When Samsung introduced the Samsung Galaxy Tab S tablets back in 2014, these featured two sizes – 10.5-inch and 8.4-inch. The South Korean company has now unveiled their successors, the Galaxy Tab S2 duo which come in 8-inch and 9.7-inch variants. So, as we can see, Samsung has decided that its 2014 models were too big and has shrunk them a little.
Both versions of the Galaxy Tab S2 are just 5.6mm thin, but the 8-inch weighs only 265g while the bigger sized one has a weight of 389 grams. Both models run Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and besides dimension and weight, they only differ in the battery capacity, with 4,000mAh on the 8-incher and a 5,870mAh on the 9.7-inch one. Here are the rest of their main specs, which are identical:
- 4G LTE
- Quad 1.9GHz + Quad 1.3GHz, Octacore application processor
- 3GB(RAM) + 32/64GB internal memory with a microSD it can be extended up to 128GB
- Android 5.0 (Lollipop)
- 8MP AF(rear), 2.1MP(front) camera
- Video – H.263, H.264(AVC), MPEG4, VC-1, WMV7, WMV8, VP8; recording: QHD(2560×1440)@30fps; playback: UHD(3840×2160)@30fps
- Audio – MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, Vorbis, FLAC
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac MIMO (2.4GHz/5GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth4.1 BLE, GPS, GLONASS
- Accelerometer, Finger Scanner, Gyroscope, Compass, Hall Sensor, RGB Sensor
The tablets feature a fingerprint reader, as well, which allows users to secure and unlock the device with just a touch of the home key. A metal frame is used in the build of the tablet but the back is once again soft plastic. Both devices will be available in either black or white color options.
The smaller LTE Tab S2 will also get an earpiece for voice calls, but it will most likely be removed from the US carrier-based models. Both sizes of the Tab S2 will be available globally this August, in Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi+LTE options, starting at a price of 399 euros ($432) for the Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 Wi-Fi model.
The overall tablet market isn’t doing so great, and while these products are some of the best Sammy has outed, they do come with a few drawbacks which should be pointed out. These are the lack of a rear-camera flash module, the decision to go with the Galaxy Note 4‘s Exynos 5433 processor instead of the new 7420 SoC from the Galaxy S6 and the use of a plastic back.