Page 2 : The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Up Close, Cameras & S Pen

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Up Close

Superficially, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 (Amazon | Lazada) looks like its predecessor, the 9.7″ Galaxy Tab S2. If you are hoping for a “bezel-less” display like the Infinity Display of the Galaxy S8 smartphone, you’re out of luck. It doesn’t come with the iris scanner either, just the same fingerprint sensor embedded into the Home button.

Like its predecessor, the Galaxy Tab S3 (Amazon | Lazada) comes in two variants – a WiFi-only model (SM-T820), and an LTE-enabled model (SM-T825). Our review sample is the SM-T825 LTE-enabled model, so it comes with a tray for a nano SIM card as well as a microSD card. The microSD card support, incidentally, has been doubled to 256 GB.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 also retained the front fingerprint sensor embedded into the Home button, as well as the dedicated capacitive touch buttons.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3’s biggest improvements are “hidden” from sight. It boasts the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC, which offers 18% better CPU performance and 3X better graphics performance. It also has a longer battery life of up to 12 hours, partly due to its slightly larger battery and a more power-efficient design.

In addition, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 (Amazon | Lazada) now boasts a quad-speaker setup, which works great in the horizontal mode, when used with the optional Book Cover or Keyboard Cover. The four speakers have also been tuned by AKG.

 

The Cameras

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 (Amazon | Lazada) also offers upgraded cameras. The puny 2.1 MP front camera of its predecessor was replaced by a 5 MP Samsung S5K4E6 ISOCELL sensor with f/2.2 lens. This is the same sensor used in the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge and the more recent HTC 10. The upgraded camera allows you to also record 1080p videos, and support Full HD video chats.

The main camera at the back was upgraded with a 13 MP Sony IMX260 sensor, up from the 8 MP shooter. This is the same excellent sensor used in top-of-the-line smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. It can record videos at up to 4K resolution, but does not support optical or electronic image stabilisation. We will share with you photo and video samples from this camera later in this review.

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The S Pen Stylus

New to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S series is the S Pen stylus. This is a redesigned S Pen with a thinner nib (0.7 mm) and 4,096 pressure levels. The S Pen is electromagnetically-powered by close proximity to the Galaxy Tab S3 (Amazon | Lazada), so there is no need to worry about batteries – which is just awesome.

It is thin at just 9.4 mm, and has a rectangular profile for a better grip. The metal clip at the end locks on to the magnets along the left side of the Galaxy Tab S3.

Next Page > Initial Setup, Ergonomics, Available Memory & Storage

 

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