In the market for a tab. Looking for something in the 8" range and leaning towards the tab s 8.4". Specs still look good, seems to have a decent rom supply. I don't do any heavy gaming, but do game occasionally. Anyone with thoughts on if this is still a good tab for the next year or so. Amazon has a refurb for $160 shipped right now. Thanks!
danielson2047 said:
In the market for a tab. Looking for something in the 8" range and leaning towards the tab s 8.4". Specs still look good, seems to have a decent rom supply. I don't do any heavy gaming, but do game occasionally. Anyone with thoughts on if this is still a good tab for the next year or so. Amazon has a refurb for $160 shipped right now. Thanks!
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Hey can you give the amazon link?
BTW its still worth it
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/B00KHA2DQM/ref=olp_tab_refurbished?ie=UTF8&condition=refurbished
I still love mine. Replaced my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 with it because I prefer LED over LCD. Size is perfect. I can palm the tablet with one hand, which I can't do with most 8" tablets (like 3:2 Tab S2). Dual speakers. 3 GB ram. QHD LED screen. I don't play games, but it does everything perfectly. I just installed LineageOS (7.1.2). No plans to replace it soon. I'll probably replace it when most budget phones start shipping with 4GB ram.
Nvidia's Shield tablet came out about the same time with Tab S, but has slightly better specs for gaming. Isn't it still sold and maintained? Nvidia's store says out of stock:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/
I was looking at that as well, but prices are much higher.
Related
I have ipad air and it is not so bad but I hate ios limitations as Iam an android fan ( I have note 3 ) and since the galaxy tab s is announced I was taken by its screen
The only concern i have is it worth to sell my ipad and buy a tab s or not , also the ipad build quality is a beauty does the tab s will satisfy me in its build quality or I will regret giving away my ipad ?
Last thing is the exynos processor coming with it will be good or we will suffer lagging?
Thanks
I wonder if any tablet is worth it now. What are the benefits of having our carrying a tablet?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Free mobile app
There is a 10.5" and 8.4" since OP didn't say which one, I'd take it the 10.5". I'd sell the Air for the 8.4 and/or 10.5". My bro has the iPad Air, very good tablet, but can't do much without jailbreaking it. Tab S specs is beastly! The exynos will not lag. Air has better built quality. Go to the store and check out the Tab S yourself. Good luck!
I might buy the 8.4" since my budget max is $400, but 10.5" Amoled is epic as hell! Wish I had $499 for it.
You buy Apple for the ecosystem, not for the hw/OS specs, which are behind Samsung/Android. If you don't have a must-have app on the iPad, go with Android. Better value for the $ and freedom to make changes as you wish.
The only issue I have with Samsung Tab S is that it's 16:9 screen ratio. I need the 4:3 for portrait eBook reading. For media consumption, I have a laptop & HT system.
I certainly talk about 10.5 model and the budget is not abig problem since I will sell the ipad and I mostly use my tablet for media like movies or tv series and I love android so go for it or wait for better processor and better build quality
Well the clear advantage of the 8.4 over the 10.5 is physical size and portability. While you can easily zoom small text on the 8.4 you cannot easily make the 10.5 physically smaller. The 8.4 is far easier to hold in one hand and read like a book. The 10.5 is more of a two handed affair.
Based upon people who own the Pro model and have seen the S in person, the reporting is the amoled screen is not sufficiently better or different to justify the $120 price premium over the current Pro model discounted pricing.
Rumor is Best buy may be offering a $100 trade in for any older working tablet when buying a S which could be a difference maker as the S will be thinner, lighter and have longer battery life.
mitchellvii said:
Well the clear advantage of the 8.4 over the 10.5 is physical size and portability. While you can easily zoom small text on the 8.4 you cannot easily make the 10.5 physically smaller. The 8.4 is far easier to hold in one hand and read like a book. The 10.5 is more of a two handed affair.
Based upon people who own the Pro model and have seen the S in person, the reporting is the amoled screen is not sufficiently better or different to justify the $120 price premium over the current Pro model discounted pricing.
Rumor is Best buy may be offering a $100 trade in for any older working tablet when buying a S which could be a difference maker as the S will be thinner, lighter and have longer battery life.
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I just recently bought the 8.4 "Pro" and have been using it for at least 5+hours a day since I got it. I visited my local Best Buy and took a look at the new "S" model as I am still within my return policy. The first thing you will notice is the screen. The amoled screen is very nice but like mitch said I would not buy it just for that.
What I would buy it for, and the reason why I am returning the "Pro" for it, is a number of things. The battery life is better and there is a software feature included that will extend the time of the charge.
The speakers are on alternate sides... this may not sound like much to most but being a guy with big hands I have to hold the "Pro" awkwardly in order to not cover one of the speakers. Having them to one side allows me to hold it like I should and hear what I am supposed to.
The "S" model is smaller and lighter. Now looking at the specs it doesn't look like much until you actually get it in your hand. It is a significant difference and makes it easier to hold and hold for longer periods of time.
The "Pro" functions just as well as the "S" until you start going nuts with the multi-tasking, which I use extensively. The extra 1gb of RAM that you get in the "S" makes a huge difference in what you can have open and how many. Play Order and Chaos with the music player while surfing the web is a wonderful thing.
So to sum it up, the screen is very sexy on the "S", but by itself I don't think "Pro" owners should really worry about that. For those of us that still have opportunity to swap them out, like myself, its all up to you but the rose gold trim on top of the changes I mentioned above are what convinced me to swap.
-Grev
One important point , this topic was created to compare the tab s with the ipad air not with pro and is it worth it to swap from the ipad to the tab s
Thanks
I cannot stand iOS. Just too limited and over simplified.
People for years have been touting the apps but when I tried an iPad mini for a while the app situation was Way worse than android.
The stupid x2 zoom was just totally unacceptable. Android scales everything very well. I don't care if the apps are all totally redone for tablet size or not.
The iOS ecosystem seems like everyone is trying to reinvent the wheel with form over function. Get some buzz with something cool that is less usable than it was. I think it suits the uber hipsters perfectly. But not me at all.
You're going to love holding the Tab S 8.4 at 300 grams, very thin and a nice grippy back.
The Screen..
Battery life, especially if you use a browser with Night mode, darker theme.
I think it has more to do with which OS you like better or which architecture you are invested in at this point as prices are similar. IMO the Tab has some advantages like SD card availability, weight, and size but they are not huge, except the SD thing. Personally I have a deep rooted dislike of Apple from the days when the DRMed music so you couldn't put stuff you purchased on different devices.
salahfathi said:
I have ipad air and it is not so bad but I hate ios limitations as Iam an android fan ( I have note 3 ) and since the galaxy tab s is announced I was taken by its screen
The only concern i have is it worth to sell my ipad and buy a tab s or not , also the ipad build quality is a beauty does the tab s will satisfy me in its build quality or I will regret giving away my ipad ?
Last thing is the exynos processor coming with it will be good or we will suffer lagging?
Thanks
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Click to collapse
I got a steal on the Mini 2 64gb way under $400 and new. Got it in Feb this year just before 7.1 ios came out. So its jailbroken. The ONLY reason I bought it like so many others say jailbroken is the only way to go. I would never buy one with out it. I can put different icons widgets blah blah. If it was not jailbroken I might sell it for a Tab s.
Yet I didnt and bought the Tab s anyway. For ME there is just more freedom.
Zeblade said:
I got a steal on the Mini 2 64gb way under $400 and new. Got it in Feb this year just before 7.1 ios came out. So its jailbroken. The ONLY reason I bought it like so many others say jailbroken is the only way to go. I would never buy one with out it. I can put different icons widgets blah blah. If it was not jailbroken I might sell it for a Tab s.
Yet I didnt and bought the Tab s anyway. For ME there is just more freedom.
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My ipad is jailbroken too but enough lies on ourselves android alone without root has much more freedom than jailbroken ios
salahfathi said:
My ipad is jailbroken too but enough lies on ourselves android alone without root has much more freedom than jailbroken ios
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I 100% agree.
Update to my prior post. With the $100 trade in offer I went ahead and got the 10.5 Tab S. Glad I did. Colors amazing on this and like the extra size in portrait.
Get the S 10.5 and stick a 128 Gb sd card in it and save all of your music, videos etc on it so that you always have access to them wherever you go and if you need to do a factory reset then they are still available on the device.
Because the iPad has no sd card is a deal breaker for me.
IPad has a slicker, smoother os and a slightly better app store, but that's about it tbh. You can't use otg usb devices, no sd slot and a more restricted os. I have an ipad3 which I still use, but love the fact I can just plug my usb stick into my tab s and watch a movie or tv episode. Also the amoled screen is amazing. No iTunes to worry about either.
Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
I only got the tab S 8.4 less than a week ago, was deciding whether to get the ipad mini retina, I wanted the ipad to play one game from teamlava called dragon story, but the developer was more hunger for money with their games which makes player spend alot of money, so I have slowly grown off the game.
With the 8.4 there is more freedom to customize the tab, and with less limitation, and cheap to buy.
You won't be disappointed
bigbrown said:
You buy Apple for the ecosystem, not for the hw/OS specs, which are behind Samsung/Android. If you don't have a must-have app on the iPad, go with Android. Better value for the $ and freedom to make changes as you wish.
The only issue I have with Samsung Tab S is that it's 16:9 screen ratio. I need the 4:3 for portrait eBook reading. For media consumption, I have a laptop & HT system.
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HW isn't behind with the exception being the OLED panel itself. The CPU in an iPad Air is much faster then what Samsung uses.
HughesNet said:
HW isn't behind with the exception being the OLED panel itself. The CPU in an iPad Air is much faster then what Samsung uses.
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Another exception is running two apps simultaneously on the S 10.5 splitting it's 16:10 screen which is great and would not work on the ipad with it's 4:3 aspect ratio screen.
I'm looking to buy 8.4 inch tablet. From what I read, both are very good tablet. The difference of price here is about 70 AUD.
I don't really care about AMOLED vs LCD- both are fine.
I'll most probably run it on custom ROM. Tab Pro already has official CM support and established community. I'm not sure about Tab S, it's is too early to tell at this stage. I also notice Tab S is slightly thinner and lighter. Tab S runs on 3GB ram compared to 2GB of Tab Pro.
Probably you guys can give an opinion whether the price difference is worth it. Is there any other factor that makes one better than the other?
In regards to custom ROM support, I would think the Tab Pro 8.4 would get more support because of the Snapdragon 800 processor. In America that processor is very popular and used by different manufacturers, so developer support is strong. The S 8.4 has a Exynos processor, which I'm not sure of developer support.
This video compares the Pro 8.4 vs. S 8.4
In addition to the above answer, if you are not going to root and will need Knox for security, go for the Tab pro. If you will root the device, get the Tab S because it has 3gb memory and it will certainly help.
I prefer the screen of the Tab Pro S. It is brighter and I have not had any problem with the 2 units I have used. I have also bought the Tab S 8.4 and the 10.5. Their screen were pinkish when viewing webpages with white background. I can also see purple fringing on top of icons and letters, while I see green fringing at the bottom.
I suggest go to a local store and try them both, only you can really make the best decision for yourself.
Good luck
If you actually don't care about the screen I would 100% get the tab pro 8.4. The snapdragon 800 is a better SOC than the exynos in the tab s. Your tablet will be quicker and developer support will always be more active with the snapdragon compared to the exynos. I currently have the tab pro 8.4 and it's perfect in every way except for the screen. I got spoiled with my note 3 and now I'm not sure I can stand reading off the tab pro in bed at night.
tl;dr if you don't care about the difference in screens, save your money and get the better performing tab pro 8.4
superkevx said:
If you actually don't care about the screen I would 100% get the tab pro 8.4. The snapdragon 800 is a better SOC than the exynos in the tab s. Your tablet will be quicker and developer support will always be more active with the snapdragon compared to the exynos. I currently have the tab pro 8.4 and it's perfect in every way except for the screen. I got spoiled with my note 3 and now I'm not sure I can stand reading off the tab pro in bed at night.
tl;dr if you don't care about the difference in screens, save your money and get the better performing tab pro 8.4
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I use lux lite from google play to reduce the brightness at night.
Thanks for the heads up regarding the Qualcomm vs Exynos thing, guys!
I love to customize my gadget and an active development community means a lot to me
I was leaning to tab S and now reconsidering my decision on tab pro.
If you own both device, I'd like to know your opinion about how it feels at your hand. I cannot try Tab Pro 8.4 at my local store (samsung decide not to sell it here) so I can only get it from grey imports. Does the difference in weight & dimension a significant one?
Hey I'm in the same position, can't decide what Tablet to get, I have however tried both of them in the shop and can say the Faux Leather plastic of the TabPro is not nice however won't we all be having a case on it anyway? As for the size difference is noticeable however in daily use I doubt it'd really effect anybody.
The price difference is £100 so that also plays a part idk how much cheaper the TabPro is for you. I'm also looking at the Nvidia Shield Tablet - let me know what you think to that compared to the Samsung tablets
acasserole said:
Hey I'm in the same position, can't decide what Tablet to get, I have however tried both of them in the shop and can say the Faux Leather plastic of the TabPro is not nice however won't we all be having a case on it anyway? As for the size difference is noticeable however in daily use I doubt it'd really effect anybody.
The price difference is £100 so that also plays a part idk how much cheaper the TabPro is for you. I'm also looking at the Nvidia Shield Tablet - let me know what you think to that compared to the Samsung tablets
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Nvidia shield is a gaming tablet and Samsung's tabs are casual tablet. It depends on your use case; for me, I'd rather play games on my pc instead of tablet.
What do you think about the weight? does Tab S feel more comfortable? It is very light for an 8.4 inch tablet.
Prokeke said:
Nvidia shield is a gaming tablet and Samsung's tabs are casual tablet. It depends on your use case; for me, I'd rather play games on my pc instead of tablet.
What do you think about the weight? does Tab S feel more comfortable? It is very light for an 8.4 inch tablet.
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The Nvidia shield is close to stock android and has the best chipset out atm? and at a competetive price, the only thing is the weight of it...
And The tab was lighter though it's hard to tell when they have the security attachment things on the back. I tried bending it and it felt pretty solid considering how thin and light it was
acasserole said:
The Nvidia shield is close to stock android and has the best chipset out atm? and at a competetive price, the only thing is the weight of it...
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EDIT: I thought it runs on Tegra 4. It turns out to be Tegra K1 which is a better processor.
I'm not sure about the best chipset. Snapdragon 800 has better clockspeed and only one less core. Exynos 5 has 8 core but a little less clockspeed.
While it might be true that it is close to stock android, Nvidia is famous to keep the source of their SoC, making it harder for devs to develop things. I own LG optimus 2x with nvidia tegra 2 chipset and familiar with frustated devs blaming nVidia for it. Also, You can see that there is little to no development going on Shield's forum.
Qualcomm on the other hand is more developer friendly.
Another difference to note is the finger print scanner on the Tab S
I tested the Pro 8.4 and S 8.4 at a store. The S is noticeably lighter and thinner, but it doesn't matter to me since I always uses cases that add some bulk. I really don't like the Pro's extra height, which makes it a little awkward to hold in portrait mode. Its also harder to find sleeve cases that fit the height, without resorting to a sleeve made for a 10" tablet. The Pro is modeled after the Galaxy Note 3, while the S is modeled after the Galaxy S5. The Pro/Note 3's faux leather back is just matte plastic. The S/S5's back has a rubber-like coating thats soft and grippy. Getting the Pro 8.4 was an easy decision, especially due to the lower price. I can't see the difference between LCD and AMOLED screens.
xdm9mm said:
I use lux lite from google play to reduce the brightness at night.
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Click to collapse
Yeah I have tried that. Looks like you have a note 3 also. Try reading something in the dark with the note 3 and black background with grey text. Like google play books with night mode turned on or any app with an amoled option. Then try the same with the gtab pro in the dark and you'll notice a huge difference!
I prefer the pro 8.4 against the s 8.4. Its cheaper by a lot and has a more widely used SoC hence more awesome ROMs to choose from.
superkevx said:
Yeah I have tried that. Looks like you have a note 3 also. Try reading something in the dark with the note 3 and black background with grey text. Like google play books with night mode turned on or any app with an amoled option. Then try the same with the gtab pro in the dark and you'll notice a huge difference!
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Yes I know what you mean. It (ASAmoled screen) is nicer when reading at night, but I can't stand looking at it during the day time. I have already returned the Note 3. I only have S4 and Tab pro 8.4 now.
Hey I have a question to users of the Galaxy Note would you recommend the Galaxy Note? I am looking for a 10'' Tab with good Digitizer,good Screen, BatterieTime and good Price(about 300$). But im afraid of all the bad things I read about Performance. I wanted to get the Wifi Version(cheap and enough for University) or would you recommend other (newer) Tablets? Thanks for all Answears
Not sure what performance problems you are worried about. If you want to play high-end 2015 games on it, we I don't know because I don't do that. But for general usage, note-taking, or as an alternative to a visualiser for giving presentations (being left-handed I can't really use those things, as my hand covers what I'm writing) I can't say I've seen any problems.
I bought it because it was cheap and had Wacom digitiser support (the S-Pen), not for gaming or videos or whatever. For that it's fine. It's a bit faster than my early 2013 phone, despite having Samsung software (more bloat than other manufacturers I've used). I do however turn off all of their "smart" features - I don't know whether those things affect performance, they just didn't interest me.
If you want power and an active digitizer this is the tablet to go. If you want software support from the oem, this is a "no go".
Get an iPad
I wouldn't pick this tablet up unless it is dirt cheap (< $200). In order of preference, I would go:
iPad
Surface 3
jak341 said:
I wouldn't pick this tablet up unless it is dirt cheap (< $200). In order of preference, I would go:
iPad
Surface 3
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Click to collapse
Surface 3 is not cheap.
IPad not cheap.
Thus don't fit what OP is looking for.
For the original question yes I would recommend it. The besting you can do to it is root and install a custom ROM. I play XCOM, KOTOR, and a bunch of high end games. I do things on my Note that my family wishes they could do on their iPad. I have messed around with a Surface 3 Pro at BestBuy a couple times and thought it was laggy opening programs and the lack of a decent app store made it a no go.
For note taking I use Lecture notes much better then S-Notes.
Anyway that is my opinion.
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk
thanks think im waiting till Octover and getting SM-P600 with octa core when tll then no new product arrive. The Tab S with S-Pen was nearly the perfect Product but had unfortunaly Resoultion of 1280x720 dont know what Samsung thought about giving a 300$ Product so bad Display.
Should I sell my Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and buy Nvidia Shield Tablet K1? I'm doubting.. one side light, thin, Amoled and screen resolution. other side Nvidia K1, marshmallow update!! front stereo speakers and mini HDMI. Really difficult choice.. HELP!
I had the Nvidia K1, and it gots random crashes. The shop send me another unit but it had the same problem.
I bought the tab s 8.4 and it's far better for me (maybe not as fast as the K1), but is more comfortable in the hands and has better screen. I prefer physical buttons as well, so if I were you, i'll keep the tab s.
In my opinion, there are no truly compelling alternatives right now. Each android tablet seems to be good at one thing, but bad at something else. If you switch to another tablet, you gain something but also lose something. Plus, the whole market is pretty stale because just take a look at how many 2014 tablets are still sold today unchanged. So I personally intend to use my Tab S until it falls apart, and then I'll look at the newer tablets when that happens. Samsung already made its move with the Tab S2, and to many the S2 did not meet the expectations, so I'd be willing to wait for something like the next generation Nexus 9 or Nvidia Shield tablet replacements.
No.
Do it. You'll be so happy you did.
I still love the size and awesome screen etc of the original S1
Of course battery is an issue but i love the 8.4 inch form factor and thinness.
What Android tablet out there trumps the S1?
I cant seem to think of many.
YEP
I picked the last one off Swappa over the weekend. I have had it before but thought the display wasn't that great. I still don't think it's as good as the S2 display despite being higher PPI. The only thing I think comes close is Huawei Mediapad M3. But it doesn't have as strong of a development community at least at this point. Everything else is comparable or better I think. Great display, but not AMOLED. Comparable performance, SD card slot, USB-C etc.
You dont think the S1 display is good?
in term of what? Display & dimension? None to me. I even dumb my tab s2 8.0 and back to tab s 8.4 due to the screen dimension. Since i watch a lot of movie using the tab i hate the big black bar on tab s2. I really hope they did make the storage to 32GB last time... it will last far longer then the current 16GB space. But it more comfortable if you do reading on Tab S2. Gaming wise... well more less the same. It eat battery like nuts... hahaha... In android world the only thing that can give far more better experience IMO are Nvidia Shield. that's it.
Nothing it cannot be beaten in my opinion, It`s the oled display at 16:10 ratio and 10.5" size that makes it the best, the S2 and S3 have an 4:3 diplay, and if your primary use is video/movies it`s the best.
John.
I am pretty happy with the 10.5 Tab S. It does have flaws, but I don't think it's worth to throw it away and buy a new tablet. However, if it dies, there is no way I am buying another Tab S again. I'd probably go for Lenovo's new line of Yoga Tab 3 Plus 10 inch tablets or for the Huawei mediapad M3. If the prices of the new Tab S3 drop down by the holidays, I'd consider one of those too.
I switched to the tab s3 from a tab s 10.5 last week. Loved my S but it started getting pretty laggy and Ive been waiting for months for something decent to come along and check all the boxes. I'm pretty happy do far, waiting for reviews until I decide on what case to get.
Also, Best Buy gave me $100 trade in for an old note 8.0 Att tablet I had laying around and it looks like I can get $150 easy for the tab s so that makes it easier to swallow.
Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
And the S1 has stereo speakers in the correct location for watching a video in landscape mode, the S2 and S3 has both speakers on one end for use in an portrait mode, good luck getting a stereo effect with that when you are trying to watch a movie.
John.