Samsung
Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Tablet Review
By
Mark R Benson
What
is a tablet? A
tablet is a slim, lightweight computer, smaller than a laptop but bigger than a
smart phone. The key features for a tablet is its portability, user-friendly
interface and obviously, its performance.
What
can you do with a tablet? Tablets support a large variety of operating systems,
from Android, iOS to the latest Windows OS. You can access the app store,
install games, music production suites, share photos, watch movies and a lot
more. What makes the tablets stand out from their laptop siblings is the
touch-screen feature and, if you are accustomed to keyboards, a lot of tablet
users make use of the optional docking stations to attach keyboards. Basically,
a tablet takes the best from laptops and smartphones and recombines them in a
unique, easy to carry device.
Do
I need a tablet? That depends on what you need. Do you want a device from which
you are going to send emails, make video calls, take pictures, watch TV or
simply browse the internet but you don't want to carry a laptop around then the
tablet is the best option. If you are convinced you want a tablet, then let's
take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Tablet.
Design.Galaxy
Tab S 10.5 comes with an ultra-thin design, has a dotted pattern and a soft
back that gives a pleasant feel when handled. The case comes into two colours,
Dazzling White and Titanium Bronze and both versions have a gold contour around
the edge. The tablet feels light, weighting only one pound but, despite the
lack of metal it still is robust and resistant. On the right side of the tablet
we can find a microSD card slot (for up to 128GB) and a microUSB port. The
speakers are one on both sides of the tablet, on the left side we can also find
the headphone jack. At the top edge we find the power and volume buttons along
with the IR blaster.
Display.
The Galaxy Tab S 10.5 comes with a 10.5in wide display and a resolution of 2560
x 1600 pixels with 287 ppi. The backbone for this tablet is the WQXGA Super
AMOLED screen that makes the colours more vibrant, the images sharper and over
all it sums up to a gorgeous view to watch comparable and even tops the plasma
TV image quality. This is the best tablet display that money can buy.Apart from
the exquisite display quality, the viewing angles are very good, outdoor
visibility is excellent and, if you turn on the Samsung's Adaptive Display, the
tablet will adapt its colours to the ambient lighting.
Overall,
the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 will deliver a great cinematic experience watching HD
movies and no matter the lighting, you will not be disappointed by the image
quality. From the display point of view, it may be considered the best tablet
on the market.
Performance
and Battery Life. Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 features an octa-core Exynos 5420
CPU backed by a 3GB RAM that will be more than enough for multitasking. The
processor is comprised of two quad-cores, one goes up to 1.9GHz and the second
operates up to 1.3 GHz each depending on the resources needed to run a specific
application.A bit on the downside we have the ARM Mali-T628MP6 GPU that is a
bit slower than what the competitors offer in the same price range.
Still,
when all the cores are used, the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is the fastest tablet, the
problem is not many applications support eight cores.When it comes to browsing,
the tablet doesn't let us down. Sites loaded pretty quick, the navigation was
very good and even when using MultiWindows mode, we did not experience any
performance losses.
The
gaming performance was also smooth and no delays or lags were experienced when
trying to run resource-heavy games. Also the touchscreen response is fast and
accurate.Now, for the battery, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S is equipped with a
7,900 mAh battery that, the manufacturer guarantees up to 9 hours on a single
charge. We tested this and the battery lasted for almost two days on medium
usage on a single charge. The WiFi connectivity is good, it supports the 802.1
a/b/g/n/ac standards and can transmit in 2.4 or 5GHz networks. This tablet is
also available with 4G LTE support, with a LTE radio signal strong enough in
terms of maintaining a good connection.
Software.
The core OS is Android 4.4 KitKat that, besides the basic features from
Android, you can find a lot of Samsung applications, like Samsung's Milk Music
service or Multi Window Mode, that help you view two application side-by-side. The
TouchWiz interface is bright, easy to use and packed with a lot of customizable
apps. Because of the powerful hardware, taps or swipes were registered
instantaneously even if another application was running besides the one we were
using. Although not as good as iOS 8, the Android 4.4 KitKat OS from Galaxy Tab
S 10.5 performed relatively well, we had a decent user-friendly experience and
we enjoyed using the tablet's applications.
Camera.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 has a 8 megapixel rear camera equipped with a LED
flash and F2.4 lens that is paired with a 2.1 megapixel camera in the front.
Colours are reproduced accurately, the contrast is reasonable but, unless the
lighting is very good, you will not be able to take great pictures. The video
recording (1080p) were pretty smooth, the audio quality was fair and with no
distortions.
Considering
all these, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is a great tablet, capable of
satisfying even the most demanding users. Equipped with powerful software and
the best display for a tablet, the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is a best buy.
For
more high quality reviews check out http://www.mbreviews.com
Article
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