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I am thinking about upgrading from S2, can someone with both phones compare - what advantages (if any ) / disadvantages Note has over S2 ?
Obviously Note has bigger screen - but screen aside - did you notice any other area where Note triumphs S2 ? (GPS, wifi, battery life with screen turned on, sound quality, camera, sotware issues...) How about heat problems ? S2 can get pretty hot under high workload, is Note any better ? (afaik it basically runs the same chip just clocked higher which makes me wondering)
Also regarding the screen - are the colors / brightness / outdoor visibility etc. the same and the difference is only in size / resolution / ppi ? And finally: is there someone who tried both and actually preferred S2 ?
They're almost the same. For me the major difference is battery life and spen ... I love to sketch. So I switched. Battery is superb.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
I don't own either, but from what I've seen the battery is way better on the Note than basically any other Android phone. Colors will be slightly less vibrant because it's not a SAMOLED+ display, it's just SAMOLED. But honestly, who cares? It's 720p!
Yumunum said:
I don't own either, but from what I've seen the battery is way better on the Note than basically any other Android phone. Colors will be slightly less vibrant because it's not a SAMOLED+ display, it's just SAMOLED. But honestly, who cares? It's 720p!
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The colors are amazing. I find them just as vibrant as the S2. The only real difference is the pentile display, but the dpi is so high you can't even tell. I find the screen to be far more useful than the S2 with the extra size and resolution.
Battery life wasn't great at first but once I turned off latitude and froze a few samsung apps it got MUCH better. Oh, and using minimum brightness is a major factor too. I wasn't too happy about turning the brightness down but after a day you don't notice it. I just have a widget on the desktop so I can quickly turn up the brightness if I need to.
After using the phone for a bit more, the Note is better in some ares:
-GLONASS satellite system allows it very fast lock in and response, although its not as precise as GPS, maybe 5-10ft off, but realky isn't an issue at all.
-Better PPI, but can see grains if eyes 6" from the screen.
-Screen is slightly brighter.
Cons: Can't operate it one handed at all due to size.
Sound quality is the same, not bad but not great. Same camera I think. Both can get pretty warm, but a case helps.
battery life: qualitatively it seems note lasts longer.
sound quality: equally good but note louder esp on speaker.
heat: i suppose any phone will heat up under stress e.g. video, charging but by and large i have never felt much heat from either.
camera: this is one area note is better than S2. S2 had weird pink hues but this is less noticeable in note. the screen seems to respond better in camera mode for note too.
in short, unless size and portability are major concerns, note is a better get. hope this helps!
comrad said:
I am thinking about upgrading from S2, can someone with both phones compare - what advantages (if any ) / disadvantages Note has over S2 ?
Obviously Note has bigger screen - but screen aside - did you notice any other area where Note triumphs S2 ? (GPS, wifi, battery life with screen turned on, sound quality, camera, sotware issues...) How about heat problems ? S2 can get pretty hot under high workload, is Note any better ? (afaik it basically runs the same chip just clocked higher which makes me wondering)
Also regarding the screen - are the colors / brightness / outdoor visibility etc. the same and the difference is only in size / resolution / ppi ? And finally: is there someone who tried both and actually preferred S2 ?
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Click to collapse
Allrighty.
I currently own both, and can help you out with answering a few things.
I'll start off with something that I haven't seen many if any even, touch base on:
Typing is a dream. I used the stock Gingerbread keyboard on my Galaxy SII as it was the most comfortable one for me, but found it a tad cramped at times and landscape was just too wide to type anything on naturally. On the Note using the same keyboard, I personally had fewer mistakes and found that my typing speed had stayed near dead on to my thumbing on the smaller brother. I'd say it hits that sweet spot for completely comfortable portrait typing.
The sound quality in call is right on par with that of the GSII, dare I say even a little bit better. In any of the time I've spent talking on it, I haven't had an issue and it's clear on the other end.
Battery life is most certainly better. It's not worlds better, but I have no worries that I won't kill my battery come the end of my day and get home, whereas there were days were I was cutting it too close for comfort on the GSII. I'm a light to moderate user, with locally stored music playback anywhere from 1-7 hours, screen on time around 3-4 hours, bluetooth always on (for MBW-150), and no wifi every day.
I've found the software for the camera to be improved. It's not Nexus-fast in terms of snapping off a photo, but it's easily much faster at taking a photo on the Note than the GSII. Image quality and detail is on par with the GSII's snapper.
The Note is the same as the SII in terms of heat. That hasn't changed, but this is only if you're actually working it by playing games or watching HD video. Likewise, it stays cool with regular use, as does the SII.
Screen saturation is almost that of the SII's screen, but not enough to fret about. I've found the colour on the Note's screen to be a touch warmer, but that could very well be because it's a newer screen with less on time than my GSII. Outdoor visibility isn't an issue, at my usual screen brightness of 25% I have no problems making out what's on the screen throughout the day, even in near direct sunlight. This was the same case with it's smaller sibling, so no real differences here.
As a note about the Note's screen (pardon the pun), the screen is fantastic. Flat out. Text, images, and video are easily more crisp and enjoyable to view on the Note than the SII. Because of the high pixel density, you can't even make out the sup pixels while reading unless you bring the phone less than 6" away from your face and even then it's difficult.
I absolutely love my Note. Everyone I've showed it to has had the same reaction: "Wow. It huge!". So it most certainly stands out if that might matter to you. There are times where I miss the GSII for it's size and general 'feel'. It's definitely been tamed and feels a touch more responsive while moving through the OS, and the light weight was always a plus. There have been times where my hand was slightly fatigued from holding the Note, but again this really is a two handed device.
To sum it all up, I bought my Galaxy SII in August. I just got my Note about a week ago, never handling or seeing one in real life and I feel it was a worthy enough upgrade. My reasoning is of course biased for my wants in the device, but chances are if you're looking into getting this device, you'll surely be impressed.
It is interesting to see different experiences with SGS2 and Note. I own both, and here is my quick comparison.
Screen - I like the bigger format ( I love the bigger format) but the screen is not as bright as SGS2. White is little bit grayish. Colors are pretty much same, I don't see the problem with RGB or pentile display. So Note: 1 point.
Sound - I absolutely love the sound, all notifications are louder, in call volume louder, speaker louder and more bass. Note: 1 point
Wi Fi signal: I tested SGS2, Note, Galaxy Tab and my wife's Iphone 4G wifi signal strength in my house, I have latest Linksys router, super fast cable internet with latest modem capable up to 100 mbps, in real I am getting 54 mbps. Note performed worst of all of them. Around 16 mbps versus 22 for SGS 2 and iPhone. Very dissapointed with wi fi signal strength as well, loosing signal in places where SGS2 and iPhone still works ok. Note: 0 points, SGS 2 : 1 point.
Camera: oh boy, much much worse than SGS 2, I couldn't believe how bad this camera is. I will post later side by side pictures from both phones with same settings, you will be surprised. Not focusing as quickly as SGS2, white balance off, takes ages refocusing between light area and dark area, etc... SGS 2: 1 more point here.
Stylus: since SGS2 doesn't have it, Note gets 1 more point here, because I find this feature very useful for my business and it was one of the main reasons I bought this phone. (screen and Stylus)
Scrolling between home screens is little bit laggy, much more noticeable than SGS2. Stock browser scrolling is jerky, not iphone smooth as SGS2. Wake up screen delay is 1.5 sec from pressing any button ( home or power) compared to almost instant screen on with SGS2.
Both phones running stock firmware, SGS2 is on UK unbranded 2.3.4 rooted, Note is on 2.3.6. German firmware not rooted.(yet)
Using it on USA AT&T carrier. Phone signal more less same,somewhere SGS2 performs better, somewhere Note has better signal, but I am satisfied with both phones performances.
Overall I prefer Note right now, it may be because of it's novelty versus my "old" SGS2, but it will be very hard for me to go to smaller size screen phone after using Note. Probably the best phone I ever had so far. I bought Note without seeing it in real from Amazon.de and I am not dissapointed with the purchase.
enjoy it, life is short.
Well thanks everyone, my general impressions from what has been said are:
1.) Screen is much better
2.) Battery is much better
3.) Pen is a potential advantage (I almost forgot about the pen)
4.) Experience with remaining features can vary (probably due to manufacturing differences ?) but overall they are all more or less comparable to Galaxy S2
5.) With one exception being GPS, at least based on this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=arOYNNux_mg
it seems the Note's GPS should be quite superior (it may be the best GPS in any phone yet ?)
So if screen, battery life and GPS are improved over S2 then it's probably good enough for me. However it would be much cleaner cut if there would be more horsepower under the hood as well I'd love some faster CPU, 32GB of storage and faster stock sd cards. (Actually I'd love to see some SSD on it You can put SSD into a netbook so why not to a phone ? )
Also one thing I would probably prefer is to have 16:9 (720 height instead of 800) display and about 4.8 - 5" big, slightly more portable and less funny looking while making a call. Maybe they've opted for Note's aspect ratio as to give better support for note taking ?
ive had my galaxy note for a month. just picked up a free galaxy s2 today on vodafone AU's $29 cap. personally, i think i'll stick with the note. everything about the note is just more convenient for me. bigger screen makes portrait keyboard awesome, higher res makes everything look better. battery life is only better on the note with gaming and video watching, both are on par for web browsing battery life due to the weakness of samoled.
gps is much much better on my galaxy note. locks down fairly well when im indoors whilst the s2 cant even lock after running it for half an hour in navigation mode.
as for the screen ratio, samsung havent made a phone that uses 16:9 screen ratio for a fair while (if they have made any at all, cant seem to think of any). the slightly wider/taller (depending on how you look at it) makes portrait keyboard useful, but i must agree, the extra pixels are wasted on videos. if you want a 16:9 screen ratio, look towards the lg nitro hd and galaxy nexus.
one thing the galaxy nexus has that these phones dont seem to have is the correct positioning of the 3.5mm socket. the galaxy nexus has it positioned on the bottom, like my old n900. this is the perfect place for the socket since it means you can pull your phone out of your pocket when headphones are plugged in and it will be the right way up. it also means if youre plugging it into anything in your car, it wont have any silly cables coming out the top. its one of those little things that are nice and much appreciated. but im digressing a bit here.
overall, the phones will be similar, with the screen being the main difference and the unique advantage of the note will be the S pen. but that may be a bit of a downer in terms of update speed. for the galaxy s2, all samsung need to do is refine the experience, add touchwiz, and its all ready. for the note, they need to add touchwiz and then modify the S-Pen apps to run correctly as well. shouldnt delay the release of ICS for the note by too much considering samsung should have gained experience with ICS when working with the galaxy nexus, but its still a bit of a delay.
and i dont think SSDs will be needed on phones for a fair while. honestly, when will you need a read speed faster than 20mb/s? or a write speed faster than that? its only really useful when transferring files to and from a PC, but as to actual device usage, it has little impact. videos are encoded at what? 17mbps? thats still only 2-3mb/s of write speed needed. theres very little on the device that could take advantage of the added speed of an SSD. its just something that will drive up the product cost with very little benefit in realworld usage. apps load quickly enough so i dont think samsung would bother to consider an SSD for phones anytime soon.
Souai said:
and i dont think SSDs will be needed on phones for a fair while. honestly, when will you need a read speed faster than 20mb/s? or a write speed faster than that? its only really useful when transferring files to and from a PC, but as to actual device usage, it has little impact.
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Faster than 20MB/s - yes it's mainly for data transfer. But note also that while most android apps are small, some (especially games which can have couple of hundreds of MBs) should benefit from faster storage. And if you bench seq. write speed of S2 it's nowhere near to 20MB/s. It's more like 5-7MB/s - very slow for large data transfers (I don't know if Galaxy Note is any better). The internal memory of S2 is of course optimized for fast random reads/writes rather then seq. speeds. But if we can have high capacity USB3 sticks with read / write speeds above 100 MB/s and still very good random read/write speeds (e.g. 64GB flash for about 100€) then maybe to have phone with 32GB-64GB internal memory and 50/30MB/s and USB3 etc. could be done for similar price (which would be very fine with me).
Note seems to be well suited for video playback but with typical 720p movie at about 5GB I find the 12GB internal + 32GB external SD cards quite limiting in capacity as well as in transfer speeds (esp. considering that I need permanently at least 16GB for my music collection and lot's of free space for 1080p video recording) Surprisingly most netbooks have comparable RAM capacity and CPU speeds (at least for non floating point tasks) to those of highend smartphones, yet the storage capacity and seq. transfer speeds on netbooks is order of magnitudes higher.
I got it today ! It's very big AND unfortunately the side panel has annoying squeaking problem. It's only on one place - below the volume button, exactly where I tend to leave my fingers. Anyone else with the same problem ? Never had any squeaking problems on SGS2.
Is there a possibility that the back cover has not been clicked in place properly? I get squeaking too when that happens.
I have both phones.
When I got the Note I wanted to sell the S2, even had a buyer for it.
But after I used the Note for a day I start to have serious second thoughts.
The S2 is so much smoother ... Honestly, in this respect the Note is much closer to SG1 than SG2.
Hey mates
I have both of these phones myself, and I'm just wondering is there any possibilities to move memos from SGS2 to note??
Chagrim said:
Hey mates
I have both of these phones myself, and I'm just wondering is there any possibilities to move memos from SGS2 to note??
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With the backup feature on the PC, with syncing them to google, with the option to back them up with MyBackup, there are a lot of options Probably the easiest would be go into the options of your SGS2 Memo app and sync it to google, and then just redownload them on the Note. I like everything OTA. I dislike having to plug everything in to get stuff done.
zkyevolved said:
With the backup feature on the PC, with syncing them to google, with the option to back them up with MyBackup, there are a lot of options Probably the easiest would be go into the options of your SGS2 Memo app and sync it to google, and then just redownload them on the Note. I like everything OTA. I dislike having to plug everything in to get stuff done.
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Ok, now I feel myself really dumb! Thanks for that
holgalee said:
Is there a possibility that the back cover has not been clicked in place properly? I get squeaking too when that happens.
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That's not possible because I tripplechecked (by removing and putting back) the cover prior to asking here.
But there is more to Note than that: I saw videos of Note compared to S2 etc. on youtube I saw pictures in reviews etc. but nothing could prepare me to how big it actually is in real. I will be probably in minority here but I can't avoid thinking that it's actually too big - for calling it a phone at least. At the same time I could live with larger screen and res than S2 (mostly for comfortable video watching) So I think if I could spec and ideal phone for me, based on interpolation between S2 and Note it would have display comparable to Galaxy Nexus (1280x720 ~ 4.7" - 4.8", 120g - 140g) that should be a perfect balance between display usefulness and overall portability. Too bad they've crippled Nexus with missing SD slot and missing flash support. Hope that Galaxy S3 will hit it all right (I already can't wait ) Btw any chance Note's awesome GPS making it to other Samsung phones ? (can it be put to any phone regardless of it's size ?) As far as GPS goes the difference is stunning (basically a toy like implementation vs. state of the art awesomeness)
Now I have hard time deciding what to do with Note: I should probably return it but then the screen is so awesome that it's very tough to just return it, even when I don't need it Btw about the screen and pentile vs. non-pentile debate: there were only few occasions when I noticed there was some grain on the Note without looking for it, e.g. the red birds in Angry Birds Rio and orange balloon in Samsung demo video (from 0:36) On galaxy2 I never noticed any grain (even when looking for it), so yes Superamoled Plus would be even nicer but for 99% of practical cases it doesn't matter to me.
Where are those comparsion photos that someone mentioned. Has anyone had the camera perform poorly?
I own both, well I gave the S2 to the missus when I got the Note.
The Note is equivalent too, or better then the S2 in everything. I would find it impossible to have an S2 as my main phone now after having used the Note for almost a month.
You will hear a lot of negativity about the size of the Note, I kept hearing it is too big, it is uncomfortable to carry etc etc. Nonsense. It took me a day (max) to get use to the size, it fits in all my pockets comfortably and is very portable. Dare I say it I think it could even be a tad bigger, maybe 5.5" All other phones now seem tiny to me, and this has become the standard. I don't think I will be able to go back to a small(er) phone after using this.
I have found the camera and video recording similar to the S2. GPS on the Note is amazing, I get a lock in seconds, it beats every other satnav/phone I have ever owned. The screen... wow. One month on and it still impresses me. Games, Videos, Satnav, Internet Browsing even Ebook reading is all a joy on the Note, it is the ultimate all in one device imo.
I am planning to return my Tab S 8.4 today. Though the screen looks stellar and the build quality is great I just can not get over the terrible battery life in normal use (IE not limited just to movies with a darker theme) or the performance issues that this pair of Samsung processors has. I get so much noticeable lag and hesitation that it is just to annoying for a product like this. I really wish they had put in a SD 801 or 805 so that performance was stable and smooth across the board. Battery life if you do anything that uses much light colors is just terrible. The screen drains the battery so fast with web use for example. Reviews back this up. Testing with a movie on loop can have great results up to 12 hours if it is a dark enough movie but testing with a light background with web use on review benchmarks shows that time drop down to 7 hours. Unfortunately I don't do much movie watching on a tablet so it is a particular issue for me. I had it side by side with my ipad mini retina doing the same work and it was draining twice as fast as the iPad. I really wish they had not felt the need to go so thin and instead gave us a revolution in battery performance.
I can only imagine what this device might have been like if they released it with a SD 805 SoC and 10mm thickness with doubled battery life.
I've been using a black background on my amoled screens from S2, S4 and now S5. Dark themes in any apps that have them. On the Tab S I'm also trying night mode in Next Browser. Battery seems good so far and should be a little better with root/custom rom's.
I'm pretty damn picky and it's fast enough for me.
meboy said:
I've been using a black background on my amoled screens from S2, S4 and now S5. Dark themes in any apps that have them. On the Tab S I'm also trying night mode in Next Browser. Battery seems good so far and should be a little better with root/custom rom's.
I'm pretty damn picky and it's fast enough for me.
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Yeah, I really don't WANT to return it. I love that screen. Maybe I should try Next...In chrome most things are white and it is quite a drain. I also use black backgrounds. Primarily B/W portraits.
I am also disappointed in the performance of the device. It seems to stutter and lag constantly, even when not under heavy load. Maybe the L release (if it comes out for the tablet) will fix that, but I'm not holding my breath.
It seems like on a device coming out mid-2014, there should be no UI stutters.
I should also note that I'm using Nova Launcher so I can't speak much for lag on the Touchwiz Launcher.
HughesNet said:
I am planning to return my Tab S 8.4 today. Though the screen looks stellar and the build quality is great I just can not get over the terrible battery life in normal use (IE not limited just to movies with a darker theme) or the performance issues that this pair of Samsung processors has. I get so much noticeable lag and hesitation that it is just to annoying for a product like this. I really wish they had put in a SD 801 or 805 so that performance was stable and smooth across the board. Battery life if you do anything that uses much light colors is just terrible. The screen drains the battery so fast with web use for example. Reviews back this up. Testing with a movie on loop can have great results up to 12 hours if it is a dark enough movie but testing with a light background with web use on review benchmarks shows that time drop down to 7 hours. Unfortunately I don't do much movie watching on a tablet so it is a particular issue for me. I had it side by side with my ipad mini retina doing the same work and it was draining twice as fast as the iPad. I really wish they had not felt the need to go so thin and instead gave us a revolution in battery performance.
I can only imagine what this device might have been like if they released it with a SD 805 SoC and 10mm thickness with doubled battery life.
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Since you prefer battery life to size, you might consider the Tab pro 8.4 Sam rez, slightly thicker, no amoled, SD 800, and really good battery life for surfing.
gottahavit said:
Since you prefer battery life to size, you might consider the Tab pro 8.4 Sam rez, slightly thicker, no amoled, SD 800, and really good battery life for surfing.
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I actually have 3 of those in the house, my 2 sons and my wife. It is a nice device but not one that would cause me to sell my iPad Min Retina and switch. I was hoping the display and build of the Tab S would be that device. I think I may give it a second shot, try to live on the dark side as much as I can. Now that we have root I may be able to fix a couple issues.
I replaced my Tab Pro 10.1 for the Tab S 10.5. Speed and battery life on my part is much better on the Tab S than on the Tab Pro. Also, Wifi reception is much more better. My only complaint is with KitKat and not Samsung. They changed the permission setting and because of than, I cannot copy file from the internal memory to my SDCard with RootExplorer or save it directly on the SD Card with Dolphin Broswer.
For what its worth I am running Nova Launcher and have never experienced any lag whatsoever. Yeah battery life isn't great but that is never as advertised.
Wait for Freeza or someone to crank out a nice ROM for us and what lag there may be will improve. His ROM made my 8.4 Pro much faster.
urself25 said:
I replaced my Tab Pro 10.1 for the Tab S 10.5. Speed and battery life on my part is much better on the Tab S than on the Tab Pro. Also, Wifi reception is much more better. My only complaint is with KitKat and not Samsung. They changed the permission setting and because of than, I cannot copy file from the internal memory to my SDCard with RootExplorer or save it directly on the SD Card with Dolphin Broswer.
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If you use the Samsung My Files you can do that. And now that there is Root for your tablet you can always remove that restriction right now all together.
HughesNet said:
If you use the Samsung My Files you can do that. And now that there is Root for your tablet you can always remove that restriction right now all together.
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Yes, I discovered that yesterday. But still a pain that I have to use My Files app while Root Explorer could be doing it without any problem. I'm holding off root for the moment. I rooted my Note 2 but I don't have any reasons for the moment to root my Tab S.
I have the Tab 8.4 S and have zero issues with lag or battery and I would consider myself a heavy user. Playing games to watching HD movies while surfing the web and the battery does just fine.
Now... I do have Nova installed and did so as soon as I got the device onlined since I customize the hell out of my devices so I never experienced the TouchWiz launcher. I also have Clean Master and Battery Doctor installed. The combination of these three has made this my main device not only for home and hobby but also my work.
Touchwiz is actually Korean for "pretty eye candy that makes your tablet go slow". I swear.
I sold my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and bought a Galaxy Tab S 8.4 a couple says ago. Battery and performance are much better on Tab S IMO. This thing will be a beast after flashing a mod or two.
My only real gripe with this tablet is not how fast the battery drains but how long it takes to charge. This has to be the slowest charging electronic device I've ever owned. Wonder why?
mitchellvii said:
My only real gripe with this tablet is not how fast the battery drains but how long it takes to charge. This has to be the slowest charging electronic device I've ever owned. Wonder why?
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Are you using the stock charger? I never bothered with it from the get go and I am unsure how many volts it is.
I picked up a Rocketfish 10.2v from BB months ago at no cost using my Rewards. Priceless!
robertc88 said:
Are you using the stock charger? I never bothered with it from the get go and I am unsure how many volts it is.
I picked up a Rocketfish 10.2v from BB months ago at no cost using my Rewards. Priceless!
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The stock charger is 5v 2amps. Not sure I would want to risk any higher.
mitchellvii said:
The stock charger is 5v 2amps. Not sure I would want to risk any higher.
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Be careful increasing the volts but the more amps the better. Though high end devices have power controllers so it doesn't matter how much over the specs you go the recharge will always be the same.
My two cents
I have owned every galaxy from vibrant to S4. I owned an N10 (currently have a 2013 N7 and N5). I owned a Note 2. For what its worth, even with the extra pixels to push, I don't think this is a hardware issue. Touchwiz has always just been a poorly coded behemoth of a skin. With the exception of the Note 2 (which TW seemed to be very smooth on)...it has always had frame stutters and an ass ton of processes eating up cycles. Whenever I flashed a stripped down...or even better an actual AOSP (I love slim) ROM, performance on these devices have been flawless.
Full disclosure... my 10.5 S is charging right now and I have not even fired it up yet. But I will immediately root and debloat the Eff out of this thing. I agree that Sammy's tablet update cycle is ridiculous...and that a snapdragon should have been the cpu by default, but que cera cera.
Once I fire it up...I will report back.
So far here are my 8.4 gripes after about 24 hours of ownership:
Battery life - I charged it to 100% prior to use and was a bit shocked that I lost 10% just doing the setup and installing my apps.
Pentile screen - Part of this is my fault as I did not realize the 8.4 is pentile and I thought both the 10.5 and 8.4 were Super Amoled Plus. There is a bit of a softness to the 8.4 screen that seems unusual considering its size and PPI. In some ways I find the Nexus 7 screen a bit better and more realistic. I own a LG G3 and the QHD display on it is fantastic, and I had thought the 8.4 would have a little of that magic but it is not in the same league at all. I wonder what the real PPI is on the 8.4 considering it is pentile, I gather it is less than the Nexus 7. This may be a dealbreaker for me, I am going to use it tonight and do a little side by side with my Nexus 7 and Note 10.1 2014.
That said Netflix looks great on this device, the best I have seen so I wonder if the app does some sort of edge sharpening. When I watch 1080p content streamed to the 8.4 find it is not as sharp as it should be and really no better than the Note 10.1.
Going to give it another couple of days and see if it grows on me.
First Impressions so far are great! I have been eyeing it for quite a while now, but decided to finally get it yesterday. I also bought the Book Cover. The screen is simply amazing. Darkest blacks I have ever seen on an AMOLED screen. And this is coming from an S5 user. Also the speakers are pretty loud and clear for a tablet of this size! Definitely owns the iPad Mini! :laugh:
Galaxy Tab S by deepen03, on Flickr
Galaxy Tab S by deepen03, on Flickr
2560x1600 Video Demo:
Galaxy Tab S by deepen03, on Flickr
Awesome Matey! I got the LTE Version. Am an iPad air user, this AMOLED Screen is amazing!
I ordered mine this afternoon and it should be here tomorrow. Still hunting down accessories. This will be my first tablet. Looking forward to it; who doesn't like shiny new toys? I did lots of research and this seems to be the best tablet right now. Went with the black.
Any accessories you looking to get for it?
Somehow I'm surprised by how thin it is... I don't think I've owned any portable device that what this thin, tablet or otherwise. It's one thing to read about it or even see it in a pic, but when you finally hold it...
I'm actually not a fan of the bronze trim, though, makes the device look kind of..."blingy"...Like an expensive wristwatch or something. Not sure how to describe it. It's aesthetically pleasing, but seems out of place.
Thing just feels too fragile for me to take it anywhere yet, though. Need to get a good cover/case.
Really impressed with the display.
Leonart said:
Somehow I'm surprised by how thin it is... I don't think I've owned any portable device that what this thin, tablet or otherwise. It's one thing to read about it or even see it in a pic, but when you finally hold it...
I'm actually not a fan of the bronze trim, though, makes the device look kind of..."blingy"...Like an expensive wristwatch or something. Not sure how to describe it. It's aesthetically pleasing, but seems out of place.
Thing just feels too fragile for me to take it anywhere yet, though. Need to get a good cover/case.
Really impressed with the display.
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I didnt think it looks too bad, the bronze fits well with the titanium.
I'm not so impressed
I've had the 8.4 Tab s for a few weeks now and tbh apart from the screen (even that has issues) I'm not overally impressed. The interface is a bit messy and extremely laggy. It stutters when scrolling and quite obviously the Exynos processor isn't up to the job for handling the 1440p screen. The Screen is highly reflective and forget about watching films etc in bright light it is almost impossible.
If they had used the 805 or K1 SOC for overall responsiveness and improved the screen for outside use I would far happier, I also have the Shield Tablet and that is so much faster for almost all tasks it's beyond a joke. Also I still find the Android Tablet interface lacking compared to Apple's. Anyway OP hopefully they will improve the responsiveness with a few updates and I hope you enjoy the tablet.
I just got it yesteday... amaizing... I used many samsung tablets... but this one is sleek and fast... loving it so far.
JustinL01 said:
I've had the 8.4 Tab s for a few weeks now and tbh apart from the screen (even that has issues) I'm not overally impressed. The interface is a bit messy and extremely laggy. It stutters when scrolling and quite obviously the Exynos processor isn't up to the job for handling the 1440p screen. The Screen is highly reflective and forget about watching films etc in bright light it is almost impossible.
If they had used the 805 or K1 SOC for overall responsiveness and improved the screen for outside use I would far happier, I also have the Shield Tablet and that is so much faster for almost all tasks it's beyond a joke. Also I still find the Android Tablet interface lacking compared to Apple's. Anyway OP hopefully they will improve the responsiveness with a few updates and I hope you enjoy the tablet.
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Click to collapse
There seems to be a lot of disagreement here. Some people are saying it is smooth just being stock, some say can be smooth if you use a different launcher or de-bloat the device. I personally haven't noticed any extreme lag; mostly just quarter-second delays when doing something for the first time, e.g. opening the app drawer soon after waking the device up. But I at least saw someone's video of some pretty extreme lag. It's definitely worrying. I also don't have any tablet by which to compare this one, so it's hard for me to really perceive how slow the device might be.
I can't claim to understand the decision to use an 8-core CPU. It sounds fancy. But even the newest PC games utilize only 2-4 cores, so it seems like overkill for a tablet. Maybe I am misunderstanding how those cores are being used in the context of a tablet; perhaps they come into play when you are actually using the split-window functionality?
Leonart said:
There seems to be a lot of disagreement here. Some people are saying it is smooth just being stock, some say can be smooth if you use a different launcher or de-bloat the device. I personally haven't noticed any extreme lag; mostly just quarter-second delays when doing something for the first time, e.g. opening the app drawer soon after waking the device up. But I at least saw someone's video of some pretty extreme lag. It's definitely worrying. I also don't have any tablet by which to compare this one, so it's hard for me to really perceive how slow the device might be.
I can't claim to understand the decision to use an 8-core CPU. It sounds fancy. But even the newest PC games utilize only 2-4 cores, so it seems like overkill for a tablet. Maybe I am misunderstanding how those cores are being used in the context of a tablet; perhaps they come into play when you are actually using the split-window functionality?
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Click to collapse
The SoC has 8 cores in two 4-cores-set, only one set is active on a given time, one set is battery optimized and the other performance oriented, the lagging is prolly caused -apart from bloatware- by the governor, too much to decide, switching from one set of cores to another/plugging-unplugging cores based on demand/scaling the cpu freq. to cope with load. There's much to be tweaked -maybe at the expense of lower battery life-.
I was also looking for the s800 version but given the lack of information/availability I just went on a bought today the Exynos based one. Apart from the lag of the TW interface, I noticed two things I didn't like: my screen has a slight green cast when viewing from an angle, and -I have a very good sight- I notice the pentile/diamond arranging of the pixels at normal viewing distance, just barely but enough to annoy me sometimes ... that's a disappointment, on the Galaxy S4 I can't notice individual pixels even looking for them
Provinomico said:
The SoC has 8 cores in two 4-cores-set, only one set is active on a given time, one set is battery optimized and the other performance oriented, the lagging is prolly caused -apart from bloatware- by the governor, too much to decide, switching from one set of cores to another/plugging-unplugging cores based on demand/scaling the cpu freq. to cope with load. There's much to be tweaked -maybe at the expense of lower battery life-.
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Click to collapse
Ah. That's an interesting architecture. Almost sounds like it's too smart for its own good... Sounds like something that can be improved, at the very least. Thanks for the insight.
ozmoii said:
Awesome Matey! I got the LTE Version. Am an iPad air user, this AMOLED Screen is amazing!
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I have an S5, but the AMOLED screen on a tablet is Impressive! Samsung has really done it! I tested a 4k video on it and it was SMOOTH!
Df9 debloated and deodexed. Switching launchers to adwex, and latest chrome update, and this thing flies!! Think touchwiz and its new feeds arethe problem.
The screen is pretty reflective. Annoys me a bit.
Swiftkey rocks.
Battery life is decent browsing, sick long with video.
Pretty happy with it so far.
I ownedor a week and returned it ot get this. Pro was a little snappier, battery life wasnt bad.
Love the s screen better and the accessories are a big deal (got the free book case). The pro wont probably get the same love.
Cheers
I got the T705 (8.4" LTE) this weekend and found it to be a really blinding tablet! The screen and the thin format is absolutely lovely.
So far very happy and even exceeds the SGT 7.7 which I had some years ago.
/Per
Perus said:
I got the T705 (8.4" LTE) this weekend and found it to be a really blinding tablet! The screen and the thin format is absolutely lovely.
So far very happy and even exceeds the SGT 7.7 which I had some years ago.
/Per
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Lol glad to see some old.mates from 7.7. Tab S 8.4 could be the true successor of that device.
To OP. 1st of all. Congratulations on your new baby. Welcome to the club. Like your observation. The amoled in this unit is superb. Even in total darkness, you wont see any hint of glow or those 'newtonian rings' which plagues alder amoled display. Sometimes. I need to tap on back/menu button just to know that the tablet didn't sleep especially during a blackscreen loading time in some games.
So happy with this unit. Couple it with a tempred glass + samsung bookcase for protection. Got some battery issues at first but managed to resolve it. I paired it with my gear 2 and i couldnt be happier
-source
Hi,
I thought I'd share my thoughts on the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 I got last week. It's the LTE model, but UK so still uses the Exynos processor.
Firstly, I've been an Android user for quite a while. Started with the second generation of phones, and got a tablet shortly after. Had a wide range of cheap and cheerful devices , on which I always installed custom roms before becoming settled on Nexus devices a few years ago, and been happy with stock - had a nexus 4 and both generations of nexus 7.
I currently have an LG G3 for my phone (which is great btw)
I tend to prefer a clean, close to stock android experience, and I have always steered away from Samsung - never fancied touchwiz, wasn't keen on the oversaturated and blue hued screens, plus I like being different!. But based on the reviews, and after a quick play in the shop I took the plunge with the Tab S.
Firstly - form factor. I toyed with getting the bigger one, would have been better for work stuff, and watching tv/films at home, but I also use it a lot as an ereader. So the 8.4" form factor was best for me. I have big enough hands to comfortably hold it one handed on the train etc, and it is nice and light. Still sometimes wish I had got the bigger one though.
Interface - I actually like Touchwiz now.... I've not experienced too much lag, and I like the extra bells and whistles. The Notification bar is a little messy, but also has extra functionality so I will let it off (putting the IR blaster remote in there is a great idea) . The quick settings panel on the 2 finger scroll is a little cluttered, but functional too. I have replaced the launcher - I've used Apex for years and have got too used to the control it offer. Lets me get rid of the useless magazine ux too. Main thing about Apex is that it lets me use a much finer grid on the homescreens - I use widgets a lot, and like a lot more control over size and placement.
Screen - It's great. I'd like the whites to be a bit crisper, but the rest of the plusses make up for it. I actually like the active display mode - I keep trying it on basic, based upon other reviews and display tests, but keep turning it back. I like the wow factor. Maybe I will tire of it eventually and want something a bit more reserved, but for now I love it. Even on the active/AMOLED Cinema mode it is nowhere near as garish as early Galaxy displays.
If you want to show off the device, play someone the sample video that comes with the device. Obviously overtuned up to show off the screen but it is impressive.
Software - A lot of rubbish on the device obviously, but some is actually useful. The office viewers are handy, and the pdf viewer is a lot quicker than others I have tried, or using kindle which is very clunky.
Papergarden is actually quite impressive - it's the magazine experience I expected to get on a tablet (And annoyingly you can get more on an ipad...) - not sure how many magazines I will actually buy with my own money though.
Battery - It's ok, doesn't seem as good as my old nexus 7, but maybe I'm using it more, and probably cranking up the screen brightness too (And the 4g must use some too). I'll try it with some more reserved usage. Might try juicedefender on it too (which will probably help my data usage as well).
I also got a dud charger, which I will take back tomorrow - charging on a low power charger (supplied one is 2A) is pretty slow, but that's not the tablet's fault.
In conclusion - It's the best tablet I have had (Also the most expensive so you would expect it to be!). Performance is fine, the form factor is almost perfect for me, UI is good after some tweaking and the screen is great. Will post an update after I've been suing it for a month or two, see if I still feel the same.
Carl
interesting. very similar to me, coming from a N7 and using it a lot for media etc.
I was a very reluctant buyer, only the £50 play voucher pushing me over the edge as there were no other quality tablets out there to replace my nexus 7. I tried it out in john lewis and I was instantly impressed by the size and weight, not much different to the n7 but with the bigger screen.
so bought it, half expecting to just sell it in a year when something better came out. but the more I use it, the more I liked it. Switched out the launcher to nova and I was all set. I had no prior experience of amoled screens before, but as a big media watcher, I am now really glad I accidentally have one. I wouldnt bother so much on a phone, but on the tablet its perfect, I really notice the difference when using my partners regular tablet. I also went about downloading 2k youtube videos and putting them on the tablet and the quality was amazing, now of course its built into the app so even better!
The only lag I notice is sometimes on clicking the home button and I have had others tell me the tablet is bad as it does badly in benchmarks. which to me is crazy but its their call. the battery is not as good as the n7 but if you have the love the extra pixels, they draw more power. Luckily more than enough time for a good solid days usage but the n7 was better.
Active display mode?
I think the OP means "adaptive". The dynamic display mode that puts color and contrast into some kind of super overdrive. Eye candy in my opinion, but not for extended periods of time.
2k screen display consume alot of RAM and battery. Not redcommend for gaming
Seems good but some frustrations
Absolutely the main reason to buy this tablet is the screen. I don't think anything out there can touch it. My biggest issue is the SD card. I have a Patriot 64 GB microSD UHS-1 card and it just doesn't seem to work in this device at all. Tried formatting in Windows (ExFAT) - works great. Put it in my ASUS TF700 tablet - works great. Put it in the TAB S - mounted the card with no trouble but then when I try to write to the card (using the Myfiles app), it locks up. Sometimes it freezes solid and I can't get it to do anything until I pop the card out - then everything immediately starts working again. Obviously a card problem of some sort. So I tried another identical card I had for another tablet...same problem. Tried formatting in the tablet - it locks up. I left it for half an hour and came back - it was formatted but it didn't work at all. Tried a 16 GB FAT32 card - it works flawlessly. So...is it the card or is it the tablet...? Still working on this...
I'm not a fan of the Touchwiz interface but I'm adapting to it slowly. Removed most of the panels that were not useful and it's getting better. I'm really frustrated at how much storage is being used with crapware that I can't uninstall. Like WatchOn - I finally ran it to see what it was all about and there's a message that pops up saying that this service will no longer be in operation after December 31, 2014. Really? So I can't remove the app and I can't even use it now...that is NOT COOL! I've never had a tablet with less than 32 GB before (because the 32 GB version of the tab S seems to be a myth - in Canada anyway). There really needs to be a way to remove some of this stuff...especially since I can't get the SD card to work.
I mainly use a tablet for video - and that's where this really shines. Netflix, MKV files, streaming from my server, etc...works flawlessly! It looks amazing and that's why I bought it! I just wish I could get the storage thing figured out.
I really don't like the dedicated buttons for Home, Back and Recently Used Apps. Why they would reverse the buttons from the Android buttons, I really can't figure out. Often, when I'm in Netflix, I hold the tablet in landscape mode and my finger/thumb keeps hitting the Back button and then I have to reload the movie again...what a pain! I can't see the buttons in the dark either...don't like them! KitKat lets you run apps fullscreen so I don't get the dedicated buttons anymore!
The sound has been okay - probably on par with my Nexus 7 2013...but it distorts at full volume (subtly). Battery life is okay but not great - seems on par with the Nexus 7. The size is good - still fits in my inside jacket pocket like my Nexus 7 did - but has a much larger screen. My eyes aren't great these days so the web page text is fairly small but I'm getting by.
I see no issues with performance at all...not sure why people complain about lag - if there is any it's so subtle...it certainly doesn't affect the usage whatsoever.
I really don't like that you HAVE to use the Samsung charger and you HAVE to use the Samsung cable it came with...they're really acting like Apple in this way. I have 10' micro USB cables I use for all my other devices to charge and they've never had a problem...until I tried them on this tablet. So now I'm stuck with the 5' cable again and the single charger. Looking for options on eBay...
I need to find a case tomorrow...the Samsung book cover is on sale so I'll try it out.
Eventually, I'll get everything working! Still happy with the purchase (it was $50 off) but I'd like to get these little problems resolved!
I hear ya on the WatchOn thing. Waiting a week or two before I start learning to strip the bloatware out but right now I am okay with the stock ROM. Have disabled non-used items for now but as you said with only 16GB to work with I also want it as clean as possible
Will not lie, scared of voiding the warranty. Wishing I had bought the LTE version through Bell becaise through them you can buy insurance...
I picked up a 64GB card (AData) on sale for $30. Working with no issues. Possible the Patriot card is buggy? NCIX.com is a good place to shop
What's up with the USB charger and cable? They're standardised items, no? The whole idea with USB, or so I thought. One usb cable can't differ from another - that doesn't make any sense what so ever...!? Sure, the charger may vary in regard of ampere and volt, but why am one forced to use the supplied Samsung charger / cable?
No idea about the charger. I am using the OEM one for now but have always used a BB one for my S4. Strange
USB cables do vary. Some will only charge, and not carry data. Some will carry more current than others, and will therefore charge more quickly.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Free mobile app
I have to decide between these two tables and I’m struggling. Sometimes it helps to verbalize my thoughts so I’m making a post. My goal is to hear your opinions and share my views on these two tablets, which are both great devices in different ways. I bought the Tab S 8.4 two weeks ago and received the Z3 tablet last week. I’ve had some time to play with both and I’ve come up with my personal list of pros and cons.
Tab S 8.4 (T700)
Pros:
Price - $360CAD = $400CAD taxes in
Display – higher res and OLED saturation, also slightly larger
Dev Community is active
Appearance – I really like the titanium/bronze color combo, it looks like a professional device
Cons:
Battery Life – Typical use I was getting ~5hrs of SOT with mixed gaming/clashing/browsing [Improvable w/ root]
Touchwiz bloat [Fixable’ish w/ root]
Performance – I’m listing this on-top of the Touchwiz lag because I’m not convinced the processor is enough to push the pixels under high demand. I was playing Hearthstone and the loading times were noticeably longer than on the Z3.
Physical buttons – After years of using android devices with on-screen buttons it’s hard for me to revert to using the hardware button on the Samsung. Even more confusing switching to landscape mode and having to use the hardware button on the right. [Fixable w/ root]
Neutral:
IR Blaster is nice to have
Fingerprint reader is nice, but I found it very finnnicky. Plus I will generally not lock this device because it’s being used at home 90% of the time.
Z3 Compact Tablet (SGP612)
Pros:
Battery Life – consistently getting 8+hrs of SOT with the same usage
Handling – the lighter weight and slightly smaller size make the tablet easier to handle
Software – Sony’s android software is close to stock and runs fast. Plus their built-in features (ex. Stamina mode, doubletap to wake) work very well
Remoteplay – PS4 controller / console connectivity is cool.
Design – nice industrial design overall, solid build quality.
Cons:
Price - $520CAD = $600CAD all-in. This tablet is 50% more expensive (inc. 32gb on-board vs 16gb on the Samsung) in my case.
Developer community – very small XDA community for this device right now.
Color – only the white version is sold in Canada and I’m not keen on all-white devices. The Tab S is much more appealing IMO.
Neutral:
Waterproof – I have no interest in testing this.
Display – smaller and lower res, but still a very good screen. Not a deciding factor IMO.
Integration w/ Sony Phones – I saw one review saying this was awesome but I don’t see much value. You can set the tablet up so it connects to your xperia phone using NFC and then you can use the phones mobile signal for data and also get calls/texts routed to the tablet. I won’t get much value out of this feature. Plus, I couldn’t get the NFC handshake to work (Z3TC on 4.4 stock, Z3C on 5.0 rooted).
tl;dr: I think I’ll return the Sony and stick with the Tab S. Price is the main deciding factor. I also think the Tab S is more visually appealing which is important to me. Rooting & customizing the Tab S should fix a lot of what I dislike about it and I like the active community here. I wish I could justify the price of the Z3 but the incremental performance and battery life just aren’t compelling enough. My typical use-case is playing games/browsing on the couch or hotel room. The Tab S is capable enough to play the games I want (Hearthstone, Clash of Clans) and the battery life is enough to last an evening at home or a domestic flight. I've realized that battery longevity on a tablet is way less important to me than on a phone.
Just a note
Hardware / Software Button is not Pro/Con.
Its preference.
Appearance also preference.
Would be interesting to know if the cons about lag are less with lollipop.
lynxblaine said:
Would be interesting to know if the cons about lag are less with lollipop.
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Click to collapse
I think there is definitely less lag with lollipop, almost non existent
Physical buttons can be huge advantage on a device with 16:10 screen ratio, especially below 8.5 inches. On screen buttons in a landscape mode take some space, which makes i.e. browsing web in a landscape very unpleasant. In recent days Xperia Z tablet had those buttons merged with status bar, so it was one black bar less than todays software. Think about it.
About display: Tab S of mine has a little brownish whites (even in comparision to other Tab S) which I hate. I guess Im not a Amoled fan, would rather have a IPS LCD on this tablet. And It is Pentile, so when you once notice it, it will never be unnoticed Colors are great, but its not perfect yet.
About software: I think that Xperia's software is more elegant, neat, clean and fluid than touch wiz. But it is only my opinion.
Would I change my Tab S for Z3 tablet compact? Definitely not, beacause that 8 inch screen with on-screen-buttons is simply too small. But I would change for Xperia Z4 tablet, Nexus 9 or Z2 tablet without hesitation.
GOF007 said:
Just a note
Hardware / Software Button is not Pro/Con.
Its preference.
Appearance also preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, this was a personal list and is all my opinion.
lynxblaine said:
Would be interesting to know if the cons about lag are less with lollipop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious too. Now that I'm planning to meet the Tab I may also try flash some l
KK Roms to see how a tuned ROM performs.
Frantic_kr said:
Physical buttons can be huge advantage on a device with 16:10 screen ratio, especially below 8.5 inches.
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Click to collapse
The biggest thing for new is that these physical buttons are backwards! Multi task should be on the right and the back button on the left, just like the nav bar on my other devices. My brain feels dumb when I keep smashing the recent apps key on the Tab while trying to navigate back
Sent from my SM-T700 using XDA Free mobile app
I prefer on tab s 8.4
+best screen ppi tablet
+can call
+ average camera for tablet,
+ hancom office include ( best for bussines))
i'm really trying to wrap my head around their differences ,
by now, the price became comparable, in some cases the z3 is even cheaper than the tab S,
but the samsung has a bigger screen for roughly the same form factor, therefore it would be the obvious choice (apart for the portrait physical buttons that i also don't see the point of )
but testimonials and some reviews, like this one here, mention some battery life issues , i wonder if it's all bloatware's fault, or if the tab really does have inferior battery life , as i've seen some reviews claiming otherwise ,
for travel usage battery life and weight are the most important criterias to me and the reviews just confuse me further , so does the samsung beat the sony after software updates?
the Z3 also have the advantages of waterproofing (you never know when you're gonna need it.. ), front-facing speakers, magnetic charger and some cooler softwares coming with it (EQ, screen calibration, a decent video player, and of course, the stamina mode !) and it's a tiny bit lighter too so it's definitely a tough choice
Nickie66 said:
i'm really trying to wrap my head around their differences ,
by now, the price became comparable, in some cases the z3 is even cheaper than the tab S,
but the samsung has a bigger screen for roughly the same form factor, therefore it would be the obvious choice (apart for the portrait physical buttons that i also don't see the point of )
but testimonials and some reviews, like this one here, mention some battery life issues , i wonder if it's all bloatware's fault, or if the tab really does have inferior battery life , as i've seen some reviews claiming otherwise ,
for travel usage battery life and weight are the most important criterias to me and the reviews just confuse me further , so does the samsung beat the sony after software updates?
the Z3 also have the advantages of waterproofing (you never know when you're gonna need it.. ), front-facing speakers, magnetic charger and some cooler softwares coming with it (EQ, screen calibration, a decent video player, and of course, the stamina mode !) and it's a tiny bit lighter too so it's definitely a tough choice
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Sony has backed off on their claims of what the waterproofing can do.. So that's not even a failure anymore since they won't back it up.
Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk
i don't think "failure" is the term there
but i've seen their statement, to me it sounds more like a fool-proofing disclaimer, discouraging the prolongated and reckless use of the tablet underwater; it still has the IP65 and 68 rating, but since it relies on flaps, it's more "water resistant" than "waterproof"...
so that's still a plus, even if it's a smaller plus than expected maybe, you can still have the tablet survive weather and accidents contrary to those who have no ip68 rating at all
of course it should not be the deciding factor when chosing the tablet though...
personally i'm finally ordering the sony, because of the samsung's battery life and performance issues that seem kind of consistent among reviews , and even more so by this guy:
youtube.com/watch?v=CMKonSEd7zc
who had a tab S for months, but then bought a Z3TC out of frustration with the samsung..
Guys, I have owned a Tab S T-705 for almost a year now, and I can guarantee that this tablet has no battery-life nor performance issues. My Tab S battery lasts over two days on average, and with the proper ROM everything is very smooth. Just install any Lollipop custom ROM (I am on PowerRom), flash Xposed from arter97 ' thread, and convert to the new F2FS file system.
I know, it takes a bit of reading and hacking, but it is definitely worth the effort.
I am also happier with tab s 10.4 than with tablet z2 which had a lot of problems and i almost threw it on the floor and break it...sony sucks...never again sony neither tablet neither phone...they have to step up with the quality control (my brothers z3 has bad screen, my mothers z3c has also a lot of problems...no thanks...i admit battery life was better on tablet z2 and games were runing better due to the pixel density but everything else was frustrating (display problems, touch problems, sqeaking tablet,...) browsing with chrome is better with tab s it was laggier with the tablet z2 the system was not laggy on neither one...
stopa10 said:
Guys, I have owned a Tab S T-705 for almost a year now, and I can guarantee that this tablet has no battery-life nor performance issues. My Tab S battery lasts over two days on average, and with the proper ROM everything is very smooth. Just install any Lollipop custom ROM (I am on PowerRom), flash Xposed from arter97 ' thread, and convert to the new F2FS file system.
I know, it takes a bit of reading and hacking, but it is definitely worth the effort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from a Tab 7.7 (P6800), the battery life of the T700 is definitely awful. The battery lasts 1-2 days with light usage, while the 7.7 would go on for over a week with the same usage pattern. My experience with Sony phones say that the Z3C tablet should last much longer than this T700.
I have them both here side by side. My experience with both devices are more or less similar. Here is my personal list:
T700: Better display, it feels more solid, I like the speakers more eventhough they are located at the sides, more usable display area due to the capacitive buttons and the slightly bigger screen, the design is ugly, battery life is significanlty worse, performance is inferior but enough for me.
Z3 Tablet Compact (32GB): Nice design, doesn't feel as solid, slightly lighter, double tap to wake, better performance and battery life, faster software updates eventhough the 32GB version is still at 5.0.2. while the 16GB version already got 5.1.1. and can be updated manually to 6.0 beta from sony's homepage.
Verdict: Beeing waterproof is no deciding factor for me, nor are the front facing speakers. My Z3 Tablet Compact has a weird feel to it: when you touch the touchscreen it sounds hollow. Hence the T700 feels more solid. Pricewise the T700 is 50€ cheaper here in Germany (compared to the 16GB version of the Z3 Tablet Compact). I bought a used T700 for 200€ including a book cover and a 64GB SDXC card, so the T700 was quite a steal. A used 32GB Z3 Tablet Compact still runs you 300€. It really comes down to what you want and how much you are willing to pay. If the price is not an issue, then it would be an even harder decision because every device has it's pros and cons. In my particular case, I will keep the T700 since it was so cheap. If performance and battery life are you main criteria, then go for the Z3 Tablet Compact. The cons I've listed are noticeable mostly when you compare the device. The device itself is great! To make the decision even harder, what about the Zenpad S 8.0 CA? It has 64GB storage, 4GB of RAM, a Z3580 and an ok screen. It costs the same as the 16GB Sony here in Germany and has optional pen input.