Yesterday Samsung issued a press release announcing the upcoming global release of two new tablets in the Galaxy Tab S2 line, and they just might be the best tablets ever for ereading.
There’s a 9.7-inch model and an 8-inch model. Both feature high-end Super AMOLED displays with high pixel density and an iPad-like 4:3 screen ratio with a 2048 x 1536 resolution.
Both tablets are the thinnest and lightest tablets for their size range. At 5.6mm thick, the 9.7-inch model weighs 389 grams and the 8-inch model weighs 265 grams.
Other features include a metal frame, fingerprint scanner, they come preloaded with Microsoft Office Apps, and of course they include Samsung’s multitasking feature that lets you have two app windows open at once.
Specs include a quad-core 1.9GHz processor, Android 5.0 Lillipop, an 8MP rear camera, 2.1MP front camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, 3GB of RAM, 32/64GB of internal memory, and support for microSD cards up to 128GB.
These new tablets are basically premium versions of the Galaxy Tab A line released earlier this year.
Samsung is releasing a lot of tablets with 4:3 ratio screens lately. Samsung alludes on this a bit in the press release:
By recreating the same viewing experience of browsing through traditional print media, the Galaxy Tab S2 also makes it comfortable to read digital content, including e-books, magazines, webpages and newsfeeds. This reading-optimized ratio allows the user to enjoy a seamless reading experience without unnecessary scrolling.
Most Android tablet have 16:10 or 16:9 ratio screens. The iPad has always been 4:3, and it appears that Samsung wants to take a bite out of that market. Personally I’ve always felt that 4:3 is the better ratio for reading, especially in portrait mode, so it’s good to see more options hitting the market.
In the press released they mention a “Reading Mode”, which Samsung describes as a feature that adjusts the screen’s brightness level to minimize eyestrain when reading for long periods of time.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 tablets comes with different wireless and storage options. Models include Wi-Fi-only, and Wi-Fi and LTE, with storage options for 32GB or 64GB (good to see they ditched the 16GB option entirely). The Galaxy Tab S2 officially get released in August. Samsung didn’t specify the prices in the press release but expect them to be pretty expensive, probably in line with the equivalent iPad models.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 Specs
- Display: 8-inch model and 9.7-inch model, Super AMOLED
- Resolution: 2048 x 1536(QXGA)
- Operating System: Android 5.0 Lollipop
- Processor: Quad 1.9GHz + Quad 1.3GHz
- 32/64 GB Flash Memory, 3 GB RAM Memory
- MicroSD Card slot (up to 128GB)
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac MIMO (2.4GHz/5GHz), Wi-Fi Direct
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Bluetooth 4.1 BLE
- GPS with Glonass
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Finger Scanner, Gyroscope, Compass, Hall Sensor, RGB Sensor
- Cameras: 8MP rear, 2.1MP front
- Battery: 4000mAh 8-inch; 5870mAh 9.7-inch
- Audio: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, Vorbis, FLAC
- Video: H.263, H.264(AVC), MPEG4, VC-1, WMV7, WMV8, VP8; Recording: QHD (2560×1440) @30 fps; Playback: UHD (3840×2160) @ 30fps
I think that Asus ZenPad 8 series may be an attractive alternative, at $200 price point.
Indeed. That’s probably half of what the 8″ Tab S2 will sell for.
I think the 8-inch version will be perfect for reading books, magazine and comics. It is like an iPad Mini but with Android’s more customizable interface and in-app purchasing options.
Ford, you don’t know me but…lol. I think we are related! Please email me and I will explain!
I’ve heard nothing but bad things about Lollipop, but hopefully by the time I’m ready to upgrade my current tablet they’ll have ironed out the kinks.
I just got a Lenovo Tab 2 10 and it has Android 5.0 Lollipop. So far it’s running smooth, expect a few random errors with Google apps like Play Music, which I don’t use anyway so I disabled it.
To tell you the truth I am Tableted out… I have way too many as it is to go looking at anything new for a long spell… maybe the next two years and then I might start looking to buy another one, but right now the ones I own have and do everything I need. I gots 4 Apples (the oldest I gave away), HP Stream 8 (that I like because it came with 200MB a month of T-Mobile), a Dell that sucks, Lenovos, ASUS 8″ K011 (I like that one too), a Toshiba, Nexus 4 (mosttly a phone but I use it like a tablet), and a whole bunch of others.
I found I really don’t like the 7″ ones but I like the 6″ and 8″ ones. But saying that I bought a Amazon Fire HD 7 just because it has the dang speakers separated so you can actually get stereo sound out of the darn thing, why other manufacturers don’t do this is beyond me. Also while I’m at it, why do they make them so they’ll slip right out of your hands and onto the floor. The Amazon HD 7″ and 6″ ain’t made that way, in fact they’re pretty well built.
I’d like to take all that is good about each and throw it into a pot and with my magic wand create the one just right for me.
So if something new comes out between now and 2 years it better have an artificial intelligent that can hold a critical conversation with me (and I ain’t talking Siri, Cortana, Google or Alexa), cause otherwise I ain’t interested!
Yeah, I’ve been there too. I got really sick of tablets for awhile, especially Android tablets because of all the random issues with Android. But then I started hating the iPad even more because of all of its limitations. Now I’m back to Android with the Lenovo Tab 2 10 and so far so good. It integrates so much better with my desktop setup than the iPad. I’m actually liking using tablets again. Awhile back I started selling off everything on eBay and now I’m down to one single tablet and a few ebook readers.
Nathan have you ever considered a Microsoft Surface 3 ?? have/had them all like yourself and Bob . I purchased a surface 3 and really like it. We’ll see how it performs once windows 10 is installed on it.. I will let you know.
Surprisingly I’ve actually never tried, touched, or even seen a Microsoft surface tablet in person. I’d imagine they’d be pretty good from a productivity standpoint, which is one thing most tablets aren’t very good at. I guess I never got into them because I already have a Windows laptop and a Windows desktop so a Windows tablet seems kind of redundant. The whole Windows 8 debacle didn’t help matters any. Now Windows 10 might be a different story indeed. I can’t wait to get Windows 8 off my laptop.
I guess i didn’t mention I have a Microsoft Surface RT. Unfortunately it won’t upgrade to Win !0, but my HP 8″ and my Toshiba 7″ with only 16Gigs of storage will, but the darn Dell won’t for some reason 🙁
Actually Win 8.1 works okay on tablets but not on anything without a touch screen, my view on it anyways.
I almost forgot the Asus Transformer Book T100 will update to Win 10…
I guess I better sell a few, huh…
Don’t even ask me how many laptops or desktops I have :/
I run Windows 8 with Classic Shell, and it’s the best Windows OS ever. Windows 10, so-called, is basically Windows 8 with some shell tweaks.
Thanks for mentioning Classic Shell. I just installed it on my laptop. It’s nice having a start menu and quickly being able to find things and run searches again.
How much better are super amoled screens? I mainly use a small tablet for reading at night in bed (gen 1 nexus tablet), but even with a green text on black background, the glow of the backlight still bugs my eyes.
My understanding is amoled screens only turn on the individual pixels instead of using the backlight, and should alleviate that problem.
Do they actually work like that and work well?
I’d jump all over an 8 inch tablet for a night reader at 200 bucks, the price you’re speculating.
Oops, I see you’re guessing it will actually sell for 400. Ouch. Maybe there’ll be some deals on the S1 when this comes out.
I’ve seen amoled screens and they look beautiful but I’ve never owned a device with one so I couldn’t say about night reading. Have you tried a screen dimming or light filtering app? Android tablets are always too bright at the lowest setting for me so I use this Screen Filter app to go dimmer.
yep, I use one and it helps, but that backlight still bleeds thru and gets me.