Back in Q4 2013, Samsung revealed that its plans were to pay a lot more attention to the tablet market in 2014. In addition, reports came in suggesting that, starting this year, the Korean tech giant will also focus much more heavily on AMOLED tablets. This came as exciting news for fans of the brand, as AMOLED hasn’t really been one of the most popular technologies among slates.
Fast forward to the present day and we have not one, but two AMOLED tablets standing by for an official announcement. For those of you who haven’t kept a close eye on the latest developments on the Android tablet scene, we’re referring to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S lineup. This new series is comprised of an 8.4-inch and a 10.5-inch tablet respectively and both devices promise roughly the same hardware specifications, all bundled up in two different packages.
With the Samsung Galaxy Tab S lineup’s official announcement imminent, both devices have been the subject of a high number of leaks and rumors during these past several weeks. Today we round up some of the most concrete pieces of information regarding the Galaxy Tab S tablets.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 – Rumor Roundup
As you’ve probably figured out already, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is the smaller tablet of the two. According to the information that has surfaced thus far, the Tab S 8.4 will be equipped with an 8.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1600 x 2560. Under the hood, the Tab S 8.4 will sport an octa-core Exynos 5420 processor comprised of an ARM Cortex-A7 and an ARM Cortex-A15 chipset. The CPU runs at a frequency of 1.9 GHz and is paired with an ARM Mali-T628 MP6 GPU and 3 GB of RAM. The tablet appears to feature 32 GB of on-board storage, but being a Samsung device, we expect the Tab S to offer possibilities of expanding via microSD.
Not long ago, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 has also been certified by Tenaa – or China’s official communications certification body – the Chinese equivalent of the FCC. This gave us an opportunity to learn more about the tablet’s dimensions, and it has also allowed us to take a look at the real Tab S 8.4 in live photos, as opposed to press renders. According to Tenaa, the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 will in fact be one of the thinnest tablets to ever hit the shelves, measuring 125.6 x 212.8 x 6.5 mm. This makes it only 0.1 mm thicker than the extremely thin Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S is expected to run on Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box, complemented by the latest TouchWiz “Magazine” user interface.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Rumor Roundup
Interestingly enough, the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is almost identical to the 8.4-inch model. As far as the hardware specifications go, the Tab S 10.5 will come with a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED display, featuring the same resolution as the Tab S 8.4′s – or 1600 x 2560. However, given the fact that this model has a larger display, Tab S 10.5′s screen panel is capable of cramming only 288 pixels per inch, as opposed to 359 ppi.
On the inside, the Tab S 10.5 will come with the same hardware configuration as the 8.4-inch model; this includes the octa-core Exynos 5420 CPU, the Mali-T628 MP6 graphics chip, 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, expandable by up to an additional 128 GB via microSD.
The Tab S 10.5 will also pack an 8 MP main camera, complemented by a 2.1 MP front-facing sensor. A handful of recently leaked press renders have also confirmed that the tablet’s camera will be mated with an LED flash.
In addition, the same batch of renders have also revealed that the Tab S 10.5 will also be extremely thin, as it will measure only 6.6 mm. The slate will borrow various design cues from the Samsung Galaxy S5, including the dimpled pattern on the back panel.
Lastly, the Tab S 10.5 will run on Android 4.4.2 KitKat, but most of the vanilla UI’s elements will be covered by the Magazine user interface, which will enhance the tablet’s functionality by offering features such as “Remote PC”.
Availability Rumors and the Galaxy Premiere Event
While a lot of digital ink has been spilled on account of the upcoming Galaxy Tab S line-up, there are still several questions that remain unanswered. Not all the specs have been revealed and Samsung has yet to reveal the tablets’ price tags and release date.
Nevertheless, both the Tab S 8.4 and 10.5 are going to be officially unveiled on June 12 during the Galaxy Premiere 2014 event, so we’re guessing that most of these questions will receive an answer soon. If the recent leaks and rumors are going to be proven correct, then both Tab S devices will be available for pre-purchase in the U.S. starting with June 13, after which prospective customers will have the opportunity to buy either one of these devices starting with June 27. Whether or not this will come to pass remains to be seen.
Would any of The Diplomat’s readers be interested in owning either one of these AMOLED tablets? Join us in the comments section and let us know which one of the two you’d rather buy, and why.
Vlad Andrici is editor for gforgames.com and writes about technology issues. Follow Vlad on Google Plus.