Tablet samsung tab 5 korea with keyboard

Tablet Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Wi-Fi a powerful new product in an elegant, thin 6.6 mm case with a large 10.5-inch Super AMOLED screen. With high contrast that is 100 times higher than conventional LCD screens in other tablets, you can watch videos, read books, work with applications and play games more comfortably. Main characteristics of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.5: powerful 8-core processor, Android operating system, 3 GB of RAM, powerful battery capacity 7900 mAh, main 8 MP camera, 16 GB of internal memory. Since the tablet already has important Android applications and other programs installed, about 11 GB of 16 GB will be available to the user, it is possible to expand it using MicroSD memory cards up to 128 GB. Powerful features and high performance, Galaxy Tab S 10.5 allows you to use multi-window mode on your tablet, now you can open multiple applications on the device and work with them at the same time, you can watch videos and at the same time browse the Internet, email, etc. Reliable data protection on the device is provided by a fingerprint scanner for unlocking Samsung Galaxy Tab S Swipe your fingertips across the locked screen and the device will quickly identify the owner and provide access to all functions of the tablet. Tablet users have the opportunity to edit documents on their laptop or PC remotely via the Internet; Windows and MacOS are supported. Wanted to buy a tablet so you could run the latest Android games and applications? For this price, you get a powerful Android tablet with a large RAM that can handle any task, you can download and open the latest applications and games on a large, clear screen.

• More detailed characteristics and reviews for Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Wi-Fi, see below.
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Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Wi-Fi specifications. Samsung Tab S tablet features.

• SIM card: no, Wi-Fi only
• Operating system: Android
• Processor: 8-core 1.9 GHz and 1.3 GHz
• Display: 10.5 inches / Super AMOLED / QXGA 2560 x 1600 pixels
• Main camera: 8 MP
• Front camera: 2.1 MP
• Video recording: QHD 2560 x 1440 pixels at 30 fps
• Battery: 7900 mAh / standard / non-removable
• Internet browsing time via Wi-Fi networks: up to 9 hours
• Operating time on the Internet in a cellular network:
• Video playback time: up to 12 hours
• Audio playback time: up to 139 hours
• RAM: 3 GB
• Built-in memory: 16 GB / 10.98 GB available to user
• Memory card: MicroSD up to 128 GB
• 4G LTE:
• Wi-Fi: yes
• Wi-Fi Direct: yes
• Bluetooth: 4.0
• USB: 2.0
• Synchronization with PC: KIES
• Audio Jack: 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
• Sensors: accelerometer / gyroscope / light / hall / geomagnetic
• Fingerprint scanner: yes
• Navigation: GPS/GLONASS/Beidou
• Apps and Games Support: Android
• Color: dazzling white
• Size: (W.H.T.) 177.3 mm x 247.3 mm x 6.6 mm
• Weight: 465 g

We recently got acquainted with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 tablet. Now it's time to talk about its “bigger friend” - Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. Like Tab 8.4, it was introduced in Russia on July 1, and sales began on July 11. In the report from the presentation, we told you the basic facts about both models, their positioning and the features announced by Samsung. Now let's look at the test results and give our verdict on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5.

First, let's remember the technical characteristics of the new product.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5

• SoC Exynos 5 Octa 5420 (4 Cortex-A15 @1.9 GHz and 4 Cortex-A7 @1.3 GHz)
• GPU Mali-T628 MP6
• RAM 3 GB
• Flash memory 16 GB
• Operating system Android 4.4.2 (KitKat)
• Touch display on SuperAMOLED matrix, 10.5″, 2560×1600 (287 ppi), capacitive, multi-touch
• Cameras: front (2.1 MP, 1080p video transmission) and rear (8 MP, 1080p video recording)
• Wi-Fi MIMO 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)
• MicroSD memory card support (up to 128 GB)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 3.5 mm headphone and microphone jack, Micro-USB with OTG and MHL support
• Lithium polymer battery 7900 mAh
• Accelerometer
• GPS (with A-GPS support) / Glonass / Beidou
• Gyroscope
• Compass
• Fingerprint scanner
• Dimensions 247×177×6.6 mm
• Weight 467 g

Now let's compare the characteristics of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 with its main competitors - top-end tablets with a similar screen diagonal. In principle, the set of models for comparison is obvious: these are the iPad Air, Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet and Asus Transformer Pad Infinity (2013).

*according to manufacturer information
** for the version with a minimum of flash memory and communication capabilities

The picture that emerges is curious: in some details the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 wins, but in others it loses. Despite the fact that in general the set of characteristics is very strong. Let's say that in terms of thickness, the Samsung tablet fell just short of the Sony record holder (although in practice the difference of two tenths of a millimeter is unlikely to be noticeable). And in terms of the number of connectors and slots, the Asus model comes out ahead. It has an advantage both in terms of built-in memory and battery capacity. According to the same parameters, Samsung is inferior to Apple's product. In turn, Samsung has more advanced Wi-Fi characteristics than Asus and has a version with LTE (not available in the case of Asus), and in comparison with the iPad Air, the trump cards of the South Korean device are the amount of RAM and thickness.

Finally, the price: this is the weakest point of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. So, in a popular chain of household appliance stores, you can buy an Asus tablet for 8,000 rubles cheaper than a Samsung tablet, despite the fact that Asus will have 32 GB of internal memory, and Samsung will have only 16 GB. Price comparison with Apple is also not in favor of Samsung, although the difference here is not so great.

Overall, Samsung clearly thinks its tablet is the best, pricing it higher than all its major competitors. And our task is to figure out whether it really is so!

Design

The tablet arrived to us without packaging, so we skip the packaging section and go straight to the design. As was already noted in the report and in the review of the Galaxy Tab S 8.4, the general appearance of both tablets is clearly inspired by the style of the Galaxy S5 - the same texture of the rear surface, the same controls.

The main difference between the design of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is the horizontal orientation. The bottom row of buttons, as well as the Samsung branding and the front camera are located along the long sides, whereas on the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 they were placed along the short sides.

At the same time, the placement of the stereo speakers has not changed: they are located on the edges on the short sides. The decision is quite logical, since on both the Tab S 8.4 and the Tab S 10.5, users will watch videos by placing the tablet horizontally.

The edges are made of golden plastic (in both the light and dark versions of the tablet). In addition to the speakers on the side edges of the tablet, we see a slot for a microSD memory card, a Micro-USB connector (supports connecting external drives via the OTG interface) and a 3.5 mm jack for connecting a headset.

The bottom edge of the tablet is free of any connectors, and on the top we see thin power and volume buttons (they are pressed quite firmly, but almost silently), as well as an infrared port.

On the back of the tablet, a camera with a flash, the Samsung inscription, and two special connectors for accessories (covers and keyboards) catch the eye. To be honest, they spoil the look a little and are annoying with their presence (after all, you don’t necessarily want to buy accessories). But nothing can be done.

The general impressions of the design are the same as in the case of the younger version: there are not enough stars from the sky, but it meets all the basic functional requirements. This is clearly not the most beautiful tablet that we have seen, but it is light (even lighter than the iPad Air, although the difference is symbolic, “for show”), thin, non-marking (no fingerprints or small scratches are visible on the back surface at all) . Also among the undoubted advantages is the presence and proper placement of stereo speakers. And the downside is the lack of water resistance, which you inevitably expect after the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet.

Screen

As with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4, the Galaxy Tab S 10.5's main selling point is its SuperAMOLED screen with a resolution of 2560x1600. Since the diagonal is larger here and the resolution is the same, the pixel density is slightly lower. However, the display of the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 used PenTile technology, which “saves” red and blue subpixels. Therefore, the actual pixel density of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is not even lower, but higher. Although, as you know, this is far from the only important characteristic of the screen. We have conducted detailed display testing!

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are somewhat worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the right - Nexus 7, on the left - Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is noticeably lighter (photo brightness 103 versus 76 for the Nexus 7) and has a pronounced blue-green tint. This brightness and color are due to the fact that the reflection from bright objects in the screen of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 has a blue-green halo, mainly elongated horizontally and vertically (in the form of a cross), which is why in the light the black areas are slightly highlighted and acquire a characteristic shade. However, the brightness of reflected point sources is still lower than that of the Nexus 7 screen. The ghosting of reflected objects in the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass-air type) with very different refractive indices, screens without an air gap look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, noticeably better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

It can be seen that at maximum and close to it brightness there is no significant modulation (the amplitude is small - there is no flickering), but as the brightness decreases, the modulation amplitude increases and the fill factor decreases. Therefore, for example, up to a brightness of 70% (according to the adjustment slider), inclusive, there is no flickering of the image, but at 60% and below it can already be seen in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue.

This tablet uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red, green and blue in equal numbers. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

In the fragment above you can count 4 subpixels of all three colors, and by repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without tears or overlap. In the fragment below 1 mm, you can count 12 subpixels of three colors, which gives a pixel density of approximately 300 ppi; taking into account the error, this corresponds to the claimed 287 ppi:

The screen is characterized by excellent viewing angles, although white color acquires a slight blue-green tint when deviated at large angles, but black color is simply black at any angle. So black that the contrast parameter is simply not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is excellent. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and the second comparison participant, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K.

Note the excellent uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture (in mode Basic):

Color rendition is clearly not bad, but despite all the conventions of judging colors from photographs, it is clear that the colors of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 are a little unnatural (for example, skin tones lack yellow). Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen. White field:

The brightness at an angle for both screens decreased noticeably (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed was increased by about 2.7 times compared to the previous two photos), but in the case of Samsung the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the screen of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device from a slight angle. And a test picture:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of the Samsung at an angle is noticeably higher. Switching the state of the matrix elements is performed almost instantly, but at the front of switching on (and less often, switching off) there may be a step (or two) with a width of 16.7 ms (which corresponds to a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to a shade of gray of 75% (based on the numerical value of the color):

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing moving objects, but in normal use these artifacts are difficult to see. Quite the contrary - dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.

The ability to customize color rendering is implemented on the page with a selection of profiles, one of which involves some kind of automatic adjustment (profile Adaptive display- where it works, see description next):

It is promised to adjust not only brightness, but also color rendition depending on environmental conditions. In case one of three profiles is selected, except the profile Movie AMOLED, constructed from 32 points with equal intervals according to the numerical value of the shade of gray, the gamma curve did not reveal any blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is 2.29-2.30, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2 , while the real gamma curve practically does not deviate from the power-law dependence:

For profile Movie AMOLED The gamma curve has a slightly pronounced S-shape, which increases the apparent contrast of the image, but the distinguishability of shades in the shadows remains:

Let us recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images and increases for dark ones. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) most likely slightly does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. This image dynamism increases when you select the option Auto tuning screen brightness.

Color gamut in the case of three profiles, except for the profile Basic, is very wide and almost covers the Adobe RGB gamut:

But at the same time, it differs significantly from Adobe RGB, so the statement that the coverage of AMOLED screens is equal to Adobe RGB is not true. When selecting a profile Basic The coverage is tightened to the sRGB boundaries, but still remains a little wider:

Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:

In case of profile Basic with maximum correction, the color components are already slightly mixed together:

Note that on screens with a wide color gamut, without appropriate correction, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. This can be seen in the photo below (profile Photo AMOLED):

A visual assessment showed that when choosing a profile Basic the saturation is noticeably reduced, and the colors are closer to natural (see photo above). Unfortunately, the most recognizable shades - skin, for example - still remain slightly unnatural.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is not ideal, but, in general, acceptable. Color temperature in profiles Adaptive display And Movie AMOLED significantly higher than 6500 K, in the remaining two - close to 6500 K, while in a significant portion of the gray scale this parameter does not change very much. The deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) over most of the gray scale remains below 10 units, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, and also does not change much:

(The darkest areas of the gray scale can in most cases be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize. The screen does not have a very high maximum brightness, and the generally good anti-glare properties are slightly spoiled by the cross-shaped halo, however, the tablet can be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day, if possible avoiding the reflection of the sun on the screen and cross-shaped illumination from it. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is acceptable, but in bright light you even need to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works more or less adequately. The advantages of the screen include a very good oleophobic coating and a color balance close to standard (if you select the appropriate profiles). At the same time, let us recall the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected in the screen), excellent uniformity of the white field, less than LCD, decrease in image brightness when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include screen brightness modulation, which appears at medium and low brightness values. For users who are particularly sensitive to flicker, this may cause increased fatigue. However, overall the screen quality is very high.

Operating system and software

The tablet comes with Google Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) operating system, on top of which Samsung's skin known as Magazine UX is installed.

There are no differences from the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 here. The software package is also similar. So we won’t dwell on this and recommend that you look at the article about the Galaxy Tab S 8.4, as well as the presentation of both tablets.

Platform and performance

Like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, the tablet runs on the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa (5420) SoC, which includes eight processor cores, four of which are Cortex-A15 with a frequency of 1.9 GHz, and four more - Cortex-A7 with a frequency of 1. 3 GHz. The GPU is Mali-T628 MP6. We emphasize that absolutely all variants of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (both with and without LTE, both Russian and foreign) run on Exynos 5 Octa. There are no options with Qualcomm (contrary to some press reports). It’s just that in versions with LTE, a separate module that is not integrated into the SoC is responsible for cellular communications and mobile Internet.

We tested a version without LTE, so we were not able to test telephone service and Internet connection speed. But we tested this in Galaxy Tab S 8.4, and there we had no complaints about these parameters. There shouldn't be any differences with the Galaxy Tab S 10.5.

Now let's see how the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 performs in performance tests. Let's start with browser benchmarks: SunSpider 1.0, Octane Benchmark and Kraken Benchmark. In all cases we used the Google Chrome browser, except for the iPad, which used Safari.

An interesting result: although the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 runs on the same SoC as the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, the result of the new product is noticeably better, and the difference is large for the margin of error. So, most likely, the issue is a newer version of the OS and firmware (we tested the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition tablet last year using Android 4.3 and the original firmware). As for comparison with competitor tablets, the situation here is not so optimistic for the Galaxy Tab S 10.5: it loses to the iPad and is slightly inferior to the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 2013, although it slightly outperforms the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (this the result, however, can be attributed to both the OS version and the error, since the difference is very small).

The next one in our program will be the Android test - MobileXPRT 2013. Its peculiarity is that it simulates real user actions (applying filters to photos, scrolling Internet pages, creating slideshows), so its results directly indicate how smoothly the tablet works in daily operations.

And here the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 was second only to the Asus tablet on Nvidia Tegra 4. And the Sony tablet was again left behind, as was the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition.

Let's move on to the comprehensive Android benchmark AnTuTu Benchmark 4.

And here the new product unexpectedly takes the lead, leaving behind all its competitors, including its own predecessor from the Note line.

Now let's move on to another multi-platform benchmark: Geekbench 3. It shows CPU and RAM performance.

Here the results are very contradictory and ambiguous, so it is impossible to say who wins. Except that in single-core mode the iPad Air is definitely the leader. Apparently, the advantage of the 64-bit architecture has an effect.

The last group of benchmarks is dedicated to testing GPU performance. We used Epic Citadel, GFX Bench, Bonsai Benchmark, Basemark X and 3DMark.

Let's start with Epic Citadel.

It's a strange situation here. For some reason, Epic Citadel defines the resolution as 1280x800V - even in Ultra High Quality mode. And no settings (all of them were set to maximum during tests) helped us fix this. As a result, it remains a mystery whether the picture was displayed normally, but for some reason an error appeared during the output of the result, or whether the wrong settings were already applied during testing. One way or another, in Ultra High Quality mode the test produced 52.6 fps, which is an excellent result, if you are sure that this is true at a resolution of 2560x1600. But since this is twice the results of the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, we are sure of the opposite: the test really does not work correctly. And yet let’s add its results to the table.

Now let's look at the results in GFXBench.

We have summarized the results of the T-Rex HD test in the table, for which we have the most complete database of results and which is currently the most relevant in terms of the performance of modern games (the Manhattan test is still too tough for any 10-inch ARM tablet).

So, we see that here in front is a Sony tablet with Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, as well as an iPad Air. The other models have approximately the same results.

The next GPU test is 3DMark. Here are the results for two modes: Ice Storm Extreme and Ice Storm Unlimited.

And here the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 turned out to be an outsider (along with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, which is quite logical). However, we note that Sony and Apple tablets have lower resolution than Samsung and Asus tablets, so Samsung’s loss can be partly explained by this.

Finally, let's look at the results of the tablet in Bonsai and Basemark X (we did not test the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition and Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 2013 tablets in them, so there will be no results for them, and instead of the iPad Air there will be a result for the iPad mini Retina, which should be almost identical to the iPad Air).

And again the novelty is behind us.

Thus, we see that while the tablet performs very well in processor benchmarks, it often fails in GPU tests. However, the performance of the graphics accelerator is quite enough to run popular 3D games, so we checked compatibility with our traditional test set - albeit slightly updated. Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour has been replaced by the just released Modern Combat 5: Blackout (read the review of the game in the July issue!), and the game Deus Ex: The Fall has also been added.

The result was not the best. As with the Galaxy Tab S 8.4, we couldn't find the N.O.V.A game in the Play Store. 3, and in Assassin's Creed: Pirates, problems with the color of textures were noticed. But besides this, two newcomers to our gaming list behaved incorrectly on the tablet.

Deus Ex: The Fall installed normally, but immediately after trying to do anything in the main menu it crashed.

While Modern Combat 5 installed and worked fine, it was clear that the game did not handle the tablet resolution correctly. Imagine the effect when photographs are artificially increased in resolution, which is why ladders and all sorts of defects appear. This is roughly the same thing seen on the screen of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 while playing MC5. Below is a fragment of a screenshot taken without resizing. This is clearly visible on it. To see the full screenshot, click on the picture.

However, the problems with MC5 can be attributed to the fact that the developer Gameloft has not yet managed to optimize the game for all devices, but the fact remains. Until then, you can’t play this, perhaps, the main summer hit comfortably.

Playing video

Additionally, the MHL interface was tested. To test it we used a monitor LG IPS237L, supporting direct MHL connection using a passive adapter cable from Micro-USB to HDMI. Let us recall that Samsung has implemented its own version of this interface at the physical level. As a result, to connect an external device via MHL, you need to use special adapters or connect standard MHL adapters through simple passive adapters.

In this case, we carried out the test using a proprietary Samsung adapter, and output via MHL was carried out at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels with a frequency of 60 frames/s. When the tablet is in portrait orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in portrait orientation, while the image on the monitor is inscribed within the height of the screen, and wide black fields are displayed on the right and left:

When the tablet is in landscape orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in landscape orientation, while the image on the monitor is inscribed within the height of the screen, and narrow black fields are displayed on the right and left:

Sound is output via MHL (in this case, the sounds were heard through headphones connected to the monitor, since there are no speakers in the monitor itself) and is of good quality. At the same time, at least multimedia sounds are not output through the loudspeaker of the tablet itself, and the volume is controlled by buttons on the tablet body. In principle, in the tablet settings you can select the sound output mode - stereo or surround. However, in our case, the monitor only received stereo sound, so there was no choice. A tablet connected via MHL does not charge even when connected to an adapter with a relatively powerful power source.

The video output deserves special description. To begin with, using a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”), we checked how video is displayed on the screen of the Samsung Galaxy tablet itself Tab S 10.5. Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied: 1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels and frame rates of 24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps. In this test, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware+ mode. The results of this (block entitled “Screen of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 tablet”) and the following test are summarized in the table:

File	Uniformity	Passes
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 tablet screen
1080/60p	Great	No
1080/50p	Great	No
1080/30p	Great	No
1080/25p	Great	No
1080/24p	Great	No
720/60p	Great	No
720/50p	Great	No
720/30p	Fine	No
720/25p	Great	No
720/24p	Great	No
MHL (monitor output)
1080/60p	Great	No
1080/50p	Great	No
1080/30p	Great	No
Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files. According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the device itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on the tablet screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the wide border of the screen. The picture clarity is high, but there is no escape from interpolation to screen resolution. However, for the sake of experimentation, you can switch to the one-to-one pixel mode; there will be no interpolation - there will be true Full HD clarity, but in a reduced size. The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows only a couple of shades merge with black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed. However, dark scenes do not look very good, since due to the unusually low level and this slight blockage in the shadows, detail on dark objects is slightly reduced. Also, the fixed refresh rate of 60 Hz and high dynamic clarity mean that in the case of movies with a typical 24 fps, the strobing of dynamic scenes is more pronounced than on screens with a relatively slow LCD matrix. By the way, the advantages of this tablet when watching videos in very noisy conditions include the high maximum volume level of the headphone output. With a monitor connected via MHL, when playing a video with a standard player, the image of the video file is displayed only in landscape orientation, while only the image of the video file is displayed on the monitor, and only information elements and virtual controls are displayed on the screen of the mobile device (which disappear after a few seconds, and until the next touching the screen only displays a dark pictogram in the center). The results of the monitor output tests are shown in the table above in the “MHL (monitor output)” block. The output quality is very good. When playing video files with Full HD resolution (1920 by 1080 pixels) on the monitor screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen while maintaining true proportions, and the resolution corresponds to Full HD resolution, except that the image is vertically stretched by a couple of pixels, respectively pixel stripes are already extending beyond the boundaries of the screen. Sloppy, but not critical. The brightness range displayed on the monitor is equal to the standard range of 16-235, that is, all gradations of shades are displayed in shadows and highlights. The conclusion is typical - an MHL connection can be used for games, watching movies, displaying web pages and other activities that benefit from multiplying the screen size. True, you will have to purchase an adapter specifically for Samsung or find an appropriate adapter. Autonomous operation and ergonomics The results of testing the battery life of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 turned out to be quite interesting. In reading mode, the tablet lasted a little about 12 hours. To be precise, 11 hours 58 minutes before reaching 5% charge, when the screen brightness was forcibly reduced, after which the tablet was able to work for some more time, but it is not entirely correct to consider this as full-fledged work. At first glance, 12 hours is not very much. But we set a white background for the text, and it is this background that is the most battery-consuming in the case of a SuperAMOLED screen. If we had made a black background, the results would have been fundamentally different, and the tablet would have left far behind all its competitors. Let us remind you that the SuperAMOLED screen consumes virtually no energy when displaying black colors (unlike IPS). In the YouTube video playback test, the Samsung tablet showed an average result, although 9 hours is not bad. By the way, if you watch local video (without an Internet connection) using hardware acceleration, the result will be even better. Therefore, for example, for a transatlantic flight, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is quite suitable as a media player. Finally, the hardest test, simulating 3D games and using the same Unreal Engine as many cool iOS/Android games, was able to drain the tablet's battery in 6 hours and 40 minutes, which is even more than in the case of the iPad Air, but slightly less than the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet. The results are paradoxical, since the iPad Air has the most capacious battery, and the Sony has the least capacious. Apparently, in the case of the iPad and Samsung, the issue is a higher screen resolution than the Xperia Z2 Tablet, but Samsung’s win over Apple is explained by the advantages of SuperAMOLED technology, which allows the screen to save battery in dark scenes, which is also true for games. Finally, we note that in this comparison the Asus tablet looks like an outsider, but it is sold together with a keyboard dock, which contains an additional battery and increases the operating time of the entire set by about 50% (the table shows only the operating time of the tablet itself). So not everything is so simple. But, returning to the hero of our testing today, we can admit that his battery life is very good.
	Lighting ≈130 lux, flash. The flash does not return the original resolution, but it works well.
	Lighting
	Lighting

From the graph, and from the pictures in general, you can see that the module is essentially the same as in the Tab S 8.4, and for a tablet camera this is a very decent result. Software processing is completely invisible, noise is processed softly, there is no visible sharpening, and the sharpness across the field of the frame and across the plans is quite uniform and generally good. Of course, not everything in the camera is perfect, and you can always find something to complain about, but these are minor things. And she makes a very good impression.

It's nice that Samsung cares about the cameras of its tablets. With its relatively low resolution, it works better than many 13 MP modules. If this module also has a relatively low cost, then it can become an almost ideal solution for smartphones in the mid-price range.

conclusions

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 tablet seems to us an interesting and vibrant product. Its standout feature is, of course, the SuperAMOLED screen, but the rest of the parameters are quite good (although there is nothing outstanding about them). Decent camera, decent battery life, practical design (though not exciting). The performance is, in principle, sufficient, but by the standards of the top segment it is average, and in a couple of months it will already look downright weak, but then the prices will probably drop.

In the meantime, the price of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is the most important obstacle to purchasing it. The tablet is 3000 more expensive than the iPad Air and about 8000 more expensive than the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 2013. Are you ready to pay that much for a SuperAMOLED screen? And is SuperAMOLED really important to you? If so, then the question of competitors can be removed altogether, because at the moment no other manufacturer produces SuperAMOLED tablets. In this regard, both tablets in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S line are unique. For example, for watching movies, the Tab S 10.5 model seems to be perhaps the best solution on the market - thanks to the screen with true black color (unattainable on IPS), and economical battery consumption (enough for a flight across the Atlantic!), and a large diagonal (10 .5 inches instead of 10.1 for other Android tablets and 9.7 for iPad), and stereo speakers.

But if SuperAMOLED is not important for you, and you are buying a tablet for a standard range of tasks, involving a little of everything, and not for any specific purpose, then the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 seems to us a less attractive option than the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 2013 and iPad Air. At least until the price of the new product drops to the level of the iPad Air. At this stage, this device is either for tech geeks and enthusiasts who are pleased by the very fact of implementing an interesting technology at an unprecedented level, or for people who have a very good idea of ​​how SuperAMOLED differs from IPS and want to see these very qualities in their tablet.

The never-released Samsung Galaxy Tab 5 tablet is an excellent example of how the Chinese imitate the line of a popular brand and deceive customers. It must be said that they do this with enviable regularity, not only copying existing models, but even inventing their own.

A year ago, many media outlets that write about mobile technologies reported that the Korean company was about to release a new inexpensive tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 5 (8.0). Against the backdrop of the triumph of the flagship smartphones Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, this news somehow went unnoticed by the general public.

Actually, it was based on one strange leak from China, where in the database of TENAA, a local certification center for telecommunications equipment, an entry about the Galaxy Tab 5 (8.0) tablet manufactured by Samsung was noticed.

Some characteristics of the future Galaxy Tab 5 were also named there:

• 8-inch diagonal screen with a resolution of 1024x768 pixels, made using AMOLED technology
• Unknown mobile processor with four cores and a frequency of 1.2 GHz
• 2 Gb RAM
• Built-in flash memory capacity 16, 32 or 64 Gb depending on modification
• Supports MicroSD memory cards up to 128 Gb
• Main camera 5 megapixels
• Front camera 2 megapixels
• Android OS 5.0.2 + TouchWiz shell
• Dimensions 208 x 138 x 7.4 mm
• S-Pen stylus

As a result, such a tablet did come out, but it was not called Galaxy Tab 5, but Samsung SM-T355C Galaxy Tab A 8.0 TD-LTE (full name). This device opened up a completely new line of inexpensive tablets from the company, similar to the line of Galaxy A smartphones.

However, here the Chinese “enter” the arena. And they are releasing a device called exactly... Samsung Galaxy Tab 5. The domestic market of the People's Republic of China is currently structured in such a way that it is often impossible for local brands to protect themselves from counterfeits, let alone foreign ones.

Pseudo-Samsung Galaxy Tab 5 3G (2SIM)

This is the name of a common Chinese counterfeit of Samsung, which is still found in abundance not only on online ad sites like Avito, but even in some seemingly less-than-savory online stores. Sellers on AliExpress and AliBaba do not disdain them either.

Characteristics of a fake:

• Dual Core MTK 6572 1.3 GHz processor (Samsung does not use MediaTek processors in its tablets)
• Screen 7 inches (not 8)
• Screen resolution 800×432 (the Korean giant hasn’t done this for a long time)
• Built-in storage 4 Gb (day before yesterday)
• RAM 512 Gb (that is, hello brakes)
• Cameras: 2 MP main and 2 MP front (this is often found on cheap Chinese tablets, but not on normal brands)
• MicroSD up to 32 Gb
• "Naked" Android 4.2.2. (no proprietary TouchWiz shell)

However, due to the fact that many are not particularly versed in technical details, this “Samsung” Galaxy Tab 5 is often sold to unlucky buyers even in Russia.

Usually it happens like this: on the same Avito, someone sells a tablet that they allegedly bought from Euroset/Eldorado/Svyaznoy (underline or add as necessary). And it can even show a receipt with a price like a real Samsung (15,000 - 20,000 rubles). However, he sells the device for 5,000 - 8,000 rubles, although the red price is 1,500 - 2,000. Some people have a business built on this, unfortunately.

An example of a receipt for a fake Galaxy Tab 5, taken from here: http://www.yaplakal.com/forum2/topic928632.html

Not everyone, as we have already indicated above, is able to distinguish a Chinese counterfeit from the original; in the end they buy such a “Samsung”, and then they also complain about what bad devices the Koreans produce.

A gallery of fake photos for those who are interested in looking at this “miracle”:

Despite the decline of the Android tablet market, which has been going on for several years now, you can still find new products coming out from under the wings of large eminent manufacturers. Together with the expensive flagship tablet, the company showed a more affordable solution - which costs at least half the price of the top-end S4. How good will you feel after taking this pill? Now we'll find out!

Specifications Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5

• Display: 10.5″, TFT, 1920×1200 pixels, aspect ratio 16:10
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450, 8-core, maximum frequency up to 1.8 GHz, Cortex-A53 cores
• Graphics accelerator: Adreno 506
• RAM: 3 GB
• Permanent memory: 32 GB
• MicroSD memory card support: up to 400 GB
• Wireless networks: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2
• Main camera: 8 MP, f/1.9, autofocus
• Front camera: 5 MP, f/2.2
• Battery: 7300 mAh
• OS: Android 8.1 Oreo with Samsung Experience 9.5 shell
• Dimensions: 260×161.1×8 mm
• Weight: 534 g

The tablet comes in two versions - Wi-Fi (SM-T590) or LTE (SM-T595). The cost of the LTE version (as in my test) in Ukraine is 13,999 hryvnia (or $495), and the Wi-Fi version will cost 10,999 hryvnia ($389).

The difference between these two options is only the presence of a slot for a SIM card in the more expensive model and therefore support for 3G/4G with the ability to make calls or connect to the Internet. Well, they also differ slightly in weight - the LTE version is 5 grams heavier.

Design, materials and assembly

The tablet looks very standard. There are no identifying inscriptions, manufacturer's logo or control buttons on the front panel. The bezels on the sides of the screen are thinner than those on top and bottom - but this is already standard practice.

The back panel is made of plastic and covered with a matte soft-touch coating that is pleasant to the touch. And this decision is also not new. But in any case, it is much more practical than glass, for example.

It is possible to leave traces of use on the case, but this is not an easy task. In addition, they are easy to wipe off.

The device is assembled well, I did not find any play during operation.

In addition to black, the tablet comes in gray and blue colors. But in Ukraine, the blue gadget is currently not available.

Layout of elements

The front of the screen is covered with glass with a good oleophobic coating. On the front panel you can see only two windows: the first with the light sensor, and the second with the front camera module.

The end on the right houses the power button and a paired volume key. Under them you can find a microphone and even lower - a slot for a nano-format SIM card and a microSD memory card. Let me remind you that a SIM can only be inserted into the version with LTE; in the Wi-Fi modification there is no slot for it.

On the left side in the middle there are four magnetic contacts for connecting the POGO charging dock. It is not clear whether it is possible to connect a cover keyboard to the tablet, like the one with, since on the manufacturer’s official website I found only a mention of a docking station. On the sides of the contacts there are additional grooves for more secure fixation of the tablet in the aforementioned dock.

At the bottom end there is a USB Type-C port - thanks for that, we didn’t save money, as well as eight holes on each side, behind which the speakers are located.

The top end has the same holes with speakers, which means that the Galaxy Tab A 10.5 has four speakers in total. In addition to them, there is another microphone and a 3.5 mm audio jack on the edge.

On the back panel there is a block with the main camera protruding from the body, an LED flash and an embossed Samsung logo.

Ergonomics

I don’t even know if it’s worth describing the “convenience” of using a 10-inch tablet, but I’ll try. You can hold the tablet in a vertical orientation even with one hand. Despite the thickness of the frames, there were no false touches during the testing period. And in a horizontal position, even more so, the grip is even more comfortable due to the wider margins.

The only thing that can go wrong is that you can cover part of the speakers with your hands when the tablet is in your hands in landscape orientation. But fortunately there are four of them, and therefore the volume will remain at a good level in any case.

Also, in theory, due to the protruding camera block, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 may wobble when you press the screen if the tablet is on a hard, flat surface at that time. But in practice, for this to happen, you need to press the screen with force, which is unlikely to be done by anyone.

In general, I did not notice any obvious problems with ergonomics when using the tablet.

Display Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5

The tablet is equipped with a 10.5" diagonal display - this is clear from the name. The matrix is ​​made using TFT technology, has a resolution of 1920 × 1200 with a pixel density of 216 ppi. The screen aspect ratio is 16:10.

The matrix is ​​of high quality, with all that it implies: the screen is bright, with rich colors and a good level of contrast. The viewing angles are maximum, the picture is not distorted with linear or diagonal deviations. You cannot correct the color temperature or change the display mode.

Although the low amount of PPI at this diagonal can be noticeable if you look closely, for example, at the text. Well, in general, the screen can be called excellent.

The tablet has automatic brightness adjustment - it works fine. Among other additional functions, there is only a blue filter to reduce eye strain, but it is also activated from the curtain with switches - it is impossible to adjust its level.

Performance

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 system paired with the Adreno 506 video chip. Other characteristics are as follows: 14 nm process technology, 8 Cortex-A53 cores, maximum clock speed up to 1.8 GHz.

At first glance, it may seem that this is a simple base-level chip of the 400 series, but in terms of technical parameters, the processor is very similar to the Snapdragon 625. At a minimum, they have the same graphics accelerator.

In synthetics, the results are not very impressive.

The Galaxy Tab A 10.5 has 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, of which 23.41 GB are allocated for user needs. It can be expanded by installing a microSD memory card up to 400 GB. Without a restart, a dozen applications can be stored in RAM.

The tablet performs well in the system and applications. It works smoothly, all animations are displayed without delays or jerks.

The situation with games is not so rosy, and in order to play with a comfortable FPS, you will have to select low or medium graphics settings. In PUBG Mobile you can select “Smooth” or “Balance”. With them, the game runs normally, without drawdowns. WoT Blitz with medium settings is consistently displayed at 50-60 frames per second, you can even play with the maximum, but less smoothly - 20-45 fps.

In short, the performance here is average, but quite comfortable and will be enough for most tasks. Moreover, if you remember that the tablet is not positioned as the ultimate gaming solution, but a simple family multimedia device.

Cameras

The tablet has a main camera module with a resolution of 8 megapixels and even a good aperture - f/1.9.

The end result is pretty good for a tablet. Photos taken under artificial light are, of course, of average quality. But with good daylight the situation is better, but also nothing special. Again, in this class of devices you shouldn’t expect a different situation; although the camera here is not for show, as is often the case in inexpensive tablets, you are unlikely to shoot everything with it, and not least because of the shape -factor Video can be recorded with the main camera in Full HD resolution.

Front camera - 5 MP module with f/2.2 aperture. It's not particularly high quality, but it does have the Selfie Focus feature, which programmatically blurs the background.

And since we already remembered about shooting modes, the main one has many different modes, for example: HDR, night, panorama, professional (manual mode), burst shooting, stickers, and so on.

In general, the camera of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 can be easily used if you don’t have a smartphone at hand.

Unlocking with face recognition

The tablet did not have a fingerprint scanner installed, but replaced it with facial recognition unlocking. But at this stage, most likely due to the specific software of the test sample, it works so-so. In good ambient light, it doesn't work very quickly, but you can use it. The problem is different - after a couple of hours the tablet refuses to use this method in principle and advises you to reboot. After the reboot it continues to work as usual, but again not for long.

In general, if commercial samples do not have the problem described earlier, then you can use this method without entering the password manually - doing this on a tablet is really inconvenient.

Autonomy

Galaxy Tab A 10.5 is equipped with a large 7300 mAh battery, the charge of which will last for a really long time. I don’t use such devices very intensively, so in 14 days I charged it maybe 3 times. At the same time, I was not limited to performing any tasks at all - I watched videos, listened to music, sometimes launched games and after almost 4 days from the last charge , the screen activity indicator was 7 hours 48 minutes.

A “dry” test in PC Mark with maximum screen brightness showed almost 7 hours of operation for the Tab A 10.5.

Plus, a program for test samples constantly using the GPS module was running in the background, which means the commercial sample should demonstrate even better results. I managed to fully charge the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 from a non-native charger in 3 hours.

Sound and communications

As I already said, the Galaxy Tab A 10.5 has 4 speakers - this is a significant plus.

Firstly, the sound cannot be muted randomly, and secondly, these speakers produce good surround and moderately loud sound. It can also be corrected using built-in tools.

In the default headphones, the sound is not bad, but somehow... flat, perhaps. So I immediately went to the settings and there was a fairly solid set of various parameters: several Dolby Atmos effects, an advanced equalizer and several more switches. After a primitive setup, as often happens, the sound became more interesting.

I didn't notice any problems with the wireless modules. Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac works great, there is support for 5 GHz. The rest is a typical set: Bluetooth 4.2 (A2DP, LE) and GPS (A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS). I’ll say it again, I’m testing a tablet with LTE - so you can put a SIM card in it and use the mobile Internet. Well, or receiving calls and typing SMS is not a good idea, in fact, but it’s possible! If you don't need these features, you can save a lot and take the standard version with Wi-Fi only.

Firmware and software

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 comes with Android 8.1 Oreo OS, on top of which Samsung Experience version 9.5 is installed.

We have already talked about the firmware more than once in other reviews of Samsung devices, so I will separately focus only on the key features, but you can look at the rest in the screenshots or in other reviews - I didn’t see much of a difference in the firmware for a smartphone and a tablet.

For example, a tablet cannot change the theme, but there is a children's mode - a useful thing with separate applications designed in the appropriate style. Additional educational and development programs can be found in Galaxy Apps.

I will also note the Daily Board function - a kind of smart display. The mode is activated when you place the tablet in the POGO dock or connect the charger. After this, the selected photos, clock, weather and date are displayed on the screen.

conclusions

It has a high-quality 10-inch display, good stereo sound and reliable, stable software. On the other hand, for this money I still wanted to get more productive hardware. But if you remember about last year’s processor installed in the fresh Tab S4 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 835), then what can you expect from an average device that costs half as much?

It would seem that relatively little time has passed since the release of the Galaxy Tab Pro line, but Samsung has already announced a new Tab S line, designed to become the flagship among all the company’s tablets.

Friends, the large and small models of this line are similar in many ways, so some of the text will be borrowed from the Tab S 8.4 review so as not to describe the same things in the second round.

Equipment

• Tablet
• Charger
• PC cable (also part of the charger)
• Wired headset

Samsung tablets traditionally come to us for testing without a complete package, so I can’t demonstrate it in photographs.

Appearance, materials, control elements, assembly

For several years now, Samsung has not paid enough attention to the design of its devices; they all look pretty boring and very similar to each other. On the other hand, if you're looking at a Samsung tablet, you'll likely recognize it immediately by its rounded edges and physical button below the screen.

The bezel of the tablet is made of golden plastic, this is the first time the company has used such a solution; before, the bezel was always silver.

The back of the case is made of perforated plastic, stylized as leather. In terms of tactile sensations, this plastic is more similar to the material used in the Galaxy S5, and not to the plastic from the Galaxy Note 3. You can also find two “buttons” there; they are needed for branded accessories.

On the front side there is a 10.5-inch display, above it there are light and proximity sensors, a front camera, as well as a speaker mesh (in the tablet version with 3G).

Below the display you can see a physical Home button with a built-in fingerprint scanner, as well as touch-sensitive Recent Apps and Back buttons. It’s important to add here that the physical button protrudes slightly above the rest of the tablet’s surface, so erroneous presses are possible in the backpack. In principle, this can be solved by installing fingerprint unlocking, but it was worth noting this problem.

At the top end there is a power button, a volume rocker and an infrared port.

On the right you can see a plug for a microSDHC memory card, a microUSB connector and a mesh for one of the stereo speakers.

And on the left there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack, as well as the second of the stereo speakers.

The tablet has excellent stereo speakers that produce clear, loud sound, and their location is optimal: when holding the tablet, you do not cover them with your hands.

I have no complaints about the assembly of the device, all the parts fit tightly together, the buttons do not “dangle”.

Dimensions

The size and weight of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is one of its key advantages. With a diagonal of 10.5 inches, this tablet weighs only 465 grams and is only 6.7 mm thick. It is noticeable that Samsung is desperately chasing tablets from Apple and trying to beat them in size. Using the Tab S 10.5 as an example, it is clear that the company is doing this very well. Although the difference in size here is not as impressive as between the iPad Mini Retina and the Galaxy Tab S 8.4.

Thanks to its light weight, the tablet is comfortable to hold even with one hand for a long time, and this is certainly one of its significant advantages.

Screen

Perhaps the main change in the Galaxy Tab S line. Samsung was finally able to make a SuperAMOLED matrix with a large diagonal and high resolution. Screen diagonal is 10.5 inches, matrix type is SuperAMOLED HD, resolution is 2560x1600 pixels, the screen is covered with protective glass, there is an oleophobic coating. Interestingly, Samsung is gradually increasing the screen diagonal without compromising the overall size of the devices, this is largely due to the decreasing thickness of the side frames (and this is the advantage of the Tab S line).

Let me remind you that the main advantages of SuperAMOLED matrices are low power consumption (especially when displaying black) and bright, rich colors. For lovers of calm colors, the tablet has the ability to fine-tune the display. However, I note that even after such adjustments, such a screen will be inferior to IPS matrices in terms of natural color rendering.

In First Look, some readers noted that Tab S 10.5 does not have Pentile, citing a reputable source. Well, I checked this information, there is indeed no Pentile in the Galaxy Tab S 10.5, it uses the S-Stripe RGB pixel arrangement, the same as in the Galaxy Note II. However, this does not change the fact that small fonts look loose on this tablet; their clarity is inferior to IPS matrices.

Actually, the display of small fonts is the only drawback of this display. Otherwise, we have a high-quality screen with ultra-high resolution, excellent behavior in the sun, bright and rich colors and the ability to fine-tune the color gamut.

operating system

The tablet runs Android 4.4.2 with the latest generation TouchWiz proprietary shell. We have a separate article by Eldar Murtazin devoted to all aspects of this shell; those who wish to familiarize themselves with it can follow the link below.

Below I will provide several screenshots of the shell.

As for updating the tablet to Android L, at the moment there is no reliable information on this matter.

Performance

There will be two modifications of the tablet on sale, differing in chipsets: the first will use Samsung's own Exynos Octa 5420 platform as a chipset (let me remind you that a similar chipset was used in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9000) with big.LITTLE technology (two quad-core processors are used, one on Cortex A7 architecture with a frequency of 1.3 GHz, the other on Cortex A15 with a frequency of 1.9 GHz), the Mali-T628 (with support for OpenGL 3.0) is responsible for graphics.

The second modification will be built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset with a quad-core processor operating at 2.3 GHz.

The amount of RAM is 3(!) GB in both versions, the capacity of the internal storage depends on the version (16/32/GB), there is a slot for a memory card, cards with a capacity of up to 128 GB are supported.

Performance information can traditionally be divided into two parts: heavy gaming and everyday use. The tablet copes with any games with a bang, but in terms of normal use there are a number of complaints about it. First of all, this is the slowdown that has already become a Samsung signature when flipping through desktops. They are especially visible when switching between the Magazine UI and regular desktops. Sometimes you can also see slight stuttering in the application menu.

Autonomous operation

The tablet has a non-removable battery with a capacity of 7900 mAh.

In reading mode (30% brightness, airplane mode on), the tablet was discharged in 12 hours 18 minutes.

In HD video viewing mode, the device's charge lasted for 11 hours and 3 minutes (maximum brightness, airplane mode on).

With everyday use, you can count on 4-5 days of battery life, depending on the intensity of use (when using mobile Internet this is exactly 2-3 days).

This is one of the best tablets in terms of HD video playback time, which makes it a very interesting offer for those who like to watch movies on long trips. Separately, I note that this tablet, like the Galaxy S5, has an emergency power saving mode, in which the screen switches to black and white mode and only the most basic functions are available.

Camera

The tablet has a main 8 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash. The front camera resolution is 2.1 MP. With this tablet you can easily shoot text or take a couple of landscape photos, but it is important to understand that this is not a camera, or even a top-end smartphone with a cool camera, so you should not expect miracles from this camera.

Wireless interfaces

Mobile network- the version with a 3G module works in 2G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz), 3G (900/2100 MHz) and 4G (2600 MHz) cellular networks. In addition to data transfer, you can also make calls from the tablet. 4G support is even available in models with Exynos Octa 5420; apparently, an external modem is used.

Wi-Fi (b/g/n)- in the settings you can enable the “distribution” of mobile Internet using Wi-Fi, as well as use file transfer using Wi-Fi Direct. One of the nice features is support for dual-band Wi-Fi.

Bluetooth 4.0– all popular profiles are supported, including A2DP.

GPS- A cold start takes no more than 10 seconds, there are no complaints about the operation of the module.

IR port- to use the tablet as a remote control for equipment, the device already has a pre-installed program for working with the infrared port.

Fingerprint's scanner

This tablet, like the Galaxy S5, has a fingerprint scanner.

To unlock the screen using your fingerprint, you just need to swipe your finger from the edge of the screen across the scanner from top to bottom. In my sample, this function did not work as well as in the iPhone 5s; sometimes the device responded to the fingerprint only the second or third time.

In addition to simple unlocking, you can also use the scanner to protect your data and log in to PayPal. And a few more words about safety. When fingerprint screen unlocking is enabled, you will not be able to reset the tablet without authorization; this is additional protection against thieves.

Conclusion

The tablet has already gone on sale at the following price - 23,000 rubles for the version with Wi-Fi and 27,000 rubles for the Wi-Fi + 4G version.

For this money you get a thin and light tablet with a huge, high-quality display (and at the same time relatively compact dimensions) and long battery life. Disadvantages - slowdown in TouchWiz.

Competitors

In fact, this is the main competitor of the Tab S 10.5, and it is with this that Samsung plans to fight with its new tablet. The iPad Air has a more readable aspect ratio, great design, and a high-quality aluminum body. On top of all that, there are a lot of cool games and apps for this tablet. Android is still catching up in this regard (although the situation is gradually changing, for example, Foursquare is available for Android tablets, but it is still not available for iPad). On the side, the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 has a better screen for watching videos and longer battery life, as well as better dimensions (although the advantage here is smaller than when comparing the iPad Mini Retina with the Galaxy Tab S 8.4).

Another interesting competitor, this time from Asus. Yes, it came out quite a long time ago, but it still has relevant and competitive characteristics: an S-IPS matrix with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels, NVIDIA Tegra 4 and a docking station with an additional battery. And all this for 20,000 rubles. Among the shortcomings, I note the lack of a 3G version and worse dimensions (this tablet is thicker and heavier).

And finally, let's take a look at the prices (as a “common denominator” I took the prices of one large chain; they are similar for most large retailers).

By the way, I note that in the same Svyaznoy the minimum version of the iPad Air costs 18,000 rubles, which also plays into the hands of the Air.

First of all, it is worth noting that the prices for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 are slightly inflated, they are even higher than those of Apple, although the latter really likes to inflate them (we are talking about Russia).

In my opinion, Samsung has made an excellent large flagship tablet. Among the advantages, I will highlight its beautiful display with a SuperAMOLED matrix (fans of the brand have been waiting for the appearance of tablets with such displays for a long time) and ultra-high resolution. The second advantage of the tablet is its light weight and thickness; in real life, the Tab S 10.5 feels impressively thin and light. And the last advantage is the long operating time in video viewing mode (coupled with an easy-to-watch aspect ratio, this makes this tablet one of the best for TV series lovers). The only thing that clouds this whole picture is the high price and stutters in TouchWiz.