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"The Samsung Galaxy Tab S is so much like Apple's iPad, it's kinda scary. Samsung's flagship tablet is thin and light, has an extremely high-res screen, and it comes in two sizes. The Tab S is clearly meant to challenge Apple directly, with a large-size 10.5-inch tablet and a smaller version with an 8.4-inch screen.\nThe strategy here, while bold, is also the product's greatest weakness. The direct assault on the iPad invites direct comparisons to Apple's tablet, and they're often not favorable. Samsung may be able to match or even beat Apple on aspects of the hardware, but it's the overall experience that a customer buys \u2014 something Samsung has always struggled with.\nSee also: Samsung: Not Afraid of the iPad Anymore\nGreat hardware certainly helps, however, and Samsung certainly delivers with the Tab S. Both tablets are remarkably thin and light. The big one is 1.02 pounds, while the little guy is 0.65 pounds; the iPad Air and iPad mini are 1.03 and 0.72 pounds, respectively.\n\n\nSamsung Galaxy Tab S Review\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy S Comes to Tablets\nWith the Galaxy Tab S, Samsung brings its premium \"S\" brand to tablets. It comes in two sizes, 8.4 inches and 10.5 inches, and is meant to offer and Android equivalent of the iPad Air and iPad Mini With Retina Display.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCapital S\nThe 10.5-inch Samsung Tab S has a larger canvas than its 8.4-inch brother, but it has the same 2,560 x 1,600 resolution.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSmall S\nThe 8.4-inch Samsung Tab S has a different orientation than the larger model (note the placement of the home button).\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVersus iPad\nFrom left to right: The Galaxy Tab S 8.4, the Tab S 10.5, the iPad Air and the iPad mini.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLighter Than Air\nSamsung's answer to the iPad Air has a larger screen and is slightly lighter.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMini Challenge\nThe Galaxy Tab S 8.4 isn't as wide as the iPad mini, but the screen is slightly larger than the mini's 7.9-incher.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSuperAMOLED Display\nBoth Tab S models have an ultra-high-res Super AMOLED display. The colors tend to be richer than on an LCD, and contrast is better, too.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOptional Covers\nThe optional covers (which come in navy and dark gray) snap into place \u2014 a change from the typical magnetic covers. They're very classy looking and have a great texture.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFolding Case\nSamsung sells optional folding cases for the Galaxy Tab S, but unless origami's your thing, you should probably pass.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCase Position 2\nIf you're patient enough, you may be able to figure out how to fold the case into its three different positions.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLow Riding\nIn this position, the case is most conducive to typing.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMetallic Backside\nThe back of the Tab S is similar to the Galaxy S5, which feels metallic and has distinctive perforations.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBronze Finish\nBoth sizes of the Tab S come in \"bronze\" and white.\n\nImage: Mashable, Niki Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe metallic finish on the backside makes the tablets feel even more like the iPads (Samsung used to use plastic or faux-leather), although the dot pattern is a giveaway that they're not. Although Samsung's displays are technically larger, the overall difference isn't large because the aspect ratio is 16:10 instead of the iPad's 4:3.\nBoth the 10.5- and 8.4-inch versions of the Galaxy Tab S have the same internal components: a Samsung octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera. The screens have the same 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, too \u2014 really the only differences are the physical dimensions and battery size.\nPrices start at $399.99 for the small size and $499.99 for the larger size; that's for 16GB of storage. Yes, that's almost exactly what the iPad costs.\n\nTablet face-off: (left-right) Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4, Tab S 10.5, iPad Air, and iPad mini.Image:  Mashable,  Niki WalkerScreen dream\nThe high-res SuperAMOLED display of the Galaxy Tab S is gorgeous. Not only do photos and videos look crystal clear, but the color really pops. In side-by-side photo comparisons with the iPad, the Tab S won almost every time. Skin tones looked more natural and there was a greater range of contrast in most shots. Even something as simple as grass looked more alive on the Tab S.\nFor video, the Tab S wasn't quite as impressive. Comparing the same Edge of Tomorrow trailer on YouTube, I felt the iPad showed a slightly better picture, with details like lens flares and water droplets more defined, although the Tab S still looked very good.\nI turned to Google Play Movies for what I thought would be a high-quality video experience. However, while watching the lost-in-space opus Gravity, I noticed that, in some scenes where the background is just the blackness of space, big rectangular chunks of that blackness look decidedly gray.\nIf I didn't know better I would have thought the gray chunks were created by a challenged LCD backlight, but the Tab S uses AMOLED tech, where every pixel can be turned on or off. That means the problem was probably with the file or compression Google Play was providing, but it underscores an ongoing issue with Android: You can have the highest-quality hardware you want, but the ecosystem may not be set up to support it. The poor quality of the film might not be Samsung's fault, but that's lost on the customer.\nFor a better viewing experience, I checked out PaperGarden \u2014 Samsung's newsstand platform, which offers up a few Cond\u00E9 Nast titles like Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ. The photos and text look ultra-sharp on the Tab S display, and I really liked that the magazines allowed some interactivity; for example tapping on an article in the Table of Contents takes you to that page.\nUnfortunately, PaperGarden's got, uh, issues. It's difficult to navigate, for starters, with very little to guide you back to other titles once you select one. Downloading free samples requires credit-card info, which will be a non-starter for many people, and it's never entirely clear if you're giving that info to Samsung or Cond\u00E9 Nast, which will turn off even more. \nFinally, there just isn't much content. Six titles from one publisher is a start, but barely. Samsung may have gotten the reader right, but again, the experience of PaperGarden clearly wasn't given enough attention.\nPutting your finger on it\nThe Galaxy Tab S is the first tablet we've used that includes a fingerprint reader. It works pretty much the same as the one on the Galaxy S5, which is to say not that great. For every successful unlock, you'll probably see the words \"not recognized\" two or three times.\nBesides acting as a screen lock, Samsung also lets you pay with PayPal via fingerprint. That sounds like a great idea \u2014 it would have been nice to have it offered in, say, PaperGarden, but again, the experience is way behind the feature.\nSpeaking of the Galaxy S5, if you have one, you can use a special feature called SideSync to manage it from the Tab S. That way, if your phone is in another room, you can take calls, send texts and even run phone apps \u2014 all on the tablet.\nThe convenience of SideSync is obvious. Now, when you're kicking back on the couch, you can leave your phone charging somewhere else and you'll be able to still communicate as if it were in your hand. Apple will be introducing a similar feature when Continuity debuts in iOS 8 this fall.\nLagging behind\nSamsung offers a couple of different cases for each tablet. One is a simple cover and the other is more of a wraparound case; they're all a pleasantly textured leather material. They actually snap into place on each tablet via a couple of circular fasteners. While I thought I'd be bothered by the snap-on design now that I'm used to magnetic \"smart\" covers, I actually found it refreshing to have such a firmly held case.\nThe wraparound covers, however, are a total disaster. To hold the Tab S up at various angles, they fold in three different ways \u2014 none of them obvious or intuitive. There's actually a basic visual guide on how to fold the case on the case itself, and you'll need to refer to it every time.\n\nYou can buy a wraparound cover for the Galaxy Tab S, but to use it as a stand, you're going to need a degree in complex geometry.Image:  Mashable,  Niki WalkerWhere the Galaxy Tab S falls really short is, expectedly, in the overall experience. If you have an iPad, then you're used to a certain fluidity in everything you do. You tap on an app, and it opens quickly. If you swipe a photo, it moves with your fingertip. And while the Galaxy Tab S isn't a sloth, there were too many times when I tapped on an app, icon or menu setting and was left waiting for the device to do something.\nTap on a photo in the Flickr app, for example, and you could wait as long as 20 seconds before it appears in its full-res glory. And it wasn't just apps: The mere act of swiping to the next Home screen occasionally causes the tablet to stop and think for a second. I've seen this kind of lag on Android tablets before, but in 2014 we should be past it, and it's disappointing to see them in a supposedly \"flagship\" tablet.\nThat said, the lag is frustrating, but it's not quite a deal-breaker. The Tab S is still a pretty good tablet, almost solely because of the design. This is the sleekest, most high-res tablet Samsung has ever made, and everything from photos to books looks great on it. The overall experience is still a few notches down from what the iPad gives you, but at Android tablets go, the Galaxy Tab S won't disappoint\u2026 as long as you don't tap it too much.\n\nSamsung Galaxy Tab S\n\n\nThe Good\nBeautiful high-res screen \u2022 Incredibly thin and light \u2022 SideSync provides useful link for Galaxy phone owners\nThe Bad\nLaggy \u2022 Unreliable fingerprint reader \u2022 Poorly thought-out magazine app\nThe Bottom Line\nIt may have issues, but the Samsung Galaxy Tab S is still a great tablet, especially if you're already rocking a Galaxy S5.          \n\n\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/06/24/samsung-galaxy-tab-s-review/>