Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Auflösung

Samsung'southward latest flagship tablet packs a superb screen and fingerprint scanner but tin can it conquer the iPad Air? Read our Samsung Galaxy Tab S review

Have you idea of buying a tablet? Well, then, chances are that you'll have been tempted by an iPad. The truth is that even so good the rival Android or Windows tablets have been, it'southward Apple tree that has been calling the shots with the best-designed tablet effectually. Until at present.

Samsung's new tablet is slim, stylish and powerful. The Galaxy Tab South marks a new outset for the visitor. Subsequently all, earlier now even Amazon'southward keenly priced Kindle Burn series and the well-specced Google Nexus vii haven't been able to unseat the iPad Air and iPad mini 2 from their thrones.

The iPad outgunned rivals when it added a Retina display. Samsung and others upped their screen resolutions to compete, only to be outdone once more by the super-slim, preposterously low-cal iPad Air. Apple stayed out in front end.

Samsung Galaxy Tab South: Size and build

The Tab S at last gives the iDevices a serious challenge. The Galaxy Tab S comes in two sizes and both are easily the snazziest tablets Samsung has always created - a night-and-day improvement over before models which had grey plastic every bit their most ascendant style motif.

That's gone, replaced by metallic-style edging and perforated soft-touch back. The result is a high-end premium-feel design, even if they're notwithstanding plastic rather than aluminium. These are arguably the best-looking tablets anyone's fabricated outside of Cupertino.

The Tab South comes in two screen sizes, 8.4 inches and 10.5 inches. Both, like their Apple rivals, have the same number of pixels on the large screen equally the small. And both are lightweight, catwalk-thin gadgets.

Of the two tablets, the 10.5-inch screen is comparable in size to the iPad Air, though the brandish is nearly an inch bigger. Even and then, it's lighter (by a whisker) too as thinner by near 1mm. So that featherlight, slender quality Apple went for is matched or browbeaten - non least because plastic is lighter than aluminium.

And unlike the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet which is fifty-fifty thinner and lighter, the Tab S doesn't have a huge bezel round the display, at least not on all four sides. Pattern-wise, this is a real triumph and anyone wanting a stylish alternative to Apple has found it.

The smaller of the pair, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.4-inch edition, feels nifty in the mitt. The smooth sides and curved corners, combined with the soft, grippy back create a tablet that nestles in the palm and never feels similar its going to slip out. While it doesn't have that premium finish and feel you get with an iPad mini, it ever feels a scrap safer and managed to come up away unscathed from a couple of drops.

While the 10-inch version is great for big screen apps and productivity, the smaller Tab S is amend put to utilise watching Netflix, clearer out your Instapaper queue and the like. It's has a more than pixel dense display, which is superb and video watching is top notch. If you're more of a media consumer, who's looking for a portable slate the 8.4-inch version is a great choice.

Samsung has designed a range of cover accessories with 'Simple Clickers' attachments. These popper-mode plastic fittings take the course of leap-loaded holes on the rear of the Tab Southward. They're secure and effective though take careful placement to click in.

Like the Samsung Galaxy 5, the Samsung's new tablet besides features a fingerprint scanner - it's not as slickly done as on the iPhone 5s but information technology's a cool fashion to unlock the screen without a password.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Screen

The brandish - like on the Samsung Milky way S5 phone - is bright and gorgeous. It's higher-resolution than the iPad Air's Retina display and the Super AMOLED engineering science makes it stunningly brilliant and colourful - sometimes almost too dazzling. Merely at its best, this is a screen that you can't take your eyes off.

Look no further than the 'Wonder of Nature' video that comes supplied. It looks jaw-droppingly good with punchy, sharp colours. Thankfully the tablet is powerful plenty to ensure butter-smooth playback, too.

Its glorious visuals are not quite matched past audio. There are stereo speakers, ane on each of the shorter edges, but you could comprehend them up with your easily if you lot don't hold the tablet simply right. This is annoying, though information technology'south piece of cake to larn how to concord it best.

Samsung Galaxy Tab South: Features

This being a Samsung tablet, there are plenty of innovations built in, too. Like the fingerprint sensor institute on the Samsung Milky way S5, which offers a unproblematic way to unlock the screen besides every bit a swell PayPal authorisation method.

The truth is it's only not as enjoyable equally Apple's version: to employ you have to swipe your finger exactly down the home push button rather than just resting your finger or pollex on information technology as yous exercise on the iPhone 5s. It'southward good, but not as well-executed every bit it should be - just this is a welcome addition to a tablet, achieved on the bigger screen earlier Apple could.

The tablet also has those Samsung staple features imported from Galaxy S phones: the front-facing photographic camera watches your eyes to know if you're reading the screen and turn it off if you lot're non. An infra-carmine blaster in the top edge of the tablet ways you tin can utilise it as a sophisticated TV remote that you really can't lose downwards the back of the sofa.

You'll also become an 8-megapixel rear photographic camera so that you can take photos, should y'all really want to.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Interface

In that location's Samsung's dedicated TouchWiz menu which swipes in from the side of the screen to offer quick shortcuts to Contacts, Email, internet and more - though frankly information technology's near every bit quick to tap the apps icon that sits on the bottom of the display.

And there's the Flipboard personal magazine home screen popularised on earlier Milky way devices (and still bettered on HTC's phones). Like other Samsung tablets, y'all can brandish two apps side past side, which adds to the tablet's versatility.

Samsung Milky way Tab S: Operation

At that place'southward no shortage of grunt under the bonnet here, either, making information technology a fluent, speedy tablet to employ. That'due south down to a Quad-cadre 1.nine GHz processor matched with 3GB of RAM: more than enough to ensure a whizzy experience that doesn't stutter or ho-hum downward however much is going on. The power also means the touchscreen is fast and effective, feeling intimate and responsive.

You needn't run out of storage space, either. Although the tablet only comes in 16GB and 32GB chapters models, there's a memory menu slot here so you can add together an extra 128GB of space on top. This ways that even the highest-chapters iPad tin can't match what's on offering here if you invest in a reasonably priced carte.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Apps

Samsung is generous with its included software. As with the Sasmung Galaxy S5, the tablet comes with a agglomeration of free software - not the bloatware the company was criticised for in the past only genuinely desirable stuff. So there's three months' subscription to Marvel comics and six months of free Deezer among other offers.

These and gratuitous games and other apps are found in a widget called Galaxy Gifts, sitting on the domicile screen only side by side to the Samsung own-brand offerings such every bit a video editor, scrapbook, exclusive football app and more than. Even here, this feels different from earlier Samsung products because the apps are downloadable rather than stuffed into the gadget already.

Of course, it's all the same hard to avert the fact that Android just isn't as avant-garde app-wise as Apple is on tablets.

Many apps are sophisticated enough to know how to stretch to bigger screens merely few are optimised in the way iPad apps are which reformat in radically dissimilar ways. This superior way that apps work on the iPad are i of the things that keep Apple out in front and at that place's not much Samsung tin can practise to address that.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: Software

Samsung'southward Paper Garden is a neatly organised mag store which tempts y'all with a broad range of titles (at that place are some complimentary bug on offer to tempt yous more). Some are interactive, with animated covers and furnishings. All are carefully formatted to fit the xvi:9 screen ratio. The pin-sharp screen makes text look as sharp equally on paper.

Side Sync is a clever feature. Want to see whatís happening on your phone screen without having to dig into your bag for it, or cross the room to where it's charging? Evens answer calls or texts from your phone on your tablet? Side Sync makes that happen. But it'southward not as smooth as it should exist and tin can stutter to a stop. Y'all tin can use it with a PC (though not Mac) likewise, but again the concept is better than the execution. For now.

Kids' mode is Samsung'south manner of limiting what your kids can utilize your tablet for is bright. It's painfully simple to set upwards and has enough variety and customisation options to suit the most demanding of parents - or kids. Mind you, y'all might all the same prefer to buy them a inexpensive tablet rather than let them become their smeary mitts on yours.

Samsung Milky way Tab S: Verdict

In that location's no question about it: this is the all-time tablet Samsung has notwithstanding made and information technology's arguably the slickest, most effective Android tablet available. At that place are plenty of innovations, from the fingerprint sensor to the click-in covers to protect your hardware. The slim, light styling is a revelation, particularly from a company whose design language was limited in its tablets before.

Will it be plenty to take a chunk out of iPad sales? Apple tree's sublime ease of use and better range of optimised apps are tough to beat, but this tablet has the best run a risk of causing a sea alter of whatever Android machine nonetheless.

Samsung Milky way Tab S release date: Out now

Samsung Galaxy Tab S price: £399 (10.5-inch, Wi-Fi only), £319 (viii.iv-inch, Wi-Fi only)