Samsung is one of the more reliable players in the Android Tablet space, regularly releasing a slew of tablets to suit different size and budget requirements. Now it seems they’ve released a new Galaxy Tab A tablet, albeit in Korea first.
We were a little surprised not to see any Samsung tablets as IFA this year, especially considering we tracked two different Samsung tablets going through the FCC, not to mention Samsung’s official confirmation of the Tab S3.
With September not over yet the Tab S3 could still be released, however, we think that Samsung may be focusing all of their efforts and manufacturing capacity into remedying the Galaxy Note 7 issues, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see a slight delay in the international release of any new Samsung tablets.
That said the Tab A 2016 10″ is out now in South Korea and it looks great. The 10.1″ LCD (no AMOLED unfortunately) display clocks in at 1920 x 1200 at 226 PPI. That’s driven by Samsung’s Exynos 7870 1.6 GHZ octa-core processor paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The Tab A 2016 comes with an S Pen as well as LTE variants all running on Android 6.0.
The overall design looks great and seems to feature stereo (or at least duel) speakers on the bottom. The sides appear to be made out of metal.
To see the full Specs click below.
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| Key Specifications: | Samsung Tab A (2016) 10.1" WiFi |
|---|---|
| Screen size | 10.1-inch |
| Screen technology | LCD |
| Resolution | 1,920 x 1,200 |
| PPI | 226 |
| Rear camera | 8MP |
| Front camera | 2MP |
| Chipset | Exynos 7870 |
| Core config | Octoa core 1.6 GHz |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Storage | 16GB |
| MicroSD | Yes, up to 200GB |
| Battery | 7,300 mAh |
| Battery removable | — |
| Connector | MicroUSB |
| Cellular | Yes |
| NFC | — |
| Android OS | Android 6.0 |
| Vendor skin | Samsung UX |
| Dimensions | 254.2 x 155.3 x 8.2 mm |
| Weight | 525g |
| Colours |
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| Accessories | Book Cover |
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The S Pen on the Tab A 2016 is apparently the same one found on the Note 7 which brought an improved on-screen writing experience and increased pressure sensitivity. The Note-specific software has also made it onto the new Tab A as well giving the Tab A a first class S Pen experience.
We’re a little concerned by the apparent price increase, basing our estimates on the Korean pricing it could retail for around $600 AUD (almost twice the original Tab A cost) when it launches here. Perhaps the Tab A line is no longer their budget friendly range? Overall the new Tab A looks like a moderate but good update to last years Note A and we’re hopeful that it will be released in Australia once the Note 7 issues die down a little.
