Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 review

The Galaxy Tab S2 is another premium tablet that houses the Exynos 64 bit octa core processor. Samsung claims that this is the slimmest and the lightest tablet in the world. In general this tablet comes packed with all of the features that you will find on a smartphone including the look and thickness.

Tab S2 Unboxing
Inside the box you will find the S2 tablet, user guide, warranty card, SIM tray ejector pin, data cable and travel charger (5V ~ 2A).

Design and Display
The key attraction is the design. The moment you hold the tablet it feels like you are holding a big phone. The tab is quite comfortable to hold, feels just right and perfect for reading – screen is with a 4:3 aspect ratio. It’s using a metal body that feels and looks great.

Weight with built-in battery is 381 grams and thickness is 5.68mm – that’s pretty slim for a tablet. The sides are slightly bent to give a comfortable grip. Power button and volume rocker are on the right side along with SIM slots. On the bottom there are dual vents (but there is only one speaker), micro USB port and 3.5mm audio jack.

This tablet comes with a single nano SIM slot with 4G support and a micro SD card slot.

The screen is 9.7 inches – it’s super AMOLED supporting QXGA i.e. 2048 x 1536 pixels resolution. Color reproduction, touch response and viewing angles are very good.

There is no LED notification, native video calling is supported and the Tab S2 is packed with accelerometer, magnetic, gyro, light, hall and proximity sensors.

Memory, Storage and OS
This Tab is loaded with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. On the first boot you will get around 1.8GB free RAM and 23GB free space. Apps will install on internal storage, you can move some apps to external storage. OTG is supported.

The Tab S2 is running 32Bit Android Lollipop 5.0.2 with Touch Wiz UI.

Performance
This tab is powered by Samsung Exynos 5433 1.9GHz Octa Core processor (big.LITTLE chipset), 20nm cortex A53 64Bit coupled with Mali T760 GPU. Overall performance is smooth and lag free. The maximum battery temperature I encountered was 40 degrees.

Benchmark

Gaming
Asphalt 8 game played really well (got installed on internal storage). Game was smooth, lag free and playable in high visual quality mode. The tab can play many high end games.

Camera
The Galaxy Tab S2 comes with 8MP AF camera on the rear and a 2.1MP FF camera on the front. There is no LED flash support. Camera quality is above average. The camera app is loaded with many modes including the Pro mode for manual controls.

Though the camera is really good, it does get a bit difficult using this big device to shoot images and videos. Do check the sample image and videos listed at the end of this review. Primary camera can shoot 1440p videos @ 30fps.

Others
You can use this tab to make and receive calls. You can either use the in-call speaker, Bluetooth or loudspeaker. Sound is loud and clear. No issues found with 4G, 3G, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth.

The home button doubles up as the finger print scanners. It’s touch ID based scanner, pretty fast and accurate detection.

Battery
This tab with a 9.7 inch screen houses a 5870 mAh non-removable battery. The battery gives decent backup – you can expect about 4 to 6 hours of continuous moderate to heavy usage on a full charge.

Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 is a premium tablet that is powered by a powerful 64 Bit octa core chipset. This tablet can play 4K videos with ease. The S2 is basically made for reading (there is reading mode settings in display) and for productive work  – since tab comes with 4:3 aspect ratio, however you can still use it for entertainment and gaming.

The tab looks really great, camera quality is above average and the super AMOLED screen is visually appealing. Tab S2 does come for a price of ₹39,400.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 is with voice calling is available for ₹39,400.

Image Gallery

Rear Camera Sample

Front Camera Sample

video review