Samsung has just released a new 7-inch Android tablet called the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7. It’s a new 2016 version of their A series tablets.
The Tab A 7 is basically a newer version of the Galaxy Tab 4 that I reviewed back in 2014. The Galaxy Tab A has a slightly faster processor, more RAM and some other upgrades but is otherwise very similar to the Tab 4.
One difference is the price. When the Tab 4 was released it sold for $199 (now 2 years later it usually goes for under $150).
By comparison they’ve managed to cut the retail price of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7 by 25%, taking it down to $149 at Amazon, so after awhile once it starts going on sale it will be really cheap.
As far as specs are concerned, it has a 7-inch 1280 x 800 resolution screen. It’s powered by a quad-core 1.3 GHz Spreadtrum SC8830 processor with a Mali-400 GPU. It comes with 8GB of internal storage space and it has 1.5GB of RAM. It also has a microSD card slot with super high capacity all the way up to an impressive 200GB.
Other specs include a 2MP front camera, a 5MP rear camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, 3.5 mm headphone jack, stereo speakers, and it has a 4000 mAh battery capacity that can provide up to 9 hours of battery life. The tablet measure 4.27 x 0.34 x 7.35 inches and it weighs 9.8 ounces (about 278 grams).
In terms of software, the 7-inch Galaxy Tab A runs Android 5.1 Lollipop at launch. However, Samsung is expected to release updates to Android 6.0 Marshmallow for their larger Galaxy Tab A tablets soon, so hopefully this new 7-inch model will be getting updated at some point as well.
Update: Samsung also just released another new 7-inch tablet called the Samsung Galaxy Tab E Lite. It sells for $119.
Of course this just came out — I bought the 2014 version this past weekend. 🙂
Some real improvements here: stereo speakers, 1.5 GB versus 1.0 GB RAM, better cameras, and a higher capacity micro SD card capability. They need to increase the internal storage from 8 to 16 GB, what with Amazon only storing some content on internal storage. I’ll keep my 2014 version since it works well and the form factor is so much better that my HD 6 or HD 8.
The high capacity microSD card slot is a plus but yeah 8GB is pretty weak, probably only about 4.5 usable.
Any idea if they will make a 16gb version? 4.3gb of available space is unnaceptable.
Perhaps it’s by design. One of the features with Android 6.0 Marshmallow is the ability to set the microSD card as internal storage. Hopefully they have plans to update it to 6.0 soon.
I actually haven’t seen this device on Samsung’s website or on any retailer websites. Has it been officially released yet?
I can only find the older Tab 4 and the new E Lite.
Yeah, it’s funny. I think it was accidentally put up on Amazon too soon because there hasn’t been an official announcement from Samsung yet and it’s not even listed on their website. I think in some countries it is referred to as Galaxy Tab A6. The model number is SM-T280. The page at Amazon was taken down like a day after posting this article. I ordered one to review when the page was still up and I received it on Monday. It’s quite nice, a lot like the Tab 4 but better. I hope they’re going to update it to Android 6.0 because the low internal storage space is the main limitation, but that would allow setting the external card as internal.
Ok good, I got really excited when I saw your original post.
I am going to wait until it comes out to get it, it fits my needs very well. Thanks for the info!