TechSmart 121, October 2013 TechSmart 132, September 2014 | Page 14

REVIEWS

KEEPING TABS: 3 New Tablets
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5
Armed with a stunningly sharp display, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S
10.5 brings to tablets what the S5 was missing in smartphones,
and offers a worthy contender to Apple’s iPad Air.

W

hen the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 landed on the TechSmart review
table, its dimpled plastic back cover brought back not so
fond memories of the South Korean manufacturer’s S5
flagship. The same, however, cannot be said of this 10” tablet, which
thoroughly impressed and could well prove to be one of the best
Android-powered tablets this year.

Crystal Clear
Apart from its dimpled plastic rear,
Samsung has favoured a fairly
simple and clean aesthetic, and,
more importantly, has produced
a device that evokes a certain
level of premium quality, in spite of
Samsung’s penchant for plastic.
Once a pleasing inspection of the
exterior is complete, powering up the
device will showcase one of the best
displays found on a 10” tablet.

THIS 10” TABLET
THOROUGHLY IMPRESSED
AND COULD WELL PROVE
TO BE ONE OF THE BEST
ANDROID POWERED
TABLETS THIS YEAR.

The Tab S 10.5 is fitted with a 10.5”
(2560x1600) Super Amoled display
that registers a rich and crisp 228 ppi
pixel density that’s basically on par
with the Sony Z2 Tablet’s 224 ppi, but
a bit off the iPad Air’s 264 ppi. One
could easily be forgiven for not noticing, as the Tab S offers all of the
brightness and sharpness any user would want.

Processing eight ways
Internally, the Tab S does not scrimp on things either, with Samsung
incorporating its own Exynos 5 Octa chipset, which pairs two quad-core
processors clocked at 1.9 GHz and 1.3 GHz respectively. This octacore setup is supported by 3 GB of RAM, as well as 16 GB or
32 GB internal memory options. As expected, this results in a fast and
responsive tablet that’s well suited to the multitasking rigours of work
and play alike while running Android 4.4.2 (KitKat).
Other notable features include a microSD slot, an 8 MP primary camera,
a Galaxy S5-esque fingerprint reader, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
4.0. It also caters for a micro-SIM, with compatibility for both 3G and
4G/LTE bands.

Premium pricing
Being a premium device and hailing from Samsung, the Tab S 10.5
naturally carries with it a premium price tag of R10 000 for the 16 GB
variant. Placed on a relative par