Smart Photography has been reviewing Smartphones for quite some time, but Tablets have been kept out of our pages since they are too bulky to be a serious photography gadget. Though we haven’t changed our mindset regarding the utility of tabs for photography, we still consider them convenient replacements for laptops in displaying your photographic portfolio, playing back videos, and as an emergency retouching tool. Though the 10-inch tablets impress with their large screen sizes, the smaller versions are more convenient. Manufacturers are increasingly realizing the importance of this and now Samsung is all set to woo the market with the powerful Galaxy Tab S 8.4.
Key Features
Samsung has released the Galaxy Tab S in two sizes, 10.5 and 8.4 inches. While the 10.5 essentially has a landscape orientation (broader) to mimic laptops, the 8.4 suits handheld operation with its portrait orientation (narrower). We received the 8.4 version, and were impressed by its features. The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 features a dotted design at the back, identical to the Galaxy S5 Smartphone. It is slim and lightweight at 294g, making it easy to carry around. Its Super AMOLED display supports 94 percent of Adobe RGB colour gamut for better colour reproduction and offers 100000:1contrast ratio. The adaptive display automatically adjusts the colour gamut, sharpness and contrast of the screen to suit the content you are viewing. This feature works on Gallery, Camera, Internet, Video, Google Playbook, VT call, and UI.
Samsung has carried over the fingerprint scanner from the S5 to this device. This enhances the security of the Tab S. However, it could fail in certain situations such as wet or sweaty hands. Another attraction in the Tab S is the Multi Window feature, which allows you to perform multiple tasks simultaneously on the screen. SideSync 3.0 is another featrure embedded in this tab, which allows you to view your Smartphone’s screen and control it using Wi-Fi Direct. This allows you to make and receive calls on the Tab S. If you like to carry your work around, the device supports Remote PC, with which you can remotely access your PC or Mac on the tab, provided the computer is turned on. For web conferencing, the Tab S also comes pre-installed with Cisco WebEx.
Hardware and Specs
The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 runs on Google Android platform, and comes with the KitKat version pre-installed. The display has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 (WQXGA) and can display 16 Million colours. It uses an Exynos 5 Octa 5420 chipset with a Quad-core Cortex 1.9GHz, and a Cortex 1.3GHz processor working side-by-side, supported by a Mali-T628 MP6 GPU. The device has 3GB RAM and 16GB ROM (Internal memory). The memory can be expanded up to 128GB using a micro SD card. The tab features a main camera with an 8.0MP CMOS sensor and a front camera with a 2.1MP CMOS sensor. The maximum video resolution is 1920 x 1080 at 30fps. The tab also features proximity sensor, geomagnetic sensor, hall sensor, gyro sensor, accelerometer, and RGB sensor. The Tab S supports videos of MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, and WEBM formats and audio files of MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, and OTA formats. The tab can connect with the Galaxy Gear Smartwatch using the Gear Manager. The Tab S features Wi-Fi and GSM, and you can make and receive calls just like any Smartphone.
First Impressions
Though we did not conduct a thorough review of the photography features of the Galaxy Tab S, the experience was very good. The camera was quite useful, though it did not have any advanced features. We wouldn’t recommend using a tablet for serious photography, but this can come handy in case of an emergency. Video playback was excellent, though we would like the speakers to be louder. Sound quality improved with the headphones. The multi-window feature is quite useful if you need to work with multiple files at the same time, especially for comparative work.
Samsung has quoted a ‘Best Buy’ price of Rs.37,800, though the MRP is slightly higher. The Galaxy Tab S is available at all major
showrooms.
