<div>Samsung’s tablets haven’t quite seen the design makeover that its top-end smartphones have, but they really have “grown up” lately, morphing from the cheap and cheesy looking iPad rip-offs they once were to something very neat indeed. The Galaxy Tab S2 comes in two sizes, an 8-inch and a 9.7-inch and we’re having a look at the latter.</div><div> </div><div>Very Thin And Light</div><div>For its size, the Tab S2 is surprisingly light and you feel that immediately as you lift it out of its box. This tablet is no trouble to hold in your hands for hours on end. With its almost A4 form factor, it could fit into a ladies handbag of the larger sort, and of course otherwise it will tuck away nicely into a cushioned bag for men. Putting it into a case would be advisable so that it doesn’t get scratched up or even worse. The tablet, seen from the edges, is minimalistic, flat and very neat. All the buttons – and there aren’t many – are on the right spine along with a SIM tray and memory card slot. The 3.5mm headphone jack and the usual micro USB charging slot are along on the bottom edge with two speaker grills. The back is plastic, but “good plastic,” with the look of matte finish metal brushing. But in the end it is plastic and not as premium feeling as say, the iPad. The back doesn’t display fingerprints and prevents the tablet from being slippery. All the same, I don’t think the tablet will tolerate drops and the aluminium on the edges could definitely get dented.</div><div> </div><div><strong>A Beautiful Display</strong></div><div>The second point of uniqueness about the Tab S2 is its lovely display. With Samsung it’s all about strong contrasts and colours and bright clarity no matter what the angle. The 2048x1536 Super AMOLED could have had a better pixel density than 264ppi but it doesn’t necessarily need more and is really nice to use just as it is. The 8 inch version actually has the same resolution but will be crisper, but choose the size based on how you plan to use the tablet and where you will carry it rather than one screen being better than the other. The 9.7-inch version will be more suited to work, when you pair it up with an external keyboard and set it on a stand or case in landscape mode. The 8-inch version is for more mobility, carrying in smaller bags and better for reading. Videos and movies look great on either.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Everything Else</strong></div><div>You can use the Tab S2 as a phone – as long as you don’t go so far as to lift it to your ear; it’s too big for that – because it has a SIM slot and a dialer. It’s 4G enabled. Otherwise, of course, there’s always Skype. But you have only a 2.1MP front facing camera for that while the rear cam is 8MP. There’s nothing remarkable about either.</div><div> </div><div>For power, the Tab S2 has an octa-core Exynos 5433 chip. It has four Cortex A57 cores running at 1.9GHz and four Cortex A53 cores running at 1.3GHz. There’s 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage expandable with a memory card. It’s a powerful enough tablet and though it warms up a little if you’re doing something intensive, it doesn’t go beyond a point. It’s running on Android 5.0.1 and may not get updates as fast as you’d like, but that seems to be the case with all Samsung’s devices. Its 5,870mAh battery is ok for a day’s worth of moderate usage.</div><div> </div><div>The Tab S2 costs Rs 39,400.</div>
