The Samsung Galaxy Tab S is loaded with extras, both on the hardware and software front. Available in 10.5-inch and 8.4-inch sizes, the two variants are mostly identical, except for screen size and battery. We’ve been testing the 8.4-inch model for the last week, and here’s our review.

1. Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4
Review in pictures

2. Plastic can be sexy too
• The Galaxy Tab S features
a dimpled back panel like
the Galaxy S5, and is
housed in a plastic body
• It boasts a skinny 6.6mm
frame and weighs in at
just 298g
• The home button
incorporates a fingerprint
sensor
• With its gold edging and
details, it looks and feels
very premium

3. Stunning is an understatement
• The tablet’s 8.4-inch display bears a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600
pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 360ppi
• The display is sharp, and with its Super AMOLED tech, is vibrant
and bright. It’s visible even in sunlight
• The Adaptive Display setting adjusts the colour scheme depending
on ambient light

4. Several modes and effects to choose from
• The tablet features an 8MP
primary camera with LED
flash, and a 2.1MP front
camera for video calls and
selfies
• The camera app offers
various manual controls,
effects and supports voice
capture too
• There are several modes on
offer, including a Dual-
Camera mode which uses
the front and rear cameras

5. Fast to focus, with pleasing results
• The primary camera is
surprisingly fast to focus, and
produced good daylight shots
• Images tend to appear more
vibrant on the tablet’s
display though, and look a bit
washed out when transferred
to a computer
• Low-light images are
predictably grainy
• The front camera isn’t too
bad for selfies when there’s
ample lighting

6. Magazine UX feels a tad crowded
• The Tab S runs Android 4.4
KitKat, layered with
Samsung’s custom TouchWiz
skin. It also incorporates
Magazine UX, as seen on its
other tablets
• TouchWiz has been
considerably toned down, but
is still fairly crowded
• Magazine UX provides a tile-
based interface with widgets,
and displays news and social
feeds Flipboard-style

7. TouchWiz tweaks are still around
• The usual TouchWiz
additions like Smart Stay,
Smart Pause and Direct Call
are present
• Multi-Window, which lets
you run two apps at once is
also available
• Toolbox is a floating button
that brings up five app
shortcuts when pressed
• Private mode lets you
restrict access to pre-
selected files when enabled

8. Modes for everyone
• There’s an interactive Kids Mode which allows access only to
pre-selected apps, and can be exited only by entering a PIN
• Multi-user mode lets you configure up to seven user
accounts, each with their own settings and passwords
• Ultra Power Saving Mode changes the display to greyscale
and limits access to apps and data

9. Did we mention the freebies?
• Pre-installed apps include
Smart Remote, SideSync
3.0, WebEx, Chrome,
Hancom Office Viewer,
Dropbox and Flipboard, to
name a few
• Samsung has packed in
several freebies, like 48GB
worth of Dropbox storage,
100 free Hollywood
movies, and a bunch of
free apps via Galaxy Gifts

10. It’s powerful and smooth (mostly)
• Powering the tablet is Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa processor, paired
with 3GB of RAM and a Mali T628 MP6 graphics
• Performance was fine on most counts, including heavy gaming, watching
1080p videos and multi-tasking
• There were some noticeable lags and app closes on occasion though

11. Fingerprint sensor isn’t flawless
• The fingerprint sensor can
recognise up to three fingers,
but wasn’t consistent,
requiring a few tries to register
on several occasions
• Out of the 16GB of internal
storage, a little under 11GB is
available to the user. The
tablet accepts microSD cards
up to 128GB in size
• The Tab S is fine for voice-
calling, with users reporting no
disturbance on the other end

12. A battery that won’t let you down
• The Tab S offers good
battery life, thanks in part
to its Super AMOLED
display which is
surprisingly energy
efficient
• With typical use involving
around 5-6 hours of screen
on time and Wi-Fi enabled,
it easily lasted us two days
• You can turn on the Power
Saving mode to conserve
battery when you need it

13. At a glance
• 8.4-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 pixels,
360ppi
• Exynos 5 Octa processor (1.9Ghz
quad-core + 1.3GHz quad-core)
• Mali T628 MP6 GPU
• 3GB RAM
• 16GB inbuilt storage with
microSD slot
• 8MP primary, 2.1MP front
camera
• Android 4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz
and Magazine UX
• 4,900mAh battery
• LTE/3G, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct
Bluetooth, GPS, MHL

14. -
• Plastic construction
tends to scratch easily
• Fingerprint scanner is
temperamental
• The combination of
TouchWiz and
Magazine UX can be
overwhelming
Pros and cons
+
• Super-slim, elegant
design with quality build
• Stunning display
• Good battery life
• Several useful freebies
• Good primary camera
• Reliable performance

15. Rs 37,800
Pricing and verdict
“The Galaxy Tab S is undoubtedly
one of the best Android tablets
available right now. With its
elegant build, brilliant display,
commendable battery life and
ability to handle intensive tasks, it’s
the first formidable Android rival to
the iPad Air. Apart from the
crowded Magazine UX and
TouchWiz, there’s very little to fault
the tablet on. If you can handle the
price tag, this is the Android tablet
for your money.