Samsung Tab S - impressions

outside in shade
Sometimes I really hate being a gadget hound. I just bought the TabPRO 4 months ago and here is the Tab S. There really has only been one thing I've missed with my tablets an that is the brilliance of the AMOLED screen. By now if you're interested in the tablet you've read the reviews, this is more of how it works in the real world for me.

It's amazing what a difference 4 months can make in Samsung products. The Tab S is smaller and noticeably lighter than the Tab PRO with the same high resolution display. When you compare the size with the TabPRO you can see the top and bottom bezels are much smaller.  The faux leather is grippier than the perforated pattern on the Tab S but the metal trim is angled for a comfortable grip.
The camera is centered again. Some interesting design changes include the headphone jack and the micro USB being at the bottom (by the button). No more charging and listening on head phones. A welcome change is the speaker placement. Instead of being on the bottom they are at the top and bottom so the sound is not all from one side when playing games. It also doesn’t get as warm on the back when using the tablet continuously; the PRO can feel quite warm.

Hard to capture how viewable it is
 A driving force for my upgrade (yes there was one) is the improved outside readability of the tablet. I found it quite frustrating reading on the beach so that was one of my first tests. July 4th was beautiful so I took it outside to read on the deck. With both tablets I have to have the backlighting on 100% but with the TabPRO it was still a strain to read. The Tab S was much easier to read – enjoyable even.

In the comparison video the Tab S seems a little slower to respond than the Tab PRO; it is a slightly different version of TouchWiz. I was using my slow hand to tap on the S and I have more apps installed, including Mighty Text which doesn’t seem to be working well on the S. Because of the screen size and resolution, games made for phones (like threes) really look grainy.

Let us know how your experience with the Tab S is.

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