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Samsung
Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 Review: A New Android Champion
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REVIEW
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SPECS
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SHOP
Editor's Rating
In This Review
Overview
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PROS
·
Beautiful, high
resolution display
·
Outstanding
performance
·
32GB of storage and 3GB of RM
·
Biometric
security
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CONS
·
Weak
side-by-side multitasking
·
Silkscreened buttons too easy to hit
accidentally
·
Battery life
less than average
QUICK TAKE
A beautiful display and powerful processor help make the Samsung Galaxy Tab
S2 9.7 the best Android tablet on the market today.
Samsung’s new flagship tablet is the Galaxy Tab S2 9.7, a redesigned and
updated version of last year’s popular Galaxy Tab S 10.5. Like its predecessor, this Android model has
an AMOLED screen, but it boasts a much faster processor, a slimmer shape, and
biometric security.
The Tab S2 9.7 with WiFi and
32GB of storage is available as of this writing for $499.99.
Build
and Design
Samsung went for extra slim
and light when it was designing this tablet, pushing it down to just 0.22
inches (5.6mm) thick and 0.8 pounds (390g). The result that the Galaxy S2 9.7
feels like a premium product, and one that’s comfortable to hold. It isn’t as
solid as it could be though, flexing slightly when twisted.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 in
White
The bezels on either side of
the screen aren’t overly wide, but neither are they particularly thin,
resulting in a device that’s 9.3 x 6.7 inches (237 x 169 mm).
The trim around the outside is
metal, but the back is plastic. The front is, of course, all glass. The overall
look is quite professional.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7
sports an Active Matrix Organic LED (AMOLED) screen, a display type that’s
superior to the more typical and less expensive LCD (often referred to as LED
on spec sheets). Each pixel in displays of this type glows on its own, so no
backlight is necessary, and screens can be easily used outdoors, even in direct
sunlight. Colors are extremely vivid, and blacks are very black.
Screen resolution is 2048 x 1536 pixels, giving it a pixel density of about
264 ppi, which is fairly high. The rival iPad Air 2 has the same pixel density, but the HTC Nexus 9’s is 288. The Microsoft
Surface 3 has a 213 ppi pixel density.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 in
Black
One of the major changes
between this model and last year’s Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is the size of the screen;
the latest version has a 9.7-inch display, down from the 10.5-inch one in its
predecessor.
This was part of changing the aspect ratio from 16:10 to 4:3, which
means that the display is squarer. Samsung has embraced the 4:3 aspect ratio of
late, also using it on the Galaxy Tab A 9.7 from this spring.
The smaller screen is a mixed blessing. A squarer screen is easier to read
on, and by making this change this tablet is easier to hold in portrait mode.
It also makes it more suitable for productivity tasks like spreadsheet work, as
Microsoft demonstrated with the Surface Pro 3. On the other hand, watching video on 16:10
display is a superior experience because it matches the ratio of many TVs, and
the decrease in size also came with a slight decrease in pixel density, down
from 288 ppi.
Taking all factors into
account, the Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 has the best looking screen of any tablet on the
currently on market thanks to its AMOLED technology. It’s most serious rival is
its immediate predecessor, although the iPad Air 2 gives it some competition.
Buttons, Ports, and Speakers
Like Apple’s recent tablets,
Samsung built a biometric fingerprint scanner into the Home button on its new
flagship model. This can be tremendously convenient, even if it’s only used to
unlock the device without having to type in a password, but it can also be used
to take the place of passwords in websites. In our tests, the scanner worked
very well, always recognizing the finger it had been trained for and giving no
false positives. A typed password can be used as a backup.
As mentioned, there is a
physical Home button, with the Recent Apps and Back buttons silkscreened on
either side. On many Android models these are virtual buttons, appearing only
onscreen. Having a physical Home button is often convenient, but the other two
are too easy to accidentally press.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 Left
and Right Sides
The Power button and volume
rocker are located on the right side. Samsung put the microSD card slot just
below them, and it protects cards from being accidentally ejected by requiring
a paperclip or pin.
A pair of speakers can be
found on the bottom edge of this tablet, one on either side of the microUSB
charge and data port. These are capable of producing quite a lot of volume, to
the point of crackling. Reducing the volume results in decent quality sound,
however.
Samsung has a set of
proprietary connectors on the back of its tablets designed to
allow cases to attach securely.
Editor's Rating
In This Review
The Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 is powered by a Samsung
Exynos 5433 octa-core processor. This includes one set of four cores running at
1.9 GHz for when performance is needed, and a second set at 1.3 GHz for battery
saving.
The device includes 3GB of RAM, a fairly generous amount, and the same as
its predecessor, the Galaxy Tab S 10.5. The $499.99 version of this model comes with
32GB of built-in storage, which is twice as much as some similarly priced
rivals. This storage can be increased with microSD cards.
Samsung’s new flagship tablet boasts impressive performance, and it’s up to
the job of handling just about anything it’s asked to do. On the Geekbench 3 benchmarking
test, the Tab S2 9.7 pulled in a score of 4400. It was moderately outscored by
the Apple iPad Air 2 which has a 4520 score, but solidly beat
the Tab S 10.5’s 2760 score.
Software
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7
The Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 runs
Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, the latest version of Google’s operating system for
tablets and phones. A new version, Android 6.0 Marshmallow is expected soon,
and it’s quite possible Samsung will eventually release an upgrade, but the
company has not yet said anything about this.
Samsung believes in modifying
the basic Android user interface in ways large and small. It gives the icons
for homescreen folders rounded edges, and reduces the number of pull-down
windows at the top of the screen from two to one, which many would consider a
positive change.
Android OS itself doesn’t
offer split-screen multitasking, but Samsung has added support for running two
applications side by side. The limitation is that because this isn’t a
standard feature of Android there are only a handful of apps that support
Samsung’s Split View. For example, one of the most useful combinations would be
Google Chrome with Microsoft Word, but neither of these applications support
this feature.
There are other nice touches,
like items played in the Video Player app have a pop-up mode that puts the
video in a movable and resizable window that floats above any other running software.
Business & Productivity
Samsung has made a real push
for the enterprise market in recent years, particularly with KNOX, its security
and mobile device management suite, and productivity-focused devices like the
Galaxy Note5. While the Tab S2 is no Galaxy Tab Active, it does feature some
some business chops.
Our review unit came preloaded with various enterprise CRM apps like
SalesForceOne, Docusign for SalesForce and Introhive, in addition to
collaboration apps like Cisco Jabber, Cisco Webex, Citrix GoToMeeting, Vidyo,
and Accelion Kiteworks. Citrix Receiver also came preinstalled for desktop
virtualization, but for those not concerned with the IT side of things, Samsung
SideSync provides a more relevant virtualziation feature for moving
content to and from the Tab S2 to a PC or Mac. We had some nice things to say
about it in the Galaxy Note5 review.
Those apps won’t be preloaded
on store-bought devices, and typical users looking to use the S2 for work will
appreciate the 4:3 screen ratio, preloaded Google and Microsoft Office
apps, and the fingerprint security. Android is also very productivity friendly,
and supports USB keyboards and mice. Galaxy Tab S2 owners will need a
micro-to-full USB adapter to take advantage of this, or will have to turn to
one of Samsung’s numerous wireless accessories. Alas, the Galaxy Tab S2 9.7
does not support the S Pen.
Of course, for any business
device to succeed, potential users will have to want to use it. That’s what’s
helped the iPad become such a success in the business world. To that end, the
Tab S2 9.7 is sleek and powerful enough to stave off any iPad envy.
Camera
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 in
Gold
The Samsung Galaxy S2 9.7
includes an 8 megapixel rear camera, which does a decent job of taking
non-demanding pictures. It doesn’t deal well with moving objects, and there’s
no flash so it’s not likely to become anyone’s only camera, however. The
software for controlling it is the standard Android app.
There’s also a 2.1 MP front
camera that is more than good enough for video conferencing.
Battery Life
This tablet has a 5,870mAh
battery, and Samsung makes no claims about how long it will go between charges.
This might be because the battery life could be better: on the Geekbench 3
benchmark, this device went for 6 hours and 12 minutes, which is substantially
below rivals like the iPad Air 2, which scored 8:42 on the same test.
That said, the Samsung device
was able to last two days of moderate to heavy use on a single charge in our
real world tests.
The Samsung Galaxy S2 9.7 offers a beautiful
display, outstanding performance, a generous amount of storage, and biometric
security, a combination that makes this the best Android tablet on the market
today.
In features it stands up well against the Apple iPad Air 2 and Microsoft Surface 3, although both of those have strong support for
side-by-side multitasking, which Samsung’s offering does not. In addition, the
Tab S2’s battery life is marginal.
Value
The iPad Air 2 16GB WiFi-only
is $499, and the Surface 3 64GB WiFi-only is the same, so the Galaxy Tab S2 9.7
32GB WiFi-only at $499.99 is comparably priced with its top rivals.
There are more affordable alternatives like the Samsung Galaxy Tab A
9.7, which goes for $299.99, but
that model’s screen has a much lower resolution and its processor is far
slower. There is also the smaller Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0, which as similar
specs, and is $399.99.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 in
Gold
Pros:
·
Beautiful, high
resolution display
·
Outstanding
performance
·
32GB of storage and 3GB of RM
·
Biometric
security
Cons:
·
Weak
side-by-side multitasking
·
Silkscreened buttons too easy to hit
accidentally
·
Battery life
less than average
Bottom Line:
A beautiful display and
powerful processor help make the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 the best Android
tablet on the market today.
Specs
Processor: Samsung Exynos 5433 octa-core
Display: 9.7 inch Super AMOLED
at 2048 x 1536 pixels resolution, 4:3 aspect ratio
Operating system: Android
5.1.1
RAM: 3GB
Wireless connectivity: 802.11
a/b/g/n/ac WiFi, MIMO, Bluetooth 4.1 BLE, NFC
Storage: 32GB internal with
microSD expansion card support
Cameras: Rear 8 megapixel and
2.1 megapixel front facing camera
Battery: 5,870 mAh battery
Dimensions: 237.3 x 169 x 5.6
mm and 392 grams
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