s) brings better image outdoor. So what is your point?
Forgot to say: If you or anybody have ever used the old Tab 7.7, you can see the contrast advantage is MUCH more notable. That's the reason why many people and Tab 7.7 ex-users have waited for these tablets for so long.
And it is crushing everything else. As hung2900 says, contrast is what has the biggest impression on any normal user, and this tablet is literally killing everything else on that point.
a) who's to say that each test has the same weighting? Perhaps colour reproduction is more important than say, greyscale accuracy, especially to say, an artist;
b) I already stated that contrast was another factor not tested that should be considered, so repeating that point was moot.
So the point is that it is not an obviously better screen than the iPad Air.
Don't take it so personally. So what if your iPad doesn't have the nicest screen of all tablets? The truth is there are many parts of an iPad that are bested by other tablets but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying yours.
This really seems like the narcism of small differences. Judging from Anand's comments, both displays are spectacular, and more fruitful avenues of competition would appear to be based on features other than improving the metrics Anand is measuring. Given what appears to be substantially lower power (when displaying dark scenes) Samsung comes out ahead --- of course this is of little value if they do worse on displaying white scenes, which also appears to be the case, and if (like me) you spend most of your time reading black text against a white background.
In future whoever gets to variable refresh first (both to save power, and to display 24 and 48 fps content at the native rate) will have achieved a more useful advantage. Likewise I suspect that for at least some purposes an available refresh rate of higher than 60 fps (maybe 72, maybe 90 or even 120) may be valuable --- I don't know how high you need to go before motion (especially the difficult cases like horizontal pans) never judders.
Let me just quote DisplayMate - a well know specialist in display evaluations: "Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, the Galaxy Tab S is the Best Performing Tablet Display that we have ever tested, not surprisingly with performance that is almost identical to the OLED Galaxy S5 Smartphone that we recently tested and found to be the Best Performing Smartphone Display."
While I appreciate AnanTech reviews very much for their comprehensiveness when it comes to displays I prefer the opinion of the specialists in the field. You can read DisplayMate's full review here: http://www.displaymate.com/OLED_Tablet_ShootOut_1....
From what I can see, in reference to a gamut of 113% he has said, "Slightly Too High," and that is in reference to sRGB and the screen being in 'Basic Mode' instead of 'Photo Mode'. When in 'Photo Mode', the Samsung screen is said to be within 106% of the larger, Adobe RGB gamut.
Of course, a wide gamut capability is pointless without accuracy and according to his tests, the Samsung 10.5 screen is either "Very good" or "Excellent."
You didn't read. One of the things he makes a point of several times is the ability to change the screen calibration. He notes that many people find the increased saturation pleasing to the eye - I do. But if you don't like it, there are other options, two of which are spot on with industry standard color gamut.
It is hard to take anand reviews seriously just looking at their "CPU benchmark" choices, plus their heavy bias toward apple products. DisplayMate go further with testing and are more objective in their conclusions.
Anand's CPU comparison is so apple-and-orange comparison. Everyone know Sunspider is the mix of Browser optimization, CPU power and how CPU optimized toward browsing. Why didn't he use Chrome to mesure the Sunsipder of iOS?
If you don't like sunspider for whatever reason, look at one of the other values. No-one is forcing you to base your opinions on one number. But for many of us sun spider most accurately captures the snappiness of a browser in real use, which is something we care about. Kraken and Octane are too much biased towards JS performance and multithreaded JS. That's fine if that's what you're interested in, but it's silly to pretend that that's a better measure of how the device feels in normal use.
lilo777's comment seems to be an important one. Perhaps a generalist tech site like Anandtech isn't the most knowledgeable about testing screens. How were the tests conducted? Perhaps the method that was used to display an image on the screen was sub-optimal. For example, an image normally has a profile associated with it and some programs will use that profile in order to determine the correct way of displaying that image - eg whether sRGB or Adobe RGB colour spaces are appropriate.
It has better contrast, better white point, better grayscale accuracy, gamut and saturation accuracy are so close to the Air display you won't be able to tell without measuring equipment. I'd say it is a match to the Air display and significantly better than anything else. It's pretty great, considering Samsung don't have fanatical devotees to exploit and must sell much more balanced products at lower profit margins.
The display in the samsung tablet has better contrast, a wider gamut, better resolution and a much faster response than the display in the ipad Air.
Sasmung makes display panels for both ipads and Galaxy tablets, so it is only natural that Samsung would reserve the superior panel for their own tablets.
Sorry to burst your bubble but Apple compromises on many things to preserve their profit margins... See eg skimpy RAM that means that webpage tabs always face to reload when you switch between them, causing info to be lost... Low RAM also caused the iPad Airs and minis with retina to crash and freeze frequently. The one I bought for my sister froze all the time - a $500 product at that! Similar issue with their highway robbery pricing for storage... $500 device with only 16 GB and no micro SD is an insult and a ripoff. (That goes for all brands but we are starting to see some change... More companies bundling 32 GB into the base model).
Another example would be the (again insulting) ugly TN panel in the MacBook Air - $1000+ computer with a low rez TN display. Only Apple could get away with it.
The display in the Sammy is nine months newer than the Air/Mini and 5s. Those products are coming down the pipe in the next quarter. How about we compare current to current versions enforced deciding? And with those results, it's pretty apparent Apple's 2013 design was pretty damn good and holding it's own almost a year later (keep in mind it's dominance at release in comparison to AMOLED tablets). Hold your reservations. The Air's display is beyond outstanding and if the Sammy is this good, neither is 'bad' nor will the majority be able to discern any difference at these resolutions
Contrast is the single-most important part of subjective (ie: what peoples eyes say) display quality - according to every study ever done on it - and AMOLED displays have infinite contrast. Not sure why it wasn't tested here, but the ludicrous contrast makes this screen many-times superior to the iPad screen, IMO.
That said, there are plenty of folks that (for some reason) prefer LCD to AMOLED, so who am I to judge.
"Contrast is the single-most important part of subjective (ie: what peoples eyes say) display quality - according to every study ever done on it - and AMOLED displays have infinite contrast. Not sure why it wasn't tested here, but the ludicrous contrast makes this screen many-times superior to the iPad screen, IMO." A) contrast is NOT the single most important, subjective performance standard. Brightness and saturation. IE, 'Torch Mode!' That's why every TV at best buy is cranked to vivid, 100% pic and high saturation levels. NOT blacks and shadows. It's important to me, but as you've answered your own question, it's impossible to measure 'infinite contrast'. As OLED displays don't 'turn on' a pixel on black scenes, it's 'truly infinite' and hence impossible to measure. Though I'd argue if it's such a subjective and deciding quality, why aren't we using OLED displays to 'produce, color, and finalize' a motion picture? While DisplayMate's results do indeed separate these tablets, the overall scores are a point apart. Not leagues. I own the Note 3 and iPad Air as well as the retina mini and 5s. They're all phenomenal displays and excellent systems. To argue ones better than the other is like arguing pancakes vs waffles. They're both light years ahead of my Magnavox 13 channel (manual) 13" black and white I had in high school with rabbit ears ...or my first 16 'color' display after a decade in monochrome. LoL, kids these days ;)
think again... http://www.displaymate.com/OLED_Tablet_ShootOut_1.... "Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, the Galaxy Tab S is the Best Performing Tablet Display that we have ever tested, not surprisingly with performance that is almost identical to the OLED Galaxy S5 Smartphone that we recently tested and found to be the Best Performing Smartphone Display"..."Comparisons with the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX and Apple iPad Tablet Displays: In 2013 the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Tablets became the top performing Tablet displays in our Display Technology Shoot-Out series, leapfrogging the competition with cutting edge displays using Quantum Dots and Low Temperature Poly Silicon. But with the ever continuing and impressive improvements in display technology the Samsung Galaxy Tab S has now taken the lead for the Best Tablet Displays. The Apple iPad Air, which came in second after the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, now moves into third place for Flagship Tablet models, and the iPad mini with Retina Display, with a very disappointing 63 percent of the standard sRGB/Rec.709 Color Gamut and poor Color Accuracy moves further down the pack for the Mini Tablet models. "
Does it contain the usual Samsung "crapware" or is this already a more "standard" Android device, like a Nexus? Linked to the above, does it receive Android updates immediately when they are released by Google or does it still take years before they get updated? (and how long will they be updated after release?)
That video playback battery life!!!! If I am getting a new tablet(pretty happy with my Nexus 7 2013) the Tab S would certainly be my pick, Touchwiz be damned.
Touchwiz gives you easy access to many settings, as well as the multi-app multitasking capability, and better camera UI than most. I wonder why everyone hates touchwiz so much.
If it didn't take up 4Gb of internal storage for 1000 functions that I don't need & ancient UI elements(gingerbread era) eyesores I'd have a little less problem with Touchwiz. The better Camera UI thing is now irrelevant with the free Google Camera app, and I get to many key settings much faster on AOSP than I do on Touchwiz.
It is not hard to see. My Galaxy S3 with a supposedly quad core cpu crawls most of the times, the phone hangs and crashes all the time and application uninstall at times takes minutes. It is for the same reason that Motorola took a jibe at Samsung when launching Moto E saying that doing basic tasks, it is faster than Samsung's Galaxy S4! There is no denying that their hardware is good, but their software just isn't good enough.
That video playback life is a best case scenario because they don't have a dedicated testing video... the web browsing one is more realistic for most people (mostly white), and it's frankly pathetic.
still, cheaper to get the tab 8.4 pro. almost all of the same stuff and cheaper. i love mine. and no where have i seen a comparison between the s 8.4 and the pro 8.4.
Can Samsung legally call those screens 2560x1600? At best the chroma resolution is a quarter, maybe less depending on the screen controller. With the same train of thought, Microsoft's ClearType produces beyond 4K of resolution on their SP3...
Yeah those subpixel origami makes a lot of mess but samsung is a marketing company and as they are unable to make an RGB AMOLED of ~300 ppi they have to "cheat" in some way. So they shouldn't call these 2560 by 1600 but they can and they do.
Normal S-Stripe displays from Samsung are indeed full resolution (RGB of 1:1:1), but if you look at the image of the new S-Stripe, you can see that it clearly has some sort of odd offset resulting in black space between every two-blue group. The count is the same 1:1:1, but are there actually 2560x1600 of those dots or only two thirds and the rest just imaginary subpixels?
The 8.4 inch version though is 100% pentile and only has 1:2:1 and subpixel doubling (meaning the actual resolution is not much more than 720p). That's not to say that the pentile display will look bad, rather that calling it a fixed resolution above 1280x800 is a marketing gimmick and not a fact.
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.
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 RAM
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. :-/
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.
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.
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.
Anand, any tests that actually test the battery life using apps? I use tablets for reading mostly and very curious to see lifespan of the Tab S with an app running constantly.
I've been hoping for 10"+ oled screens for a long time. Shame they still haven't gotten the rest quite right. Lots of stuttering in simple tasks that shouldn't be there. Is there no micro usb 3.0? If there is no micro usb 3.0 ok but if there is really bad to go with 2. It delivers less power and is slower. The cases are utterly terrible. No 64 or 128GB internal memory options is not so good, i mean at least offer us 64GB. 16GB shouldn't even be an option it should be 399 for 32GB and 499 for 32GB 450/550 for 64GB 550/650 for 128GB.
I'm actually ok with the plastic as it's the lightest most durable option and just makes the most sense. Kinda stupid to sacrifice weight and durability just for a more premium look or feel. The exynos chip is once again another let down. The LTE version with a snapdragon 800 will probably run a lot better maybe even better battery life wifi mode vs wifi mode. Disappointing that it will be released so close to the snapdragon 805 making its first commercial appearance. The 2560x1600 resolution would of greatly benefitted from the new GPU and i feel like current gpu tech on mobile soc's was only meant for 1920x1200 maximum. I think the reason samsung didn't bother with that option is the snapdragon 805 doesnt have an integrated lte modem which was samsungs main reason for using a snapdragon in the lte model. So there was no reason to wait and the snapdragon 810 is too far off.
I think these high res tablets are slightly ahead of their time. But it's good they are coming out as it motivates the gpu makers to provide large performance increases to accommodate the new resolutions and still be able to push games graphically.
I think the Galaxy tab s2 will reveal what this new tablet line is truly capable of. A 64 bit snapdragon 810 in the LTE model. Playing all games even graphically intense ones at native resolution smoothly. Wireless charging should be added to the next version too. I see a very bright future for this new S line of tablets and I think they will be sticking around for a long time. I can see the future bringing a 4k oled screen to the line in 2 or 3 years. Can't wait to see what samsung does with bigger oled screens. Would love to see the 12.2" one go to oled as well.
I recently got a Tab Pro 10.1 and after knowing of these new AMOLED tablets I was kinda regretting it. After looking at the browsing battery life results, I have to say that's not the case anymore. Samsung weren't kidding when they said they built these things primarily to watch videos.
It's basically the 16:10 format that's killing these tablets for me. I don't buy a tablet to (primarily) watch movies on it, and I don't know anybody who does.
And this outdated Exynos shouldn't be used in devices on this price range this far into this year, they could have chosen the same K1 as the Xiaomi tab or the 801/805 depending on availability, going cheap isn't going to get a single dollar from me, I'll see what is released alongside Android L and then I'll chose whether to wait for broadwell or buy something in this league.
iPads aren't bad tablets but I need to access the file system without having to go through hell for that
I'm just learning this stuff and am changing my 1st Gen. iPad. I love my iPad but thinking about switching to the Samsung Tab S; can you use a thumb drive with it? Advice PLEASE!
Based on your screen name you couldn't be biased. Nah. You can keep your overpriced, underspeced Apple crap. I don't think you read the review at all. You saw Android and Samsung and copy/pasted your reply. You fanbois get old. Grow up.
The display analysis here makes no mention as to what AMOLED Photo is supposed to be. It is calibrated to AdobeRGB but the article makes it out like it is only some other kind of oversaturated eye catching AMOLED setting. Anybody that wants to read more about the main interesting feature of this tablet which sets it apart should check out the display review on displaymate.com . http://www.displaymate.com/OLED_Tablet_ShootOut_1.... It is an astounding display and especially stands out in metrics that the human sight apparatus values far more than color accuracy. Color accuracy is useful for content producers but also the one thing that our brain automatically corrects for and one of the last that a normal unbiased person would pick as the primary quality indication (unless it is really significantly off). Still it is one of the most accurate displays out there. I feel Anandtech is a bit too obsessed with color accuracy. It isn't unimportant but anybody coming from the eye related medical profession would say there is more to a display and its subjective impact.
"Both tablets feature IR transceivers and stereo speakers." Are these really transceivers, or are they just transmitters? If they are transceivers, that opens up a lot more possibility using IR to learn remote codes, and to talk to other tablets and IrDA devices.
I have been looking for a tablet to kick around the house that not only let me read all my favorite books on my downtime, but also controlled things around the house like light switches and the TVs. I have been in this home automation kick as of late, so that of course was a must have feature. I was reading around and almost bought a Nexus until I read in one mag that the new Samsung destroyed it in performance. After reading a few more online (ie, here on anandtech, or http://pocinc.net/blog/product-reviews/review-sams... or the one at Cnet), I wound up getting sold on it. Let me tell you…..yeah baby! This thing rocks my world. I even take it to work with me when possible. It’s like my new best friend }:) Also good with games and Netflix....oh I needs me my Netflix!
I just bought the tab s 10.5 and generally very happy with it, however I am quite disappointed that the screen shows quite a lot chromatic aberration (color fringing). Have others the same problem or do I have a faulty unit?
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Laxaa - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I guess we'll se a revamped model in october/november with 805.GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
No... We will see an entirely new tablet lineup called SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB Fretrospooty - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Then Tab F Pro - all priced too high.hkklife - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
And all will still continue to be gimped with the usual 16GB of internal storage (with 8.5GB available left to the user). It's 2014, not 2011. It's time 32GB became standard across the board no matter what. Also, I wouldn't pay these kinds of prices without having microUSB 3.0 connectivity (I am spoiled by my Note 3) AND wireless charging (to save the aforementioned port from overuse). I'm also slightly miffed by the use of an Exynos instead of a Snapdragon. Now, if they refresh these guys this fall with the latest version of Android, an 801/805, add USB 3.0 from the Tap/Note Pros AND double up the storage while holding the line on the the price then I might consider it!RobilarOCN - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
What does it matter how much storage is on board? For a Nexus 7 or an IPad it matters but Micro SD cards are dirt cheap... I picked up a 128GB for $110 for my Tab Pro. That is a grand total of 144 GB of storage(less OS and Apps) for just over $500. Compared to $800 for a Mini Retina with 128GB that's almost $300 cheaper. As mentioned the USB 3.0 is too thick to fit into this tablet. I have several devices that I have been charging and using for literally years without any overuse of the micro USB port so why worrry?basroil - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Google got rid of saving to apps to SD cards, so it does matter to those that use large HD optimized appsretrospooty - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Especially with all the bloatware Samsung puts in it... There will be like 8-9 gb space available for apps. Not good enough Samsung. Not for a $500 device.CanvasExtractor - Sunday, October 12, 2014 - link
10.5GB available for a $400 device, lol. And remember all the bloatware Google Corporation requires, including but not limited to a social network, a chat app, an extra browser, their ad network, a gaming center, and llittle stores and proprietary apps for music, expensive movies, and even magazines.At least Samsung adds things like multi-window, grayscale mode for battery savings, 1% battery.
rodolfcarver - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
Samsung Galaxy Tab S seems to be a choice, although I personally prefer getting one of the top models from Samsung (see http://www.consumertop.com/best-tablets/ for example), but that's just me. Some people might like this!sigmatau - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I want to see what the they can do with an 808 or 810 that will be using a die shrink. That is what I am interested in for both phones and tablets. They really should be pushing these chips to be released by years end, not early next year. Oh well.antiglobe - Sunday, October 26, 2014 - link
I think the updated model will more likely use the new Exynos used in Galaxy Alpha than a Snapdragon. Samsung can obviously reach higher profits by utilizing home made chips.the_ether - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
So if I've understood correctly, the Samsung's screen isn't that great after all - at least when compared against the iPad Air. It has more pixels and supposedly better contrast (though that wasn't tested here) but what is displayed is not as accurate as the Air's Retina screen.nerd1 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
AMOLED has immense contrast and no display lag, both of which are not tested here.GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
The smallest amount of ambient light washes out any contrast difference, so you can enjoy your AMOLED at night, especially watching horrors but otherwise it's hardly a problem.What about that display lag ? Honestly I don't know what it is exactly, but I think is rather bad as I noticed flickering on many AMOLED displays...
nerd1 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Smallest amount of ambient light will hamper any display color accuracy too, then all displays are born equal?the_ether - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Shouldn't be as sensitive as you imply. The screen is an emissive device, not reflective, so the ambient light would have to be strong enough to interfere with the light from the screen.theduckofdeath - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Hyperbole much, GC2:CS?dwade123 - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
no lag huh. Nice BS.GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Yeah exactly ! The problem for samsung is that the iPad Air screen is the same as the screen of the new iPad (2012) just lower power and higher brightness... And this is 2014. Anand's numbers are painting these in a very good picture, but in reality I found this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SjYuNzFRIagBlues are especially over saturated on the 10,5 just as that horrible sub pixel arrangement implies.
bji - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
How can you possibly tell anything about a display when viewing a video of it on your own display, which completely alters the perceived characteristics of the display being evaluated?I have an idea. Let's film both displays in black and white and then do a comparison to try to see which display has better colors. It would be just about as viable a means of comparing displays as the video you linked.
theduckofdeath - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Read his other comments, are you'll find out how he's able to come to that quick conclusion from a YouTube clip... :)GC2:CS - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
I also think that one video is too little to draw a conclusion, but it's far more useful than any set of numbers can ever be to describe a display. I don't care how used camera and my crappy TN LCD display could screw the video because you are wrong as the perceived characteristics of botch evaluated displays is changed in the same way. I see that the iPad has an picture and the tab S has the same picture that looks differently, and I also know that the iPad Air makes very accurate colors and the tab S is making apparently different colors, which logically implies that it's not as nice colored as the iPad. Yah an quick conclusion, but can you tell me where I made a mistake, or make your own different conclusion from that video ?ESC2000 - Sunday, July 6, 2014 - link
The sky is orange. I'm holding this orange next to it and it doesn't match so it's not orange.That is the exact same logic you are following but it illustrates the flaw in it.
hung2900 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I think you really have a problem with your reading skill. The Tab S 10.1 definitely won in white accuracy (quite significant), grayscale accuracy (far), GMB accuracy (quite). iPad Air won with Gamut accuracy (quite to medium) and saturation (quite much).At least a basic person can see that Tab S 10.1 won 3/5 points of the comparison. While with users, the grayscale is much more important that everyone should have a same perspective, while the minor saturation is only subjective from person to person.
Not forgot to say the biggest advantage is the infinite contrast (which triumps when you read/see everything indoor) and better outdoor visibility with automatic brightness (supposed to be, as GS5 vs iPhone 5s) brings better image outdoor.
So what is your point?
hung2900 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Forgot to say: If you or anybody have ever used the old Tab 7.7, you can see the contrast advantage is MUCH more notable. That's the reason why many people and Tab 7.7 ex-users have waited for these tablets for so long.GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
The point is that everybody expected this new thing to just kind of crush everything, not slightly outstrip an retina display from 2012.theduckofdeath - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
And it is crushing everything else. As hung2900 says, contrast is what has the biggest impression on any normal user, and this tablet is literally killing everything else on that point.the_ether - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Wow, that's a bit rude.So,
a) who's to say that each test has the same weighting? Perhaps colour reproduction is more important than say, greyscale accuracy, especially to say, an artist;
b) I already stated that contrast was another factor not tested that should be considered, so repeating that point was moot.
So the point is that it is not an obviously better screen than the iPad Air.
mhannigan - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Yes, it is.ESC2000 - Sunday, July 6, 2014 - link
Don't take it so personally. So what if your iPad doesn't have the nicest screen of all tablets? The truth is there are many parts of an iPad that are bested by other tablets but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying yours.dylan522p - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
All points are not equal, Saturation and gamut are far mmore important.name99 - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
This really seems like the narcism of small differences.Judging from Anand's comments, both displays are spectacular, and more fruitful avenues of competition would appear to be based on features other than improving the metrics Anand is measuring.
Given what appears to be substantially lower power (when displaying dark scenes) Samsung comes out ahead --- of course this is of little value if they do worse on displaying white scenes, which also appears to be the case, and if (like me) you spend most of your time reading black text against a white background.
In future whoever gets to variable refresh first (both to save power, and to display 24 and 48 fps content at the native rate) will have achieved a more useful advantage. Likewise I suspect that for at least some purposes an available refresh rate of higher than 60 fps (maybe 72, maybe 90 or even 120) may be valuable --- I don't know how high you need to go before motion (especially the difficult cases like horizontal pans) never judders.
lilo777 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Let me just quote DisplayMate - a well know specialist in display evaluations: "Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, the Galaxy Tab S is the Best Performing Tablet Display that we have ever tested, not surprisingly with performance that is almost identical to the OLED Galaxy S5 Smartphone that we recently tested and found to be the Best Performing Smartphone Display."While I appreciate AnanTech reviews very much for their comprehensiveness when it comes to displays I prefer the opinion of the specialists in the field. You can read DisplayMate's full review here: http://www.displaymate.com/OLED_Tablet_ShootOut_1....
dylan522p - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
You mean biased as fuck? He calls 113% gamut "great" and he says the saturation is also great look at the numbers and you see it's bullshit.the_ether - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Where does he say that?From what I can see, in reference to a gamut of 113% he has said, "Slightly Too High," and that is in reference to sRGB and the screen being in 'Basic Mode' instead of 'Photo Mode'. When in 'Photo Mode', the Samsung screen is said to be within 106% of the larger, Adobe RGB gamut.
Of course, a wide gamut capability is pointless without accuracy and according to his tests, the Samsung 10.5 screen is either "Very good" or "Excellent."
hung2900 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I agree with the_either. Displaymate rated carefully and not biased.Color gamut:
- Air 108%: very good.
- Tab S 10.5 113%: slightly too high.
Absolute Color Accuracy Average Color Error:
- Air 3.2 JNCD Very good.
- Tab 10.5 2.1 JNCD Excellent
Absolute Color Accuracy Largest Color Error
- Air 7.9 JNCD Good.
- Tab 10.5 4.0 JNCD Very good.
So nothing wrong when Displaymate said Tab S has better color accuracy and is the best tablet display yet in market when combining with other factors.
P/s sorry for my rude comment above
the_ether - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Thank you hung2900.mhannigan - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
You didn't read. One of the things he makes a point of several times is the ability to change the screen calibration. He notes that many people find the increased saturation pleasing to the eye - I do. But if you don't like it, there are other options, two of which are spot on with industry standard color gamut.ddriver - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
It is hard to take anand reviews seriously just looking at their "CPU benchmark" choices, plus their heavy bias toward apple products. DisplayMate go further with testing and are more objective in their conclusions.hung2900 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Anand's CPU comparison is so apple-and-orange comparison. Everyone know Sunspider is the mix of Browser optimization, CPU power and how CPU optimized toward browsing. Why didn't he use Chrome to mesure the Sunsipder of iOS?name99 - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
If you don't like sunspider for whatever reason, look at one of the other values. No-one is forcing you to base your opinions on one number.But for many of us sun spider most accurately captures the snappiness of a browser in real use, which is something we care about. Kraken and Octane are too much biased towards JS performance and multithreaded JS. That's fine if that's what you're interested in, but it's silly to pretend that that's a better measure of how the device feels in normal use.
the_ether - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
lilo777's comment seems to be an important one. Perhaps a generalist tech site like Anandtech isn't the most knowledgeable about testing screens. How were the tests conducted? Perhaps the method that was used to display an image on the screen was sub-optimal. For example, an image normally has a profile associated with it and some programs will use that profile in order to determine the correct way of displaying that image - eg whether sRGB or Adobe RGB colour spaces are appropriate.There seems to be an important discrepancy here.
marytattoo - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
still wondering about the overall value and performance of the s 8.4 and the pro 8.4 ?????mhannigan - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
You are obviously uninformed. If you do not understand why an OLED display is a more pleasant experience, then it really cannot be explained to you.ddriver - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
It has better contrast, better white point, better grayscale accuracy, gamut and saturation accuracy are so close to the Air display you won't be able to tell without measuring equipment. I'd say it is a match to the Air display and significantly better than anything else. It's pretty great, considering Samsung don't have fanatical devotees to exploit and must sell much more balanced products at lower profit margins.Anders CT - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
The display in the samsung tablet has better contrast, a wider gamut, better resolution and a much faster response than the display in the ipad Air.Sasmung makes display panels for both ipads and Galaxy tablets, so it is only natural that Samsung would reserve the superior panel for their own tablets.
Lavkesh - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
That's assuming Apple is willing to compromise on their display's?ESC2000 - Sunday, July 6, 2014 - link
Sorry to burst your bubble but Apple compromises on many things to preserve their profit margins... See eg skimpy RAM that means that webpage tabs always face to reload when you switch between them, causing info to be lost... Low RAM also caused the iPad Airs and minis with retina to crash and freeze frequently. The one I bought for my sister froze all the time - a $500 product at that! Similar issue with their highway robbery pricing for storage... $500 device with only 16 GB and no micro SD is an insult and a ripoff. (That goes for all brands but we are starting to see some change... More companies bundling 32 GB into the base model).Another example would be the (again insulting) ugly TN panel in the MacBook Air - $1000+ computer with a low rez TN display. Only Apple could get away with it.
akdj - Monday, June 30, 2014 - link
The display in the Sammy is nine months newer than the Air/Mini and 5s. Those products are coming down the pipe in the next quarter. How about we compare current to current versions enforced deciding? And with those results, it's pretty apparent Apple's 2013 design was pretty damn good and holding it's own almost a year later (keep in mind it's dominance at release in comparison to AMOLED tablets). Hold your reservations. The Air's display is beyond outstanding and if the Sammy is this good, neither is 'bad' nor will the majority be able to discern any difference at these resolutionsalthaz - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Contrast is the single-most important part of subjective (ie: what peoples eyes say) display quality - according to every study ever done on it - and AMOLED displays have infinite contrast. Not sure why it wasn't tested here, but the ludicrous contrast makes this screen many-times superior to the iPad screen, IMO.That said, there are plenty of folks that (for some reason) prefer LCD to AMOLED, so who am I to judge.
akdj - Monday, June 30, 2014 - link
"Contrast is the single-most important part of subjective (ie: what peoples eyes say) display quality - according to every study ever done on it - and AMOLED displays have infinite contrast. Not sure why it wasn't tested here, but the ludicrous contrast makes this screen many-times superior to the iPad screen, IMO."A) contrast is NOT the single most important, subjective performance standard. Brightness and saturation. IE, 'Torch Mode!' That's why every TV at best buy is cranked to vivid, 100% pic and high saturation levels. NOT blacks and shadows. It's important to me, but as you've answered your own question, it's impossible to measure 'infinite contrast'. As OLED displays don't 'turn on' a pixel on black scenes, it's 'truly infinite' and hence impossible to measure. Though I'd argue if it's such a subjective and deciding quality, why aren't we using OLED displays to 'produce, color, and finalize' a motion picture? While DisplayMate's results do indeed separate these tablets, the overall scores are a point apart. Not leagues. I own the Note 3 and iPad Air as well as the retina mini and 5s. They're all phenomenal displays and excellent systems. To argue ones better than the other is like arguing pancakes vs waffles. They're both light years ahead of my Magnavox 13 channel (manual) 13" black and white I had in high school with rabbit ears ...or my first 16 'color' display after a decade in monochrome. LoL, kids these days ;)
mhannigan - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
You obviously didn't understand correctly.spectrablue - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
think again...http://www.displaymate.com/OLED_Tablet_ShootOut_1....
"Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, the Galaxy Tab S is the Best Performing Tablet Display that we have ever tested, not surprisingly with performance that is almost identical to the OLED Galaxy S5 Smartphone that we recently tested and found to be the Best Performing Smartphone Display"..."Comparisons with the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX and Apple iPad Tablet Displays: In 2013 the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Tablets became the top performing Tablet displays in our Display Technology Shoot-Out series, leapfrogging the competition with cutting edge displays using Quantum Dots and Low Temperature Poly Silicon. But with the ever continuing and impressive improvements in display technology the Samsung Galaxy Tab S has now taken the lead for the Best Tablet Displays. The Apple iPad Air, which came in second after the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, now moves into third place for Flagship Tablet models, and the iPad mini with Retina Display, with a very disappointing 63 percent of the standard sRGB/Rec.709 Color Gamut and poor Color Accuracy moves further down the pack for the Mini Tablet models. "
M4stakilla - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Does it contain the usual Samsung "crapware" or is this already a more "standard" Android device, like a Nexus?Linked to the above, does it receive Android updates immediately when they are released by Google or does it still take years before they get updated? (and how long will they be updated after release?)
GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
How long ? About 18 months since release, eg until end of 2015.apandya27 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Updates will definitely be delayed. 5-6 months is usual for *new* devices. That goes up to 8+ months for older devices.sherlockwing - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
That video playback battery life!!!! If I am getting a new tablet(pretty happy with my Nexus 7 2013) the Tab S would certainly be my pick, Touchwiz be damned.nerd1 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Touchwiz gives you easy access to many settings, as well as the multi-app multitasking capability, and better camera UI than most. I wonder why everyone hates touchwiz so much.GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Ok.... Anand did you noticed how much free memory these tabs got ?!?sherlockwing - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
If it didn't take up 4Gb of internal storage for 1000 functions that I don't need & ancient UI elements(gingerbread era) eyesores I'd have a little less problem with Touchwiz. The better Camera UI thing is now irrelevant with the free Google Camera app, and I get to many key settings much faster on AOSP than I do on Touchwiz.theduckofdeath - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
The freebies are downloadable. Not pre-installed.Lavkesh - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
It is not hard to see. My Galaxy S3 with a supposedly quad core cpu crawls most of the times, the phone hangs and crashes all the time and application uninstall at times takes minutes. It is for the same reason that Motorola took a jibe at Samsung when launching Moto E saying that doing basic tasks, it is faster than Samsung's Galaxy S4!There is no denying that their hardware is good, but their software just isn't good enough.
basroil - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
That video playback life is a best case scenario because they don't have a dedicated testing video... the web browsing one is more realistic for most people (mostly white), and it's frankly pathetic.marytattoo - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
still, cheaper to get the tab 8.4 pro. almost all of the same stuff and cheaper. i love mine. and no where have i seen a comparison between the s 8.4 and the pro 8.4.basroil - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Can Samsung legally call those screens 2560x1600? At best the chroma resolution is a quarter, maybe less depending on the screen controller. With the same train of thought, Microsoft's ClearType produces beyond 4K of resolution on their SP3...GC2:CS - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Yeah those subpixel origami makes a lot of mess but samsung is a marketing company and as they are unable to make an RGB AMOLED of ~300 ppi they have to "cheat" in some way. So they shouldn't call these 2560 by 1600 but they can and they do.Penti - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
S-stripe is full-res RGB and not pentile. Only a few Samsung AMOLED-panels have been using uniform subpixels.basroil - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Normal S-Stripe displays from Samsung are indeed full resolution (RGB of 1:1:1), but if you look at the image of the new S-Stripe, you can see that it clearly has some sort of odd offset resulting in black space between every two-blue group. The count is the same 1:1:1, but are there actually 2560x1600 of those dots or only two thirds and the rest just imaginary subpixels?The 8.4 inch version though is 100% pentile and only has 1:2:1 and subpixel doubling (meaning the actual resolution is not much more than 720p). That's not to say that the pentile display will look bad, rather that calling it a fixed resolution above 1280x800 is a marketing gimmick and not a fact.
theduckofdeath - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I'm honestly starting to wonder if you at all did read the review, or if you went directly to the comments section for the trolling, GG2:CS.dwade123 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
No one buys tablets for specs. Where's the software? Oh right. It uses Android.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.RobilarOCN - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Anand, any tests that actually test the battery life using apps? I use tablets for reading mostly and very curious to see lifespan of the Tab S with an app running constantly.Laststop311 - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
I've been hoping for 10"+ oled screens for a long time. Shame they still haven't gotten the rest quite right. Lots of stuttering in simple tasks that shouldn't be there. Is there no micro usb 3.0? If there is no micro usb 3.0 ok but if there is really bad to go with 2. It delivers less power and is slower. The cases are utterly terrible. No 64 or 128GB internal memory options is not so good, i mean at least offer us 64GB. 16GB shouldn't even be an option it should be 399 for 32GB and 499 for 32GB 450/550 for 64GB 550/650 for 128GB.I'm actually ok with the plastic as it's the lightest most durable option and just makes the most sense. Kinda stupid to sacrifice weight and durability just for a more premium look or feel. The exynos chip is once again another let down. The LTE version with a snapdragon 800 will probably run a lot better maybe even better battery life wifi mode vs wifi mode. Disappointing that it will be released so close to the snapdragon 805 making its first commercial appearance. The 2560x1600 resolution would of greatly benefitted from the new GPU and i feel like current gpu tech on mobile soc's was only meant for 1920x1200 maximum. I think the reason samsung didn't bother with that option is the snapdragon 805 doesnt have an integrated lte modem which was samsungs main reason for using a snapdragon in the lte model. So there was no reason to wait and the snapdragon 810 is too far off.
I think these high res tablets are slightly ahead of their time. But it's good they are coming out as it motivates the gpu makers to provide large performance increases to accommodate the new resolutions and still be able to push games graphically.
I think the Galaxy tab s2 will reveal what this new tablet line is truly capable of. A 64 bit snapdragon 810 in the LTE model. Playing all games even graphically intense ones at native resolution smoothly. Wireless charging should be added to the next version too. I see a very bright future for this new S line of tablets and I think they will be sticking around for a long time. I can see the future bringing a 4k oled screen to the line in 2 or 3 years. Can't wait to see what samsung does with bigger oled screens. Would love to see the 12.2" one go to oled as well.
R. Hunt - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
I recently got a Tab Pro 10.1 and after knowing of these new AMOLED tablets I was kinda regretting it. After looking at the browsing battery life results, I have to say that's not the case anymore. Samsung weren't kidding when they said they built these things primarily to watch videos.Aqua1ung - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
It's basically the 16:10 format that's killing these tablets for me. I don't buy a tablet to (primarily) watch movies on it, and I don't know anybody who does.spectrablue - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
how about you start browsing the web in a black background white text power saver format instead of the traditional color settings?spectrablue - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
or even better yet green text...sound familiar?Fidelator - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
What are the scores for the galaxy tab pro 8.4 on the graphic tests?Fidelator - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
And this outdated Exynos shouldn't be used in devices on this price range this far into this year, they could have chosen the same K1 as the Xiaomi tab or the 801/805 depending on availability, going cheap isn't going to get a single dollar from me, I'll see what is released alongside Android L and then I'll chose whether to wait for broadwell or buy something in this league.iPads aren't bad tablets but I need to access the file system without having to go through hell for that
jt194688 - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
I'm just learning this stuff and am changing my 1st Gen. iPad. I love my iPad but thinking about switching to the Samsung Tab S; can you use a thumb drive with it? Advice PLEASE!marytattoo - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
you can use a micro sd card in samsung devices. not sure, but this one will probably take a 128 g.darwinosx - Friday, June 27, 2014 - link
More derivative cheap junk from Samsung. Ugh. I can't stand their products.bigboxes - Saturday, June 28, 2014 - link
Based on your screen name you couldn't be biased. Nah. You can keep your overpriced, underspeced Apple crap. I don't think you read the review at all. You saw Android and Samsung and copy/pasted your reply. You fanbois get old. Grow up.zodiacfml - Friday, June 27, 2014 - link
sigh, if only I have money to burn for that great screen.dusk007 - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
The display analysis here makes no mention as to what AMOLED Photo is supposed to be. It is calibrated to AdobeRGB but the article makes it out like it is only some other kind of oversaturated eye catching AMOLED setting.Anybody that wants to read more about the main interesting feature of this tablet which sets it apart should check out the display review on displaymate.com .
http://www.displaymate.com/OLED_Tablet_ShootOut_1....
It is an astounding display and especially stands out in metrics that the human sight apparatus values far more than color accuracy. Color accuracy is useful for content producers but also the one thing that our brain automatically corrects for and one of the last that a normal unbiased person would pick as the primary quality indication (unless it is really significantly off). Still it is one of the most accurate displays out there. I feel Anandtech is a bit too obsessed with color accuracy. It isn't unimportant but anybody coming from the eye related medical profession would say there is more to a display and its subjective impact.
marytattoo - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
i'd hoped to see a review of this tablet vs the 8.4 pro. besides the screen, i'm not sure of the difference. is it huge?DiHydro - Wednesday, September 3, 2014 - link
"Both tablets feature IR transceivers and stereo speakers." Are these really transceivers, or are they just transmitters? If they are transceivers, that opens up a lot more possibility using IR to learn remote codes, and to talk to other tablets and IrDA devices.jh20001 - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
I have been looking for a tablet to kick around the house that not only let me read all my favorite books on my downtime, but also controlled things around the house like light switches and the TVs. I have been in this home automation kick as of late, so that of course was a must have feature. I was reading around and almost bought a Nexus until I read in one mag that the new Samsung destroyed it in performance. After reading a few more online (ie, here on anandtech, or http://pocinc.net/blog/product-reviews/review-sams... or the one at Cnet), I wound up getting sold on it. Let me tell you…..yeah baby! This thing rocks my world. I even take it to work with me when possible. It’s like my new best friend }:) Also good with games and Netflix....oh I needs me my Netflix!Bpositive - Sunday, March 22, 2015 - link
I just bought the tab s 10.5 and generally very happy with it, however I am quite disappointed that the screen shows quite a lot chromatic aberration (color fringing). Have others the same problem or do I have a faulty unit?