Galaxy Tab S2 vs. Galaxy Tab S: what's changed?
After many leaks,
Samsung has officially unveiled its Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 and 9.7 tablets
yesterday, just over a year after the original Galaxy Tab S series was announced.
The Tab S2 is a new type of tablet from Samsung (naming convention notwithstanding), with several major changes from the original Tab S line, but how do they compare? Is the Tab S2 better than the Tab S2? original, at least on paper? Let's take a quick look at the biggest differences and what a difference a year can make.
Smaller, thinner and lighter
It's one of the biggest hardware changes: Samsung's new tablets are thinner and lighter than their predecessors and at 5.6mm, Samsung claims they're the thinnest tablets on the market.
Best Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 Cases
[related_videos title=”Android tablets in video:” align=”right” type=”custom” videos=”620978,599527,591709,591693,584257,583767′′]The Galaxy Tab S2 is available in 8.0 inches and 9.7 -inch models while the original
Galaxy Tab S came in 8.4 inches
and 10.5-inch variants and smaller screen sizes mean a reduction in weight; the 8-inch Tab S2 weighs 265 grams (compared to the 8.4-gram Tab S at 294 grams), while the Tab S2 9, 7-inch weighs 389 grams (compared to the Tab S 10.5 at 465 grams).
Both of Samsung's new tablets also come with a touch fingerprint sensor like the Galaxy S6 compared to a swipe sensor on the original Tab S. The improved fingerprint sensor should make unlocking using your fingerprint much more reliable and rival the
Touch ID fingerprint sensor
found on the Apple iPad.
The Tab S2 will also come in more standardized black and white colors while the Galaxy Tab S comes in the bolder White and Bronze colors. The back cover has also been smoothed out (vs a textured back side on the Tab S). It's worth noting, however, that the rear of the Tab S2 is plastic (versus aluminum on the iPad) and might be perceived as less premium than the original Tab S series.
A clear display is completely different
It's rare to see a successor have a screen that's arguably less premium than the original, but somehow Samsung decided it was a good move. In fact, the display is the biggest change between the two generations of the Tab S and judging by Samsung's changes, it might not be the one that's proving effective.
The two new Galaxy Tab S2 tablets play sports
Super AMOLED displays
offering a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, but despite being smaller, they offer slightly fewer pixels than the original Tab S devices. However, the biggest change is that Samsung has chosen to use the format iPad's 4:3 aspect ratio rather than the 16:10 standard which is widely used as the standard aspect ratio of Android devices. it's used in landscape mode for watching movies, it will have wider black bars and arguably a poorer media experience.
Density-wise, the original Tab S seems to have the measure compared to its replacement. a pixel density of 264 ppi (compared to 287 ppi on the
Galaxy Tab S 10.5
).The decision to lower the resolution and change the aspect ratio means the original Tab S will have a much better experience and given that the human eye can distinguish individual pixels when the density is less than 350 pixels per inch, you may notice the lower density on the new tablets.
No more camera flash (but do you even need one?)
Personally, I don't like using a tablet as a portable camera, but there is definitely a market for tablet cameras (although I don't understand why) and as such every tablet needs a a relatively good pair of cameras.
The Tab S2 offers the same 8MP rear camera and 2.1MP front camera setup as the original Tab S, but weirdly Samsung ditched the flash, rendering the cameras nearly useless in low light conditions. .As such, there's no doubt that the original Tab S will be better if you (for whatever reason) need a camera on your tablet.
A familiar Lollipop experience
The Galaxy Tab S2 is coming to life
Android 5.0 lollipop
out of the box and offers the same experience as the Tab S on the latest update. Samsung claims the tablets are the "most immersive Samsung tablet yet" and while that may be the case, we certainly hope that it's a smooth experience that has been toned down.
Last years
Smartphone Galaxy S5
had, in my opinion, one of the poorest software experiences - due to lack of optimization and overzealousness - on a Samsung device, which later ported over to the Galaxy Tab S and with massive improvements in
Galaxy S6
, we hope that Samsung has learned from last year and optimized the software and hardware of the Tab S2.
Early signs suggest this may be the case as the Galaxy Tab S2 will be preloaded with
Microsoft Office
and two years of free OneDrive cloud storage,
which were both present on the Galaxy S6
Of course, it'll be hard to see exactly how much better the software is until we get our hands on it, so stay tuned for our full review.
The other changes
The Galaxy Tab S2 also sees Samsung move from a
Qualcomm processor
to its own Exynos 5433 processor but surprisingly the Korean opted to go for the inferior Exynos 5433 chipset (compared to the impressive
Exynos 7420
used in the Galaxy S6).Both Tab S2 models are powered by octa-core processors with four cores clocked at 1.9GHz and four cores at 1.3GHz, which is the same big.LITTLE power configuration than the original tablets.
One big change that's really disappointing is the built-in, non-removable battery: the smaller screen size and thinner build has meant that battery capacity has shrunk compared to the original Galaxy Tab S. The 8-inch Tab S2 comes with a 4000mAh battery (compared to 4900mAh on the Tab S 8.4) while the larger Tab S2 has a 5870mAh battery which is much smaller than the Galaxy's 7900mAh battery Tab S 10.5 inch.
The reduced battery size (especially as large as on the Tab S2 9.7) means it will definitely need to be charged more frequently, but hopefully Samsung's software and hardware optimizations will still deliver solid battery life.
What a difference a year can make
The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is probably my favorite Android tablet ever, mainly for its really impressive specs and despite the poor software experience. As a Tab S 8.4 user, I was looking forward to the new Tab S2 line, but Samsung's tablets left me a little deflated.
[related_videos title="Original Tab S in video:" align="left" type="custom" videos="576611,396976,393452,393454,393456,393458′′]
The main reason for this is that Samsung tried to align the Tab S2 a little too close to the iPad for my liking. The original Tab S had the best Samsung could offer at the time, but with the Tab S2, Samsung went from its best experience to the closest iPad-like experience it could offer.
The change in aspect ratio may still pay off for Samsung, as one of the potential reasons for the change in direction is the appeal to iPad developers; a major problem that all Android tablets have is the lack of
tablet-specific apps
and this was mainly due to the number of screen sizes developers have to support. A switch to 4:3 aspect ratio could make the Tab S2 tablets more attractive to Apple developers looking to offer dedicated apps for Android tablets.
Making comparisons between the two generations of Galaxy Tab S is much more difficult than if Samsung had simply updated last year's models with changed specs. weeks. In the meantime, let us know what you think of the new Tab S2 lineup in the comments below!
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