Samsung introduced the new Galaxy Tab S2 series back in July and launched the Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 (SM-T815Y) with 4G support in India last month for Rs. 39,400. The Galaxy Tab S2 9.7, which is the successor of last year’s Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is slightly smaller in size, has more powerful processor and is even thinner. Is this the best high-end Android tablet in the market? Let us find out in the complete review.
Unboxing
We unboxed the Galaxy Tab S2 9.7, check out the unboxing video.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSGJE8E87B8
Box Contents
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 in Gold color
- 2-pin AC charger (5V-2A)
- Micro USB cable
- SIM ejector tool
- Quick start guide and Warranty information
Video Review
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCTJdacWBFA
Display, Hardware and Design
The first thing you notice in the new Tab S2 is the squarer display with 4:3 aspect ratio compared to the 16:9 aspect ratio in the Tab S 10.5. Now you can use the tablet in the portrait mode comfortably, especially for reading, but it’s not easy for watching videos since there are black bars on the top and the bottom. Even though it weighs 392 grams, compared to 467 gram Tab S 10.5, it is still not comfortable to hold for long period. There are huge bezels around the display, but it has a 72.7% screen-to-body ratio, which is decent.
The 9.7-inch Super AMOLED 4:3 QXGA display at a resolution of 2048 ×1536 pixels at a pixel density of 264 ppi is brilliant. Even though the pixel density of the tablet is less than both the Tab S 8.0 and Tab S 10.5, you don’t notice any pixelation in the display. It has more than 94% Adobe RGB color coverage, hence the colors are vibrant. Last year’s Tab S series have 90% Adobe RGB color coverage. It also has high contrast, offering much deeper blacks compared to standard LCD screens. Since it has Adaptive Display technology, it automatically adjusts the gamma, saturation, and sharpness according to the application and the environment. The viewing angles are brilliant too, but the screen is a bit reflective and attracts fingerprints easily. Most apps such as Gallery, Camera, Browser and Video support adaptive display, but you can disable it from the display settings and choose other screen modes such as AMOLED cinema, AMOLED photo, Basic and Reading mode.
There is a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture. It can record videos at 1080p full HD resolution and is decent for video chats in bright conditions, but the low-light performance is not good. It also has ambient light sensor next to the camera.
There is Samsung’s signature home button below the display along with menu and back buttons on either sides that are backlit. These touch buttons also offer haptic feedback when pressed. The home button has a fingerprint sensor for secure biometric screen locking feature. The next-generation fingerprint sensor has been improved a lot compared to the first one, but it still can’t detect your finger when the tablet is in sleep.
The tablet has a metal frame in golden color and is just 5.6mm thick, 1mm thinner than the predecessor. It is currently the thinnest tablet, beating both the iPad Air 2 and the Dell Venue 8 7000 tablets. The power button and the volume rockers are present on the right side. There is also a small microphone hole along with nano SIM and microSD trays. You need to use the bundled tool to remove the trays. Since there is a microphone hole next to SIM and microSD trays, you have to be careful not to poke a hole in the microphone.
Last year’s Tab S had plastic flaps to cover the SIM or microSD slots, but the metal trays for these slots look more elegant and premium. It can accept microSD cards up to 128GB.
The micro USB port, 3.5mm audio jack and two loudspeaker grills are present on the bottom.
Even though it has a metal frame, the back is still plastic, similar to the Tab S, but this doesn’t look cheap. We have the Gold color, but the tablet also comes in Black and White colors. There is a small chrome rim around the camera that prevents the camera from scratches. It has two small bushes on the back that lets you attach a case or the keyboard accessory.
Camera
The 8-megapixel auto-focus rear camera with f/1.9 aperture is good. It would obviously look awkward to hold such a huge tablet to capture images or record a video, but when you don’t have your smartphone, this comes in handy since this captures good images compared to most budget smartphones or tablets. Daylight images were good with vibrant color output. Macro shots look brilliant with bokeh effect, thanks to the f/1.9 aperture. HDR images came out good too, but low-light images were just average since the tablet doesn’t have LED flash like the first Tab S series.
It has different modes (Auto, Pro, Panorama, Virtual shot, HDR, Shot & more and Dual Camera) but you can download more modes for free from the built-in store option. It also has several effects, timer and some features inside the settings such as video stabilization, location tags, grid lines and more. It can record videos at QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution, but doesn’t support 4K recording. The video is good and audio is crisp. Check out some camera samples (Click the image for the full resolution sample)
Software
Coming to the software, the Galaxy Tab S2 runs on Android 5.0.2 (Lollipop) with Samsung’s own UI top. Samsung has not announced when the tablet would get the Android 5.1 or Android 6.0 update. The UI has a customizable user interface (UI) with the drop-down notification bar that has quick toggles, S Finder, Quick Connect shortcuts, Brightness adjustment slider and a volume control slider. As usual, you have lockscreen shortcuts to launch dialer or camera quickly, enable lockscreen displays weather and dual clock.
The multi window feature is similar to other Samsung tablets and smartphones. It lets you run two apps side by side. You can also switch between applications and switch windows. You can launch multi window by pressing and holding the recent apps or multitasking button when you are inside an app. It is smooth and doesn’t have any lags. It has couple of motion or gesture features that lets you mute calls, alarm or media by covering the screen with your hand and also swipe your palm across the screen, from side to side to capture a screenshot. It has Multi-user mode and the Kids mode.
Out of 3GB of RAM, you get 2.78GB of usable RAM, out of which about 1.8GB of RAM is free when the default apps are running in the background. Out of 32GB of internal storage, about 25.1GB of storage is usable.
You can also move apps to the SD card when you insert one.
Apps
Apart from the usual set of Google apps and utility apps, it has Microsoft Apps that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Skype and OneDrive. It comes with 100GB of additional OneDrive storage for two years for free. It also comes with Galaxy Gifts worth Rs. 31,000 that includes access to premium apps from News, Entertainment, Productivity, and more for a limited period. It has Smart Manager app that lets you manage your device’s battery life, storage, RAM usage, and security all in one place. The SideSync 3.0 lets you mirror your smartphone to the tablet using WiFi Direct, but it works only with some high-end Samsung phones.
Music and Video Player
The music player can play a range of audio formats. It has Sound Alive equalizer and also has SoundAlive+ and Tube Amp sound effects that can be enabled from the settings. This improves the audio when listening through earphones. Audio output through the stereo speakers and third-party headset is good. It can also play a range of video formats at full HD 1080p resolution smoothly, but the stock player doesn’t play 4K videos. It also has Pop up video player that lets you play the video in a small dockable player.
Connectivity
The Galaxy Tab S2 supports 4G LTE connectivity with support for TD-LTE 2300MHz (Band 40) and FDD-LTE 1800MHz (Band 3) for India, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz) MIMO with Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA to share media with other DNLA-capable devices nearby, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS / GLONASS and even has MHL 2.2, but lacks a standard mini HDMI slot. It also has USB one-the-go (OTG) support.
The Quick Connect feature on the Galaxy Tab S2 lets you connect to TVs on the same Wi-Fi network to mirror the tablet’s display on to your TV. The TV-to-Tab feature lets you stream content directly from your TV to the Galaxy Tab S2, but it works only with Samsung TV from 2014 or later, in the 8000 series or higher.
It has support for voice calling and text messages. Since there is no earpiece, you need to use the speaker, wired headset or a Bluetooth headset for voice calls. We did not face any issues with voice calls or any call drops.
Performance and Benchmarks
It is powered by Exynos 5433 Octa ( 4 x A57 1.9 GHz ＋ 4 x A53 1.3 GHz) processor, which is better than the Exynos 5420 Octa SoC in last year’s Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and Tab S 8.4 tablets, but it’s still not the fastest Exynos processor compared to the new Exynos 7420 SoC used in the new Galaxy S6 series and the Galaxy Note5. We did not experience any lags and the performance was smooth. Thanks to 3GB of RAM, multi-tasking is smooth as well. It doesn’t get heated even during intensive gaming or 4G usage. Check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
It scored 52562 points and grabs the second spot, behind the iPad Air 2 in the AnTuTu Benchmark 5.
Geekbench 3 Multi-Core
It scored 4364 points and topped the Geekbench 3 Multi-Core benchmark.
GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan (On screen)
It managed to clock 12 fps in the GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan OnScreen benchmark.
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited
It scored 19694 points in the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited and grabs the third spot behind the iPad Air. Check out the complete set of Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 benchmarks here.
The ARM Mail T760 GPU offers smooth gaming performance and the graphics is good too in most high-end games. It also supports PS3 controllers using USB OTG cable. It scored 4/5 in our gaming review, check out the video below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmGsr_jUReY
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the tablet packs a 5,870mAh battery, slightly smaller than Tab S 10.5’s 7900mAh battery. Reduction in the battery size reduces the battery life as well. Compared to the Tab S 10.5 that offered all day battery life, the Tab S2 9.7 doesn’t last for a whole day even with average use such as 4G data usage, few calls, some reading and some gaming. It achieved a One Charge Rating of 14 hours and 18 minutes, mainly due to brilliant talk time.
The power saving mode restricts background data and performance to extend the battery life. The Ultra power saving mode lets you use limited the number of apps and has a greyscale theme to conserve even more battery. This also shows the approximate standby time of the device.
Conclusion
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 is one of the best compact and sleek tablets in the market. The display is just brilliant even though the pixel density is slightly less compared to last year’s Tab S 10.5 and the build quality has also been improved in the Tab S2. At a price tag of Rs. 39,400, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 offers 4G support with voice calling, and a brilliant screen packed into a sleek and lightweight body. Battery life is the only part where it falls short. To summarize, here are the pros and cons of the tablet.
Pros
- Brilliant display
- Incredibly thin and very light
- 4G support with voice calling
- Good performance
Cons
- Average battery life